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Only Yours (Fool's Gold, #5)
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am not big on romance, but while I am healing from my surgery that I had on Friday, I decided to read this book and a couple of other romance books that I have gotten in the mail. Mallery's story line seemed real, more plausible and the goal of Montana was not to find herself a mate, it was to have a healthy relationship with everyone in her life, including the dogs she trains for therapy dogs. I love that part of the story, where she is using therapy dogs in the hospital to help others along in their healing journey. I have met some awesome dogs and their handlers, including my sister in law Kris who helps train the dogs and also some great therapist who use the dogs in support of their work. It is amazing how much an animal can help along with the healing process. Great story and I am glad that I read it.
  
Hundred Miles or More: A Collection by Alison Krauss
Hundred Miles or More: A Collection by Alison Krauss
2007 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a wonderful song, it really calmed my nerves when I was in therapy struggling with anxiety. I always come back to this song because it reminds me of my mother singing hymns to me as a child. I’ve always been taking by that image of a river where you go down under the water and when you come up you’re somehow new again. I don’t know I’ve experienced that, but I’d like to"

Source
  
Trial by Patience (The Trials #3)
Trial by Patience (The Trials #3)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Danny Solomon operates Break Away Acres, an equine therapy center for abused kids and teens. As a former abuse victim, Danny knows how important it is to let these kids know that someone still cares. God has blessed Danny with a gift: the ability to see the past of anyone who meets his eye. The information he is given through this gift allows him to know how he might best help those around him. Phoenix Nichols is Danny’s new trail guide. Her job is to help with the horses and keep an eye on the kids. With a past more painful than anything Danny has ever encountered, he finds himself unable to resist trying to help. When her past becomes her present, her trust in Danny is the only link she has to finding God…and peace.



My Thoughts: This is a wonderful story about healing. It teaches us not to judge people, not knowing what their life events have been or where it's taken them. This story introduces the readers to equine therapy which allows the abused learn to trust and love again.


The characters in the story were very believable and the reader feels empathy for them. The writer engages the reader and keeps the storyline moving. It was a joy to read. It is also a story about turning to God and trusting Him in everything.


This is a great story for those who love horses and cowboys. It may even lead to an interest in equine therapy.
  
Wishful Drinking
Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher | 2009 | Biography
9
7.5 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Actually quite sad reading it post-death
This is almost a bittersweet memoir about the great Carrie Fisher who battled mental health issues, substance abuse, and being brought up in a slightly dysfunctional family. It is witty, snarky and sarcastic despite all the upheavals. It begins with her experience with electroshock therapy and her subsequent loss of memories. The book is also short and filled with interesting images from her life, so it's a treat to read.
  
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion | 2006 | Biography
9
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Pure and raw emotions about grief and loss (0 more)
Bundle of pain and sadness
Finished this little bundle of sadness and pain today. If you have recently lost someone, whether it be through death or otherwise, please give this book a read. Coming from an author of older age, I was not expecting it to be this raw and emotional, and yet here I am- sitting in a daze rethinking my entire life. Do not let the title fool you like it fooled my therapy book club group- ‘magical’ in this case is not meant to denote happiness.
  
In Daylight and Darkness (Worldwalkers #1)
In Daylight and Darkness (Worldwalkers #1)
Dana Ardis | 2021 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
An interesting start to the Worldwalkers series.

Years of medication and therapy to get over an imaginary friend and world go out the window when Coran returns.

Coran, the "imaginary" friend wants to protect Kate, which is so sweet considering the years Kate has denied his existance.
    It adds more depth to the story and keeps you thinking throughout. And I really feel for kate and Coran, both on opposite sides, so to speak.

A massive plus side for me is that this is the start of a series and I do love a good series!
  
Rocketman (2019)
Rocketman (2019)
2019 | Biography, Drama
I love Elton, and was raised with 'Madman Across the Water'.
Of course, this film will be endlessly with Bohemian Rhapsody, but it was inevitable, since they were released within a year of each other.
I thought Taron did well as Elton, as did the other cast. The film didn't pull punches, and showed the excessive drug/alcohol use. It was probably biased definitely towards Elton, since he was heavily involved.
I liked that the film was slightly surreal, though the trope of revealing all in a therapy setting has been overdone. It did pack an emotional punch, and it didn't feel like I'd been sitting there for over two hours.
  
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Britt Daniel recommended Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon in Music (curated)

 
Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon
Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's been with me for a long time. It's my favourite solo album by a Beatle. I've covered several of the songs on it. Spoon use to do 'Love'. Not too long ago we did 'Remember' and I did 'Isolation' in my solo shows for a long long time. It's as comfortable to me as a Beatles record in that I've listened to it so many times. It's a record where he's embracing pain and talking about it, talking about what he's learned in therapy. I don't know if that's done too well very often but I feel like he knocked it out of the park with 'Mother', 'God' and 'Isolation'."

Source
  
4.5/5

Roberta Lee has put a name to the layers upon layers of stress that eventually break down our bodies and ruin our lives—it’s called SuperStress. She tells of the physical and mental affects that this SuperStress has on us. She also gives us ways to fix it—without drugs.

This handbook is holistic. Therapy means physical therapy, exercise, meditation and breathing control. Prescriptions means herbs and health foods and vitamins. Lee is not taking away the symptoms of stress-related bad health—she’s fixing the problem behind it.

The program outlined in this book is one you can follow with or without a doctor helping you along. She gives physical exercises and stretches that you can do, a two-week food plan to get you going on a better diet, journaling prompts to learn how to release your stress in words, and lots of other things.

I would recommend reading two parts of the book at once: Read through the first half, a little bit at a time, and learn about the science behind our stress, at the same time follow the program outlined in the back of the book. This way you’re reading and changing your lifestyle at the same time.

The only reason I don’t give it a 5/5 is because some of the meditation aspects in this book are self-centered, and by that I don’t mean prideful and greedy, I mean self-focused. I have learned that focusing on self will not release any stress, it will only pile on more. The only true way to release everything mentally is to lean on Christ. The journaling prompts in the book are in line with that, but some of the affirmations that are to be recited while meditating are so self-centered that I cannot see how any relief would come of it. That is coming from me as a Christian.

 The SuperStress Solution is a fantastic book for people who are in heavy stress and need a way out without the use of drugs or extensive therapy. Recommended for ages 16+.
  
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AmyBee (4 KP) rated The Bell Jar in Books

Sep 5, 2018  
The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.4 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
I cannot believe I have only just read this for the first time! The Bell Jar is definitely deserving of it's status as a 'classic' in semi-autobiographical fiction. Plath really captures you with the stream-of-consciousness monologue of Esther Greenwood, a young woman who narrates her journey into insanity in the 1950's.

The Bell Jar is narrated in a similar vein to and is quite reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's novel 'Mrs Dalloway', although it has a decidedly more risqué tone as the narrator talks in great detail about subjects which would not have been deemed acceptable in the 1920's (such as losing her virginity!).

What particularly gripped me about this novel is that Esther's mental illness seems to sneak up on her and this is reflected in the novel, as it almost seems to take the reader by surprise that this seemingly normal young woman is falling deeper and deeper into her illness.

Mental health stigma is also clearly represented in the novel, as it almost seem is at points that Esther's illness is treated as a joke, and definitely not taken seriously by most. It's also interesting to read about the archaic means of treatment for mental health sufferers eg Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) AKA Electroshock therapy, and it's aftermath.

All in all, a very thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly recommended for lovers of classic literature surrounding mental health issues.