Book Recommendations
Books can be helpful in learning about mental health and during recovery from mental illness. Below is a list of some of Dr. Larson's most recommended books, organized by category.
Know of any books you think should be on the list? Or wish there were some books listed about your topic of interest?
Send us a message we would love to add to the collection.
Books Every Parent Should Read
Parenting from the Inside Out by Daniel J. Siegel & Mary Hartzell
This book guides parents through creating the necessary foundations for loving and secure relationships with their children.
Never Enough by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
Packed with memorable stories and offering a powerful toolkit for positive change, Never Enough offers an urgent, humane view of the crisis plaguing today’s teens and a practical framework for how to help.
Parenting Young Children
How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber & Julie King
This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers of young children to forge rewarding and joyful relationships.
Your Defiant Child by Russell A. Barkley & Christine M. Benton
Discover a way to end constant power struggles with the help of leading child psychologist Russell A. Barkley. Dr. Barkley's approach is research based, practical, and doable--and leads to lasting behavior change.
The Explosive Child by Ross Greene
Dr. Greene’s Collaborative Problem Solving model promotes working with explosive children to solve the problems that precipitate explosive episodes, and teaching these kids the skills they lack.
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Dr. Laura Markham
Discover the practical tools you need to transform your parenting in a positive, proven way.
Parenting Teens
Tech Generation by Mike Brooks & Jon Lasser
Brooks and Lasser provide strategies for preventing technology from becoming problematic in the first place; steps for addressing problems when they arise; and ways of intervening when problems are out of control.
Your Defiant Teen by Russell A. Barkley &
Arthur L. Robin
If life with your teen has become a battleground, it's time to take action. This empathic book shows how.
Parenting Infants & Toddlers
Touchpoints by T Berrry Brazelton, M.D.
Dr. Brazelton addresses new insights on prematurity, sleep patterns, early communication, toilet training, co-sleeping, play and learning, SIDS, cognitive development and signs of developmental delay, childcare, asthma, a child's immune system, and safety.
Becoming Attached by Robert Karen, Ph.D.
Becoming Attached a voyage of discovery in child emotional development and its pertinence to adult life. It is impossible to read this book without reflecting on one's own life as a child, a parent, and an intimate partner in love or marriage.
No Cry No Sleep
Solution by Elizabeth Pantley
The classic, best-selling no-tears guide to making sure your baby—and you—get a full night’s sleep has been updated – it is now easier to use and has been expanded to include more solutions plus critical new safety information.
How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber
This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers of young children to forge rewarding, joyful relationships.
Depression
Against Depression by Peter Kramer, M.D.
Thought-provoking and enlightening, Against Depression provides a bold revision of our understanding of mood disorder and promises hope to the millions who suffer from it.
Feeling Good by David D. Burns, M.D.
In Feeling Good, eminent psychiatrist, David D. Burns, M.D., outlines the remarkable, scientifically proven techniques that will immediately lift your spirits and help you develop a positive outlook on life.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Parenting Kids with OCD by Bonnie Zucker
Parenting Kids With OCD provides parents with a comprehensive understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder, its symptoms, types, and presentation in children and teens.
ADHD
Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson & Richard Guare
Easy-to-follow steps to identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses, use activities and techniques proven to boost specific skills, and problem-solve daily routines. Small changes can add up to big improvements--this book shows how.
Other Great Mental Health Books
Mindsight by Daniel Siegel, Ph.D.
A book as inspiring as it is informative, Mindsight offers exciting new proof that we aren't hardwired to behave in certain ways, but instead have the ability to harness the power of our minds to re-sculpt the neural pathways of our brains in ways that will be life-transforming.
The Happiness Diet by Tyler Graham & Drew Ramsey, M.D.
For the first time in history, too much food is making us sick. Graham and Ramsey guide you through the steps to fix the Modern American Diet and reclaim our minds and waistlines.
The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life.
Self Compassion by Kristin Neff
Using solid empirical research, personal stories, practical exercises, and humor, Dr. Neff - the world's foremost expert on self-compassion - explains how to heal destructive emotional patterns so that you can be healthier, happier, and more effective.
The Gifts of Imperfetion by Brene Brown, Ph.D.
Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor and thought leader, shares ten guideposts on the power of wholehearted living—a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, M.D.
In this autobiographical bestseller, Viktor Frankl recounts his experiences surviving the Holocaust and describes how it shaped his understanding whereby man finds meaning for his life.
Positive Psychology
Authentic Happiness by Martin E.P. Seligman,
Ph. D.
Seligman shows readers how to identify their highest virtues and use them in ways they haven’t yet considered. Authentic Happiness is the most powerful work of popular psychology in years.
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
By turns fascinating, hopeful, and timely, The Happiness Advantage reveals how small shifts in our mind-set and habits can produce big gains at work, at home, and elsewhere.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Flow teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and greatly improve the quality of our lives.
Self Help Workbooks
The Feeling Good Handbook by David D Burns, M.D.
The Feeling Good Handbook reveals powerful new techniques and provides step-by-step exercises that help you cope with the full range of everyday problems.
Mind Over Mood by David Greenberger & Christine A. Padesky
This life-changing book has already helped more than 1,200,000 readers use cognitive-behavioral therapy--one of today's most effective forms of psychotherapy
Medications
Listening to Prozac by Peter Kramer, M.D.
Listening to Prozac is a revolutionary book that offers new perspectives on antidepressants, mood disorders, and our understanding of the self.
Mediation/Mindfulness
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart by Mark Epstein, M.D.
For decades, Western psychology has promised fulfillment through building and strengthening the ego. We are taught that the ideal is a strong, individuated self, constructed and reinforced over a lifetime. But Buddhist psychiatrist Mark Epstein has found a different way.
The Endless Practice by Mark Nepo
Comforting, moving, and spiritually practical, The Endless Practice is filled with universal insights and stories woven with guidance and practice, which will bring the reader closer to living life to the fullest.
Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstein, M.D.
Upon its first publication, this path breaking book launched an explosion of interest in how Eastern spirituality can enhance Western psychology. emotional life.
Yoga for Depression by Amy Weintraub
Yoga for Depression is the first yoga book devoted exclusively to the treatment of these debilitating conditions. Amy Weintraub will help readers see their suffering and themselves in a vibrant new light.
Resilience
The Resilience Factor by Karen Reivich & Andrew Schatt
In light of the unprecedented challenges we've recently faced, there’s never been a greater need to boost our resilience. The Resilience Factor is self-help at its best, destined to become a classic in the genre.
Raising Resilient Children by Robert Brooks & Sam Goldstein
Raising Resilient Children is the perfect book for parents searching for a caring method to help their children grow into healthy, happy, loving, and mature adults.
Resilience by Steven M. Southwick & Dennis Charney
Ten key resilience factors, including facing fear, optimism, and relying on role models, through the experiences and personal reflections of highly resilient survivors.
Building Resilience in Children and Teens by Kenneth R. Ginsberg, M.D.
In this award-winning guide author and pediatrician Dr. Ken Ginsburg shares his 7 crucial Cs: competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control.