Your Brain on Love: The Neurobiology of Healthy Relationships by Stan Tatkin PsyD

• This is a great book for developing insight into attachment styles, and effectively finding and maintaining healthy relationships.

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Dr. Sue Johnson 

• Understand yourself and your partner and reconnect through insight, new perspectives, and new response opportunities. This book masterfully walks us through and out of interpersonal patterns in which we can easily find ourselves feeling stuck and hopeless, offering our relationships the tools for renewed intimacy and bonding. 

Love In Abundance: A Counselor's Advice on Open Relationships by Kathy Labriola

• While arguably a little bit dated and basic, when diving or slowing dipping into the potentially very emotionally and logisitcally complicated world of polyamory, the foundational building blocks are exactly what is called for. 

Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy by Jessica Fern

• Whether you have a long history of non-monogamous relationships, or you're considering what those dynamics could look like for you, this book is a great, insightful resource. The author "expands our understanding of how emotional experiences can influence our relationships. Then, she sets out six specific strategies to help you move toward secure attachments in your multiple relationships." 

Love Lives Here by Amanda Jette Knox

• This one was an audiobook for me, and I couldn't stop listening. Knox is a force of love and advocacy as well as accountability. This is the story of her family, and loving her child that came out as transgender at 11 years old, followed by Knox's spouse of nearly 20 years.

SHA Bookshop

• This link connects you with a wide array of books related to sexual health. As I started plugging book recommendations in here, I realized that I was reinventing the wheel, so I absolutely encourage you to check it out! 

Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski PhD

• This one sat in my reading list for far too long, as now I can't say enough good things about it. While it is geared toward people with vulvas, I'd highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a better understand of sex, intimacy, and desire. 

Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia

• Insightful, engaging, funny, informative, and genuine. This memoir has it all, covering a broad spectrum of Tobia's experiences as a gender non-conforming individual navigating childhood, adolescence, and adult existence in a world stuck in binary expectations. 

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

• I can't recommend this one enough either. Johnson offers the reader a beautiful and candid glimpse into their upbringing with the complicated intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. 

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

• A memoir written in the form of a graphic novel, Kobabe expresses and explains (and literally illustrates!) eir life of nonbinary gender identity and asexuality with a touching and powerful vulnerability. "Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere."

Queer Sex: A Trans and Non-Binary Guide to Pleasure and Relationships by Juno Roche

• While the focus is clearly on queer sexual dynamics and experiences, however you identify, this book has the power to inspire and mitigate some of the pressures around the intersections of pleasure, gender, love, and sexuality. On a quest of self-actualization and connection, Roche interviews people with different relationship and sexual dynamics, sharing her story and underscoring the varied, expansive, and sometimes elusive nature of sexual pleasure and connection. 

*More titles include Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome, Here for It by R. Eric Thomas, Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi, Man Alive by Thomas Page McBee

What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry

• This audiobook is probably the most engaging, digestible breakdown of the etiology and impact of the trauma experience that I have found so far. Without getting too clinically heavy, it provides a helpful lens through which to understand and start to heal a broad scope of our feelings and behaviors that have outlived their function.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

• This book has become an industry standard recommendation for understanding the trauma experience. That's not to say it's perfect, but it does provide an in depth picture of the effects of trauma on the brain, our lives, and our functioning as individuals and as a society. Innovative and empirically proven treatments and strategies are outlined as effective healing tools. 

Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time by Laura Khoudari

• Part memoir, part brain science, and all informative and insightful. I'd recommend this book to anyone, but especially folks navigating traumatic experiences, body image, and self-esteem challenges.

The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time by Alex Korb PhD.

• It might sound like a tedious read, but don't let the bulky title put you off. This is a well-written, engaging, practical, and digestible explanation of depression that offers a variety of strategies to cultivate emotional resilience. 

I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression by Terrence Real.

• This is is a book about the depressive experience from a man’s perspective. It describes common variations in how depression may manifest itself in men, along with strategies to approach it.

How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety by Ellen Hendriksen

• Honest and engaging, I read (well, listened to the audiobook) for a second time recently, and it still resonated. It's more cognitive-behavioral  (changing how we think and behave) than a deep and insightful clinical dive into human nature, culture, or individual values, but it does touch on those concepts a bit. 

Unfuck Your Anger: Using Science to Understand Frustration, Rage, and Forgiveness by Faith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN

• I'm pretty sure the messages in the Unfuck Your (...) series of books would be lost on my mom, who wouldn't be able to get past the swearing. So, Mom, I do not recommend these books for you. If you are NOT my mom and you don't give a shit about gratuitous expletives, these books are amazing, and I plan to read more of this author's work. *See also Unfuck Your Anxiety (Depression & Anxiety) and Unfuck Your Boundaries (Miscellaneous)

Rage: A Step-by-Step Guide to Overcoming Explosive Anger by Ronald T. Potter-Effron, MSW, PhD.

• This read provides a concise explanation of possible types of rage. It also presents steps to address and control what would otherwise be detrimental and potentially dangerous episodes of intense anger. NOTE: I don't always agree with the language used or the limitations implied when they describe anger and the functionality of the brain. 

Anger Management for Everyone: Ten Proven Strategies to Help You Control Anger and Live a Happier Life by Raymond Chip Tafrate PhD. 

• The sensitive and accurate language that seemed somewhat lacking in Rage is offered here. It also provides practical strategies to control anger for a more fulfilling life, including a review of key points shared at the end of each chapter, and a more in depth exploration of anger triggers and strategies to manage it. 

How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by Dr. Raquel Martin

• This is a great read or listen for anyone who struggles to any degree with beliefs around "laziness" and guilt or shame around not getting things done. Better yet, it's applicability can go beyond just keeping house and into other life goals and expectations of self. 

Is Fred in the Refrigerator?: Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life by Shala Nicely

• Whether or not you may have symptoms of OCD, I'd recommend this book to anyone navigating anxious and intrusive thoughts. The author writes an engaging story with courage and candor, and throughout the book she peppers in references to additional resources that have helped her on her healing journey.

Unfuck Your Boundaries: Build Better Relationships Through Consent, Communication, and Expressing Your Needs: The 5-minute Therapy Series by Faith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN

Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale

• Nobody gets out of this world alive, but the prospect of death and dying can fire up intense discomfort, anxiety, and fear in even the most resilient among us. This book not only provides insights into the experiences of the dying, but also helpful strategies for approaching death, from the perspective of both the dying and the grieving. 

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

• Ok, so this is NOT any kind of clinical or therapeutic book. It's a young adult novel that was recommended to me for my kiddo by a bookstore clerk years ago. I was dubious, and I didn't need to be. The clerk was right, and I enjoyed reading it to my kid as much as they, to my surprise, enjoyed listening to it. I'm posting it here because it's a story of identity, curiosity, community, and growth. 

An Emotionally Focused Workbook for Couples 

Hold Me Tight Workbook for Couples

The Complete OCD Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Free Yourself from Intrusive Thoughts and Compulsive Behaviors

The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control and Becoming Whole

The Domestic Violence Survival Workbook - Self-Assessments, Exercises & Educational Handouts

The Trans Self-Care Workbook 

The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook

The Polysecure Workbook: Healing Your Attachment and Creating Security in Loving Relationships