There are times when we are feeling depressed, it feels like there is no way out. In those moments, it is important that we listen to audiobooks that explore the same feelings. There are many self-help audiobooks that can help you overcome the negative and depressed feelings inside you.
People who are struggling with depression may find solace in listening to audiobooks in the first-person narrative that talks about their struggles with depression, and how they recovered from it. While others might just want to listen to a fiction title featuring characters with whom they can relate.
Different types of audiobooks on depression and anxiety
- Audiobooks with research and greater understanding- In these audiobooks, you get to know about the latest research on mental illnesses that is going on and what are the most effective treatments.
- Audiobooks with hope and inspiration- These types of audiobooks make you feel less alone. Usually, the author of these audiobooks has suffered from the same problem, and hence, you connect with them in an instant.
- Audiobooks with mental exercises- These audiobooks suggest some good mental exercises and techniques that benefit you in dealing with your depression and anxiety issues.
Here are a few of the best audiobooks on anxiety and depression that can help you deal with your problems.
Best audiobooks to help with anxiety and depression
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple is one of the best audiobooks on psychology and mental health. Through this audiobook, you get to learn 10 simple strategies for managing your problems like depression, anxiety, anxiety, anger, panic, and worry. Written by a licensed psychologist and best-selling author Seth J. Gillihan Ph.D., this audiobook is read by Stephen Hoye.
This audiobook is simply narrated in very straightforward language that encourages the listeners to overcome procrastination, challenge their negative thoughts, and activate healthy behavior. You can unlock the secret to a healthy and clear mind by listening to this audiobook on depression and anxiety.
Best about this audiobook
Through this audiobook, I got a deep understanding of cognitive-behavioral therapy which is the first line of psychotherapy treatment for depression and anxiety.
There is also a self-evaluation section included in this audiobook through which I can track my progress easily on what I have learned using cognitive behavioral therapy.
- Furiously Happy
Furiously Happy is a funny audiobook about horrible things like depression and anxiety. This is the perfect audiobook for people who are dealing with depression and anxiety as it gives them a very much-needed dose of laughter. The author Jenny Lawson has beautifully described the day-to-day life of a person dealing with chronic depression and anxiety in this audiobook. Apart from writing, Jenny has done complete justice to the narration also, his comic timing is perfect in this audiobook.
This audiobook talks about mental illness in-depth and talking about a serious topic like depression and anxiety in a comic style is bizarre. And bizarre is what Jenny does the best.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook has truly changed my opinion about my mental health. The author Jenny is the most down-to-earth writer I have ever read. I love the way she narrates the book. Listening to the audiobook, it felt like you were listening to your close friend telling you hysterical stories.
While listening to this audiobook, you get a feeling that you are not alone and that it is totally okay to laugh at the crazy that is your life.
- Self-compassion Step by Step
A perfect audiobook for people suffering from depression and anxiety, Self-compassion Step by Step has an accessible and profoundly transformative six-week training course for improving your relationship with yourself. Written and narrated by Kristine Neff Ph.D., this audiobook teaches its listeners how to accept their flaws & insecurities, forgive yourself for all the blunders in your life, and continue trying despite them. This audiobook conceptualizes an alternative metric for self-esteem, which is self-compassion. Through this audiobook, Neff has given self-compassion as a more effective measurement of psychological health.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook on psychology is the perfect choice for people like me who are insanely self-critical types. After listening to this audiobook, I have learned to take a practical approach to achieve a life full of happiness, satisfaction, and love.
Kristen has taught beautifully through this audiobook to connect with yourself in a manner that supports your overall healthy wellbeing. I read this audiobook during the most challenging time of my life and the program really helped me.
- Lost Connections
Lost Connections is the best-selling audiobook on depression and anxiety. Other than uncovering the real causes of depression, this audiobook also gives you some effective solutions for it. The audiobook is written and narrated by New York Times best-selling author Johann Hair. Johann has beautifully narrated his own life in this audiobook as he himself suffered from depression and had been on antidepressants since his teenage years. Through his personal experience, he claims that a chemical imbalance in our brain is really not the cause of depression and anxiety.
This audiobook has covered many facts from scientists who have been studying people with depression and anxiety for years. And the studies conclude that depression and anxiety have nothing to do with a chemical imbalance in the brain, instead, it is caused by our lifestyle. Listening to this audiobook, you get to know the nine real causes of depression and anxiety and the seven very different solutions to them.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook has something different than other psychological audiobooks. In this audiobook, the author does not talk about the old ideas; he breaks down the assumptions about depression and anxiety.
He has written the discussions in a very simple and straightforward language that only a gifted writer could. In this audiobook, the author has both the problems and the solutions very accessible.
- Feeling Good
Feeling Good is the best psychology audiobook that gives you the new mood therapy. This audiobook can be your next best therapist if for some reason you cannot go to a professional one. The audiobook is the perfect pick for people who are dealing with problems related to depression such as anxiety, procrastination, guilt, low self-esteem, and pessimism without drugs. The author, an eminent psychiatrist David D. Burns, MD has explained in detail, all the scientifically proven techniques that can help uplift your spirits and develop a positive outlook on life. Talking about the drug-free treatment of depression, this audiobook has an all-new consumer’s guide to antidepressant drugs.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook is the closest replacement to a real therapist you can get. I have been doing all the exercises this audiobook has told me to do like writing down my feelings and other mental exercises. After doing all the exercises for a few days, I can seriously tell a difference in my mental health.
For years, I had random thoughts that I didn’t know how to control. After listening to this audiobook and practicing all the techniques, I am able to control my thought process and I have also learned a lot about myself and my thoughts.
- First, We Make the Beast Beautiful
A good pick for people who have anxiety issues, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful teaches you the best philosophy, science, and hacks for thriving with anxiety. Sarah Wilson who is New York Times best-selling author has written and narrated this audiobook. Through this audiobook, she has told her own life story in which she has struggled with different types of mental illnesses like anxiety, bipolar, OCD, and several suicide attempts.
This audiobook teaches its listeners how to live a fully functional life even when suffering from severe anxiety. After listening to this audiobook, you get to know that the real key to anxiety is not getting rid of it, but, instead directing it to more productive ways.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook takes its listeners on an energetic journey, leaping from story to story, sometimes ten years back, other times five years ahead, from childhood memories to the imagination of old age.
You can easily connect to this audiobook as the author has herself struggled with the anxiety issue. It is good to know that there is someone out there who gets your problem completely and gives you validation that you are not crazy.
- The Noonday Demon
Want to know everything about depression, the medical experience, the personal experience, its cultural interpretations, its history, and the pharmacological treatments for it? If yes, you should definitely give The Noonday Demon audiobook a try. This audiobook, in its perfect sense, is an anatomy of depression. Andrew Solomon has written this audiobook and Barrett Whitener has read it. This audiobook is based on Andrew’s struggles with depression and it is the perfect pick for people suffering from the same problem.
In this audiobook, Andrew has included some interviews with other fellow sufferers, doctors, scientists, politicians, philosophers, and drug manufacturers who have worked in this field. This audiobook reflects upon a very different side of depression, antidepressants, therapy, and mental health.
Best about this audiobook
I found this audiobook an excellent combination of the well-written story and the shocking severity of Solomon’s own experiences.
The Noonday Demon is the best audiobook on mental illness that one should read for a better understanding of the human mind.
- This Close to Happy
This Close to Happy is written by Daphne Merkin who is a gifted and audacious writer. Through this audiobook, she has confronted her lifelong struggle with depression and her search for release. This audiobook is a very rare and personal experience of the author of what it feels like to suffer from clinical depression. Listening to this audiobook, you get to know about depression from a woman’s perspective. There is also a deep understanding of the implications of this mental illness over a lifetime.
In this audiobook, Merkin talks about her severe postpartum depression and her endless visits to therapists and psychopharmacologists. All these years of her struggles enabled her to probe the real causes of depression and its various treatments.
Best about this audiobook
The audiobook is brilliant, scathing, heartbreaking, and raw. It is the most powerfully honest audiobook which talks about depression and child abuse.
This memoir is the most moving, brave, and brilliant audiobook I have ever listened to about depression. This is a highly recommended audiobook for anyone who knows the pain of depression.
- Smoking Cigarettes, Eating Glass
This audiobook is a cautionary story of careless psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Smoking Cigarettes, Eating Glass is an informative audiobook about PTSD and making emotional sense of all the events that can lead a person to darkness. Written by Annita Perez Sawyer, this audiobook tells a harrowing, heroic, and redeeming story of the author and her battle with mental illness. Annita Sawyer was institutionalized as a suicidal teenager in 1966. There she was misdiagnosed and suffered through 89 electroshock treatments before being labeled as unimproved. After six years, she got discharged but the damage was done and this has haunted her life.
The audiobook tells a story of perseverance, pain, acceptance, healing, hope, and success. Sawyer, through this audiobook, has raised her voice for this generation, shedding light on an often misunderstood illness.
Best about this audiobook
The audiobook tells a very courageous story about the confrontation with a broken system. The author has raised her voice against a haphazard approach to the rising incidence of mental illness, where individuals are trying to find wellness and meaning in spite of the inadequacy of care.
This audiobook is highly recommended for people and professionals who are concerned with the health of individuals and families in a hectic world.
- The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar is the story of Esther Greenwood, a brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful young woman who is starting to spiral into depression. Written by Sylvia Plath, this audiobook is narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal from Esther’s perspective. Through this audiobook, the author has masterfully drawn the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes completely real and even rational. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has narrated Esther’s character brilliantly so that listeners can really connect to her emotions, worries, doubts, and thought processes.
Best about this audiobook
This audiobook has made an extraordinary accomplishment by narrating the story with such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche. This has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
If you are into classics, you should definitely listen to this audiobook. The story is dark, even frightful at times but always flowing and well written. The Bell Jar is both a stark referendum on mental illness and an amazing listening experience.
Conclusion
To start with curing your depression and anxiety, these audiobooks on mental health are very helpful. Listening to these audiobooks, you get a totally different perspective on depression and anxiety. You get to know the real causes behind your depression and anxiety issues. Along with that, these audiobooks on depression and anxiety give positivity and make you believe that you can come out the other side as a happier and stronger person.