7 books that will support you during a difficult period of life

1. Rebuilding Yourself: How to Recover from Trauma and Become Stronger by Scott Barry Kaufman and Jordyn Feingold

Every day a person has a thousand reasons to worry: the uncertainty of the future, internal conflicts, difficulties in relationships and fear for the health of loved ones. But what if it is instability that creates the best conditions for personal development?

Positive medicine physician Jordyn Feingold and psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman are researching this phenomenon. In their book, they examine the principles of post-traumatic growth - a person’s ability to overcome crisis situations with positive psychological changes, that is, with new views of oneself and world.

According to the authors' theory, the stress of suffering becomes a catalyst for changes that do not necessarily manifest themselves externally, but help a person feel more confident. However, it is important to remember: trauma itself does not help to grow; development is facilitated by a person’s attitude towards life’s obstacles. The book will teach you to perceive difficulties not as a threat, but as a challenge, and use them to stimulate personal growth.

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2. “The Power of Crisis: Personal Transformation and New Opportunities in Difficult Times”, Leonid Krol

A crisis is an uncomfortable and uncomfortable state in which a person cannot continue moving along the usual route and often does not know how to get onto the right road.

Psychologist Leonid Krol shares step-by-step instructions with recommendations and exercises for diagnosing and getting out of different crisis situations: broken relationships, work mistakes, unfulfilled desires, existential searches, loss of loved ones and Not only.

The author invites you to face your demons and explains why to solve a problem you need to work closely with it. Not only to develop new skills, to grow and transform internally, but also to notice small important details, learn to behave in a new way in old circumstances or, in the end, change the attitude towards the problem if its solution depends little on the efforts made effort.

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3. "Nine Principles for Living a Meaningful Life: The Crescendo Mentality" by Stephen R. Covey and Haller Cynthia Covey

One of the crises that almost every person faces sooner or later is the crisis meanings. As a rule, it happens at the end of a turning point in life: leaving a job after many years of service, completing a grandiose project, achieving a certain status, or upon retirement.

The joy from the result is quickly replaced by the thought that the most important thing is already behind us and the person is not capable of more. All he can do is drag out his existence quietly and peacefully.

American business consultant Stephen Covey suggests looking at your life as a piece of music. It is a rare composition that begins with a loud, intense sound. The sound in the song increases from bar to bar, from chord to chord. It’s the same in life: the meaning of existence grows from achievement to achievement. You just need to remember that the most important thing is always ahead. In the book, the author teaches how to find meaning at any age and status.

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4. “Coping with Difficult Situations: Stress, Anxiety, Change, Crisis, Relationship Problems,” Mike Annesley

Misfortune never comes alone. Often, troubles at work are aggravated by a crisis in relationships, and financial difficulties affect health and social life. As a result, external stress increases, and a lack of understanding of how to cope with it leads to a decrease in self-esteem and loss of faith in one’s own strength.

The good news is that problems are rarely unique. This means that there are proven methods for solving them, which psychologist and writer Mike Annesley offers for consideration.

All situations are taken from the personal experience of the author or the experts he contacted during the preparation of the book. A variety of life problems are touched upon: fears and anxiety, low self-esteem, nervous overload, failures, health issues, love and difficult trials. Analyzing the problem, the psychologist gives a “quick” solution that will help minimize stress, and offers more detailed instructions for in-depth work with the situation.

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5. “Accept and survive loss, grief, bereavement: How to learn to enjoy life again,” Alexander Ryazantsev

Any crisis pales in comparison to the loss of a loved one. But a feeling of irreparable loss can also arise in other situations: during a painful divorce, or the loss of a loved one’s personality due to a serious illness. On average, it takes at least a year to cope with such grief. However, efforts must be made to help the psyche resist and then recover.

Psychologist Alexander Ryazantsev has developed his own algorithm for overcoming grief. It is built on the basis of twenty years of research and experience with thousands of patients. The algorithm is based on the need to cope with the loss. If the main stages of grief - denial, anger, sadness and guilt - are not lived through, the person gets bogged down in the loss, becomes isolated in it and cannot move towards a new meaning in life. As a result, psychological and physical consequences occur: depression, eating problems, illnesses.

Alexander Ryazantsev analyzes each of the stages of coping with loss and in his book gives practical recommendations both for those who themselves have faced loss and for those who are nearby and want to help.

6. Everything Sucks: A Book of Hope by Mark Manson

The happier a person's life, the more attention he pays to the problems of the outside world. And there really is “everything sucks”: natural disasters, wars, global warming and there is no hope that these problems will be solved quickly and painlessly.

However, Mark Manson, author of the international bestseller “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,” advises abandoning expectations of the best and faith in global justice. Instead, he offers another paradoxical way to live happily - to learn to accept reality as it is. what it is, with all the problems and troubles, and focus on the quality of your own life in the current conditions.

For arguments in favor of his theory, he turns to the works of Nietzsche, Newton and Plato. The resulting book consists of short chapters that can be read chronologically or as stand-alone essays.

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7. “The Perfect Storm: How to Survive a Psychological Crisis”, Ekaterina Sigitova

In the spring of 2020, when the whole world was in fear of the unknown due to the outbreak of a pandemic, a psychotherapist Ekaterina Sigitova gathered an online group of like-minded people to survive sudden changes and collapse together hopes, failures and losses associated with the situation. It turned out that regardless of the depth of the crises, the mechanism of their survival is the same. Having compiled the results of weekly meetings, Ekaterina received a universal workshop on how to get out of any difficult situation.

The theoretical part of the book is devoted to how to support yourself during difficult periods, find strength in fear and uncertainty, and cope with emotions. The chapters are supplemented with examples from the author's personal and professional experience, as well as practical exercises for each of the ten stages necessary to overcome an emotional storm.

The psychologist advises not to rush and not look for quick self-help tips in the book. It will be more effective to follow the technique step by step, doing deep work with consciousness in order to ride the wave and emerge from the storm.