The Self-Healing Mind: An Essential Five-Step Practice for Overcoming Anxiety and Depression, and Revitalizing Your Life

Psychiatrist Brown debuts with a commonsensical and empathetic manual for improving mental health with lifestyle changes. Pulling from neuroscience, client stories, and mindfulness, the author outlines the “five pillars of self-care”—breath work, sleep, spirituality, nutrition, and movement—opining that they are essential for “living with purpose, balance, contentment, and hope.” To illustrate the connection between sleep and mood regulation, the author tells of how a client became uncharacteristically irritable after developing a late-night online poker habit, but recovered after he started logging off earlier and keeping a strict sleep schedule. Eating right can improve mental health, the author contends, urging readers to drink matcha instead of coffee and to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Brown also encourages readers to meditate or pray, citing research that found Tibetan monks can quiet disruptive mental processes through meditation. The author brings a refreshing candor by sharing his struggle with depression, and though his advice to eat, sleep, and exercise won’t surprise many readers, Brown’s research elucidates why these tried-and-true strategies work. Straightforward and sensitive, this volume has some worthwhile insights. Agent: Joy Tutela, David Black Agency. (June)