September Reading for Health Book of the Month: How to cope: the welcoming approach to life’s challenges by Dr. Claire Hayes
‘Life can be demanding enough without us causing ourselves greater upset because we “don’t feel happy”. Instead, let’s welcome all our feelings of distress, all our thoughts and beliefs about life’s challenges, and focus on transforming these in a way that is helpful for us.’
In How to Cope, psychologist and clinical director of depression awareness charity Aware Dr Claire Hayes takes a good look at our thoughts and how they can affect us, demonstrating how each of us can use cognitive behavioural principles to help us cope. In a very clear, practical way she shows us how to make sense of our distressing feelings, to become aware of our unhelpful thoughts and our core beliefs, and most of all, to focus on what we can actually do to improve things for ourselves. Rather than trying to suppress or ignore negative thoughts and feelings of distress, she invites us to welcome them as messengers asking us to do something helpful to improve things.
Using her unique techniques such as the ‘Coping Triangle’ and ‘Coping Sentences’, Dr Hayes shows us how to proactively manage life’s challenges, such as pressure, rejection, loss, failure, success and change. Real-life case studies illustrate the success of Dr Hayes’s approach, while practical exercises and advice make it accessible to all readers. How to Cope is the ideal book is for anyone who has suffered from stress, anxiety or depression, and for their friends and family.
The book is currently available for free on the Borrow Box app as an eBook and eAudiobook. It is one of the public library’s always available titles, so it means that you won’t have to queue to borrow the book – just download it instantly. To access this, you will just need a Lancashire Library card (you can apply here if you don’t already have one) and download the Borrow Box app for free from the Google Play or App Store. Alternatively, you could also reserve a physical copy from one of the reopened libraries.