10 Mental Health Books from BookTok That Actually Make a Difference

Avid readers know that BookTok — AKA, TikTok’s reading community — is filled to the brim with book recommendations and reviews. Whether you’re into fantasy or memoirs, BookTok can serve as your destination for your next favorite reads, including mental health books.

On TikTok, wellness creators often share some of the best mental health books they recommend to their patients. It’s why we enjoy using the platform as inspiration — community is the core of wellbeing, and we love hearing suggestions and advice from those who prioritize mental health just as much as us.

Below, check out some of the best mental health books we found on BookTok.

1. What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

Content warnings: Physical and emotional abuse, abandonment, neglect, trauma, depression, suicidal ideation

Why we recommend it: This book can serve as a guiding point for anyone starting or going through their trek with generational trauma or C-PTSD.

Stephanie Foo’s memoir is about her journey with complex PTSD, a condition that’s developed after experiencing prolonged trauma. Detailing her abusive upbringing and her struggle to find mental health resources, Foo sought to research the connection between immigrant parents and generational trauma.

Without being overly hopeful or tying things up with a perfect bow, Foo’s frankness about long-lasting trauma is both refreshing and informative, making readers feel heard, understood, and less alone.

2. Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller

Content warnings: Emotional abuse

Why we recommend it: Whether you realize it or not, everyone has their own attachment style. These often serve as the foundation for relationships in our community, regardless of whether its romantic, platonic, professional, or familial.

Posted by @tinatalkingtherapy, Attached is a non-fiction mental health book that breaks down the four main attachment styles: secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized.

“If you’re interested in attachment and how it impacts your romantic relationships or other types of relationships, give this one a go,” she says. Not only does it explain the types of attachment styles, but it also provides advice and roadmaps on how to use that information to improve relationships in your life.

3. Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection by Haemin Sunim

Content warnings: Anxiety

Why we recommend it: We can’t embrace our community without working on (and accepting) ourselves first. This guide to self-compassion is a great toolkit for loving ourselves and those around us.

Described by BookToker @readwithsyll as a good option for those who struggle with “thinking you have to be perfect all the time,” Haemin Sunim’s writing offers gentle messaging about self-compassion and accepting imperfections. Content about spiritual wellness encourages readers to learn how to incorporate true self-care through compassion, empathy, and forgiveness.

4. It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn

Content warnings: Trauma/generational trauma, complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, chronic pain

Why we recommend it: Trauma and mental health conditions can often make us feel isolated. This deep dive into generational trauma looks to explain pain that may be ingrained in our physical bodies, but not without addressing the community found in family.

Even if you didn’t grow up under challenging circumstances, It Didn’t Start with You offers a fascinating look at generational trauma. Mark Wolynn analyzes scientific research and interviews experts in PTSD by discussing gene expression and familial emotional legacies. It aims to answer a central question: Do your ancestors’ struggles stick with you through DNA?

5. Crying in HMart by Michelle Zauner

Content warnings: Grief, death

Why we recommend it: Grief can be difficult to get through without community. Zauner’s experience with loss can make readers feel understood and acknowledged in this hard emotional journey.

Michelle Zauner’s honest and emotional memoir showcases her experience with losing her mom to pancreatic cancer. Serving as a caretaker for her last four months, Zauner approaches grief, love, and identity in a refreshingly sincere way. Most interestingly, she analyzes the estranged relationship between her and her mom, confronting hard-to-answer questions when someone you love passes away.

6. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr. Julie Smith

Content warnings: Depression, anxiety, grief, self-acceptance/self-esteem

Why we recommend it: Many of us may have missed out on mental health education, but it’s never too late to learn those key lessons and tools. Dr. Smith uses her psychiatric experience to highlight techniques she shares with her own community of clients.

“Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? is another book that really breaks down emotional awareness,” @mariajaxn says. She notes that it’s a lot to digest since Dr. Julie Smith approaches subjects like depression, motivation, emotional pain, fear, stress, and more. Framed by Dr. Smith’s years as a clinical psychiatrist, she reveals many of her favorite tools to help clients manage daily emotions and live a fruitful life.

7. Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

Content warnings: Toxic relationships, guilt/shame

Why we recommend it: Since boundaries are a necessity in community, Tawwab helps readers identify healthy behaviors in relationships.

Another @tinatalkingtherapy recommendation, this book’s title says it all: set boundaries, find peace. Nedra Glover Tawwab is a licensed counselor and relationship expert who explains what healthy boundaries are and how to implement them in your day-to-day life. She uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) tactics to explain common relationship woes like codependency, anxiety, and burnout.

8. It’s On Me: Accept Hard Truths, Discover Your Self, and Change Your Life by Sara Kuburic, PhD

Content warnings: Emotional regulation, dissociation, derealization

Why we recommend it: Despite being a mental health professional, Kuburic is a human first — and it’s why she seeks out to highlight healthy ways to accept mistakes and toxic behaviors. It’s a key step in self-acceptance and moving through your healing journey.

It can be difficult — but not impossible — to hold yourself accountable for the mistakes you make. That’s what Sara Kuburic sets out to do in her book, centered around the idea that many of us have lost our sense of self through self-sabotage and toxic patterns. A @thechilltherapist favorite, Kuburic aims to help readers connect to their bodies, set boundaries, and declutter mental and physical environments.

9. Decolonizing Wellness by Dalia Kinsey, RD, LD

Content warnings: Food/eating, diet culture, racism, colorism, trauma, homophobia, transphobia

Why we recommend it: Community can be one of the most powerful tools for minority groups. Kinsey, RD, LD sets out to help readers simplify wellness “traps” through her guide to uncomplicated self-love.

The front cover of Dr. Dalia Kinsey’s book describes Decolonizing Wellness as “a QTBIPOC-centered guide to escape the diet trap, heal your self-image, and achieve body liberation.” Serving as a roadmap to help marginalized people improve their health, eliminate stress around eating, and adopt a self-love approach to food, Dr. Kinsey uses wellness tools to address challenges presented by racism, colorism, homophobia, transphobia, and generational trauma.

10. Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom

Content warnings: Racism, colorism, transphobia, rage, grief

Why we recommend it: Sometimes, when we can’t find the love within ourselves, we can seek it out from other healthy outlets. Thom’s heartfelt book is filled with adoration to minority groups who may be struggling to find acknowledgement in their day-to-day.

Written by Kai Cheng Thom, a Chinese transgender woman who is now an activist and psychotherapist, this book serves as a love letter to other marginalized people. She aims to affirm other “outcasts” through her writing, spreading love that’s deeply needed in ostracized communities.

Takeaway

BookTok is a great resource to find supplemental reading in your mental health journey. From grief to trauma to self-acceptance, there’s a recommendation out there for everyone — just remember that mental health books aren’t a solution to seeking professional help.

Community Minds lives at the intersection between community and mental health professionals. We pride ourselves on offering a safe space for anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in life. We’re here to meet you where you are.