LMU Library Staff Picks

Your mental health is as important as your physical health and, in times of stress, it's vital to have enhanced cognition and reserves of resilience. This book is packed with practical tips, based on scientific evidence, that will teach you how to implement lifestyle strategies that will improve your brain health, cognition, and overall wellbeing. Covering the benefits of exercise, diet, sleep, social interactions, kindness, mindfulness, and learning, you will discover how adopting habits to improve these areas of your life at an early age will lead to a longer, healthier life. Embracing these simple strategies to prioritise your brain health and wellbeing is essential for a fulfilling life, with lifestyle choices playing a significant role in promoting resilience, creativity, and overall quality of life across all ages. For anyone seeking to lead a fulfilling life through happiness, health, and personal growth, this is the book for you.

Recent data indicates that the psychological distress of college students is on the rise. College students are increasingly culturally diverse and psychological distress in some areas is greater for minoritized students. College Student Mental Health and Wellnessaddresses this phenomenon that has been referred to in the popular media as the 'college mental health crisis' in a comprehensive and data-driven way. Jeffrey A. Hayes moves us forward in our understanding of these issues so that we might more effectively work with our students and those who support them. Chapters cover theories of college student development and common psychological problems among college students (including anxiety, depression and substance abuse), and important aspects of college student well-being (such as identity, peer relationships and career preparedness). Drawing on a large amount of data collected from both students in the general population as well as those seeking mental health services at U.S. colleges and universities, College Student Mental Health and Wellness illuminates the types of distress on the rise, the potential underpinnings of this distress and how administrators, educators, mental health professionals and others might better understand and work with these issues.

Knowledge of our emotional and bodily states helps us to further know our goals, values, interests, cares, and concerns. The authors first lay out a puzzle as to why bodily and emotional self-knowledge is strongly associated with good mental health and well-being. They solve this puzzle by mapping out connections between bodily states, emotional states, and our goals with an account of emotions as embodied appraisals. Emotions being embodied implies that self-knowledge of our bodily states aids in acquiring knowledge of our emotional states. Emotions as appraisals means that situations are appraised relative to our goals, such that self-knowledge of emotional states aids in acquiring knowledge of our goals, which are not always transparent to us. While emotional self-knowledge can be difficult to acquire, through skilled practice we can improve awareness and knowledge of our emotional and bodily states.

There is an increasing prevalence and use of technology that extends into the support of mental health and wellbeing. How Digital Technologies can Support Positive Psychology focuses on how digital technologies can support mental health and wellbeing in the field of positive psychology. Introducing a number of digital innovations - such as artificial intelligence (AI), gamified solutions, wearable technologies, social media, and the use of remote data collection and analysis - Barnes and Prescott explore how these can support areas of positive psychology such as wellbeing, flow, resilience, relationships and improving quality of life. An instrumental volume linking the two areas of digital technologies and positive psychology, How Digital Technologies can Support Positive Psychology examines how specific applications of digital technologies may be effective in supporting specific aspects of positive psychology to boost mood and attain and maintain positive outcomes.

With evocative storytelling and incisive research, Katie Rose Guest Pryal brings a new eye to the mental health crisis that higher education has faced for decades. Written from the perspective of a bipolar-autistic professor, A Light in the Tower is both a bracing account of the mental health crisis in higher education and a passionate and informed proposal for how to teach with mental health in mind. Pryal contends that higher education's mental health crisis is the result of long-term systemic problems in education that demand nothing short of a revolution. She examines the anxiety that plagues campuses as a result of exploited and overworked contingent faculty and students, the shock events like COVID-19 and campus shootings that traumatize communities, the systemic and institutional burnout that affects higher education at every level, and the market-driven culture of toxic overwork. These are large-scale problems that need large-scale solutions. Addressing the stigma that haunts mental disability on campus, the ableism that hounds our teaching, and the cascade of mental health struggles that far too many faculty and students face, Pryal provides straightforward solutions to these complex challenges. A Light in the Tower argues that excellent education and radical support for mental health struggles can coexist and provides detailed advice for how to do so. Meanwhile, Pryal debunks claims that supporting student mental health harms educational rigor (coining the term "rigor angst" to discuss the fear that rigor is declining). She outlines actionable steps professors and administrators can take to address the problem, including abandoning ableist and exclusionary campus culture; replacing "bad-hard" work that creates unnecessary logistical difficulties for students in favor of "good-hard" work that challenges them intellectually, providing an easy path to disability accommodations; and teaching accessibly for neurodivergent students.

A Mollusk Without a Shell: Essays on Self-Care for Writers offers multiple perspectives and vital insights on caring for the artist behind the creative work. Julie Brooks Barbour and Mary Biddinger have compiled a reader-friendly collection of brief essays that address challenges faced by many contemporary writers. Each essayist also includes a writing prompt to help spark inspiration for readers. This volume is ideal for writers at various stages in their careers, from beginners to mid-career writers, and to those returning to the page after time away.

This book illuminates international voices of those who feel empowered to do things differently in higher education, providing inspiration to those who are seeking guidance, reassurance, or a beacon of hope. Doing things differently comes with an awareness and curiosity to explore what can be. Increasingly, more and more professionals in higher education are choosing themselves, happiness, families, relationships, kindness, and compassion over arbitrary notions of institutional prestige, continuous pressure to overwork, and competitiveness with others. The chapters in this book do more than highlight flaws in the system, they call for proactive engagement in interrupting and reimagining what is broken. The authors share their own experiences as a way of encouraging readers to take small steps towards self-care, to notice their surroundings, and to embrace change as an empowering tool. The focus is on becoming the change we aspire to see, with a collective readiness to instigate positive transformations. Sharing ambitious ideas to encourage change, this book is a valuable resource for those seeking to enhance their self-care and wellbeing in the higher education context, and for those seeking to engage with others in support of these efforts.

One of Harvard Public Health Magazine's Best Public Health Books of the Year, Profiles in Mental Health Courage portrays the dramatic journeys of a diverse group of Americans who have struggled with their mental health. This book offers deeply compelling stories about the bravery and resilience of those living with a variety of mental illnesses and addictions. You'll meet people of all ages, backgrounds, and futures, across politics and government, Hollywood and the arts, tech and business, sports and science-some recovering, some relapsing, some just barely holding on, but all sharing experiences and insights we need to better understand. You'll also meet those trying to help them through-parents, siblings, spouses, therapists, bosses, doctors, and friends who create the extended families needed to support care and wellness. The personal stories they share with Kennedy and Fried are intimate, sometimes shocking, always revealing. And they are essential reading for caregivers, family members, policymakers, and the general public--just as they are for those who often feel alone in experiencing these challenges themselves.

For many citizens, politics is depressing. How has this come to be the norm? And, how is it influencing democracy? From rising polarization to climate change, today's politics are leaving many Western democracies in the throes of malaise. While anger, anxiety, and fear are loud emotions that powerfully activate voters, depression is quiet, demobilizing, and less visible as a result. Yet its pervasiveness is cause for concern: after all, democracy should empower citizens. In The Sad Citizen, Christopher Ojeda draws on wide-ranging data from the United States and beyond to explain how politics is depressing, why this matters, and what we can do about it. Integrating insights from political science, sociology, psychology, and other fields, The Sad Citizen exposes the unhappy underbelly of contemporary politics and offers fresh ideas to strengthen democracy and help citizens cope with the stress of politics.

Seeing Depression Through a Cultural Lens, the collaborative work of a clinical neuroscientist and a scholar of comparative culture, examines the effects of cultural identity on the epidemiology, phenomenology, and narratives of depression, the bipolar spectrum, and suicide. Culture is associated with emotional communication style, 'idioms of distress,' the conception of depression and of bipolar disorders, and how people with mood disorders might be stigmatized. It is linked to structural factors--environmental, social, and economic circumstances--that create or mitigate the risk of depression, sometimes precipitate episodes of illness, and facilitate or impede treatment. Culture shapes depressed people's willingness to disclose or acknowledge their condition and to seek care, their relationships with clinicians, and their acceptance or rejection of specific treatments. Cultural context is essential to understanding suicide. It underlies people's motives for suicide, factors that promote or prevent suicide, the social acceptability of death by suicide, and availability of lethal means of self-harm. Cultural identity is always intersectional, comprising elements related to race and ethnicity; gender; age, generation, and life stage; education; social class; occupation; migrant or minority status; region of residence; and religious belief and practice. This book explores the implications of each of these dimensions using salient concepts from the social sciences, memorable narratives from literature, film, and the clinic, and quantitative findings from epidemiology and psychometrics. It offers readers a framework for culturally aware assessment and management of depression, bipolarity, and suicidal risk in diverse individuals and populations.

Prioritize your well-being with more than 100 exercises designed specifically to help Latinas revitalize their outlook on life, improve their mental health, eliminate stress, and self-advocate. Between micro- and macro-aggressions at school, the workplace, and even the grocery store, a constant news cycle highlighting Latine trauma, and a general lack of resources for women of color, it's tough to be a Latina woman and prioritize your wellness, both physically and mentally. With Self-Care for Latinas, you'll find more than 100 exercises to radically choose to put yourself first. Whether you need a quick pick-me-up in the middle of the day, you're working through feelings of burnout, or you need to process a microaggression, this book is for you. In a world that works to devalue Latinas, it's time to make the radical decision to prioritize you: your life, your joy, and your self-care.

The Self-Love Mindset: Why Personal Wellbeing is the Ultimate Business Strategy shares a deeply personal journey, revealing how true success--both personal and professional--begins with self-love. Ainsworth believes that people are at the heart of every business. When individuals are empowered to love and care for themselves, that love naturally extends to the organization and even the community they serve. This book is about more than just professional success--it's about creating environments where people thrive because they feel seen, valued, and encouraged to be their best selves. The magic of The Self-Love Mindset lies in three core pillars: 1) Love Yourself through Self-Care: When individuals take responsibility for their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, they become more resilient. They can rise above daily stresses and challenges, fueling themselves from within and bringing their best energy into the workplace, whether leading a team, running a business, or pursuing personal projects. 2) Know Yourself through Self-Awareness: Self-awareness helps people uncover their inner strengths and understand the environment that allows them to thrive. When individuals align their strengths with their work, they not only improve their own performance but also create and contribute to a positive, collaborative company culture. 3) Create Value by Being of Service: Extending self-love through service is how individuals create lasting value, whether in a team, business, or community.

In this clear and concise primer, Deirdre Heenan and Jennifer Betts lay out key concepts and debates in the field of mental health. With overviews of recent developments and stakeholder perspectives, the book introduces contemporary themes in policy and practice. It explores the prevalence, cost and social determinants of mental illness, the changing attitudes and stigma around them, and the roles of the state, voluntary and community sectors in designing and delivering services. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, the guide includes: text boxes and figures to illustrate key points; end of chapter summaries; international case studies; further reading guides. For students, practitioners, policy makers and newcomers alike, this is an accessible and comprehensive guide to an increasingly prioritised and debated topic.

This book demonstrates the influence that social media has in all aspects of young lives and summarizes the latest research findings on more than a dozen different aspects of social media as they relate to youth mental health. It is divided into two sections: Part 1 examines youth and social media use through multiple lenses of adolescent development, and Part 2 considers social media's clinical applications and implications for youth. The goal is to provide a comprehensive look at the impact of social media on the mental health of young people today and a foundational framework from which mental health professionals, policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers can consider a renewed phase of innovation that puts youth health and well-being at the forefront

In an era when "self-care" often revolves around consumption and profit, a health and science journalist emphasizes the genuine health advantages of a culture of caring. Helping others can enhance our physical and mental well-being, boost resilience, and nurture a sense of fulfillment and connection beyond crises. In Your Brain on Altruism, health and science journalist Nicole Karlis delves into the science behind generosity and the benefits of fostering a culture of care for our health. She explores cutting-edge research on the sociology and psychology of altruism, revealing how acts of kindness during crises--such as COVID-19, natural disasters, and wars--inspire people to set aside differences and help one another. Through interviews with innovators creating infrastructures for social connection--from a former entrepreneur leading a social prescribing movement, to doctors prescribing volunteer work and acts of kindness--Karlis shows how we all can contribute to cultivating kindness. A powerful call for a culture of caring, this book urges us to see taking care of one another as a social strength. By embracing this mindset and viewing ourselves as stewards of kindness, we can combat the epidemic of loneliness and build a more compassionate and resilient society.