Bibliotherapy 2020: 8 books to expand your thinking around workplace mental health

Despite all the awareness campaigns and resources spent - as a nation, we've barely moved the needle on the key indicators of mental health.

We need better answers. 

Better answers require better questions. 

Better questions require better thinking. 

These are the books that challenged and enriched our thinking the most in 2019. 

We hope they do the same for you too. 

Here’s to a great 2020 for you, your loved ones, and your business. 

1. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb (Psychotherapist and Columnist) 

Most people who would benefit from therapy, won't see a therapist due to stigma, shame, and a fear of the unknown. This beautifully written non-fiction narrative gently dismantles all of these barriers by taking you on a journey into a shrink's consulting room, revealing her patients' journeys as well as her own.

This, however, is more than just a series of touching tales; seamlessly woven throughout its pages are examples of valuable psychological principles and their lessons.

This book heals. 

“When the present falls apart, so does the future we had associated with it. And having the future taken away is the mother of all plot twists.”

2. Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health by Sandro Galea (Physician and epidemiologist)

We don't really have health-care systems; we have sick-care systems. Consequently, policies and strategies don’t actually drive ‘health’ in our homes and workplaces. 

In this book, Galea dissects the US health-care system and replaces it with a broader model of ‘Health, not health-care’. In doing so, he shows that tackling health from a systemic, proactive approach is the only long-term, sustainable option for any nation.

"As long as anyone is cut off from the conditions and resources that foster health, everyone is at risk. Any argument to the contrary is just hubris."

The logic also holds true for workplaces; if we are going to make a real dent in mental illness and its associated risks and costs - organisations are going to need to think more like epidemiologists than emergency responders.  

3. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari

Depression is now the leading cause of disability on the planet. In this compelling and compassionate work, Hari interviews over 200 of the world's leading depression researchers and practitioners to find out what's driving the depression pandemic. 

The result; the message the public has been told for decades is mostly inaccurate. Essential reading for anyone touched by depression.

“Every one of the social and psychological causes of depression and anxiety they have discovered has something in common. They are all forms of disconnection. They are all ways in which we have been cut off from something we innately need but seem to have lost along the way.”

4. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry by Randolph M. Nesse (Physician, Founder of the field of Evolutionary Medicine)

Natural selection could have eliminated anxiety, depression, addiction, anorexia, autism and schizophrenia. But it didn’t. Why not? 

Nesse uses the lens of evolutionary medicine to expand our understanding of what drives emotional states, how it can run awry, and what we can do about it. It’s a fascinating read, but make no mistake - he doesn’t hold back on the technical talk, so roll-up your cognitive sleeves for this one.

"Nearly everyone has wondered why human life is so full of suffering. Part of an answer is that natural selection shaped emotions such as anxiety, low mood, and grief because they are useful."

5. Australia Reimagined - Towards a More Compassionate, Less Anxious Society by Hugh Mackay ( Psychologist, Sociologist, Social researcher, Writer)

Australia: Who are we? Where are we going? And what kind of society do we want to become? 

Most of us are so busy getting through the day-to-day that we don’t notice how our society is incrementally evolving. Fortunately, Mackay has spent a lifetime observing and monitoring these trends, their faultlines, and their futures.

In this book, Mackay pulls at the threads that are impacting our mental health, the implications of which contain warnings and wisdom for us all. If you've ever entertained a career in politics or public policy, you need to read this. 

"When it comes to our future, misplaced optimism is as dangerous as faith. What is needed is the courage to face the way things are, and the wisdom and imagination to work out how to make things better."

6. The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller

There is a saying in economics that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. This book is a testament to that adage.

It’s an important message because we are now in the age of big data, and with it has come an expectation that everything can and should be measured. What Muller shows is that this is often false, not only because metrics aren’t always the best way to obtain knowledge, but also of how consistently human nature corrupts the process, outcome and impact of data-driven decisions; allowing individuals to game the system and leading organisations astray.

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

Fortunately, Muller offers a clear set of guidelines to make better use of metrics while avoiding the pitfalls. If your role is becoming increasingly data-driven, this book contains sage advice.

7. The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien

Reality is complex. It’s so complex in fact that humans cannot understand it in its entirety. To make sense of it, as we grow up, we invent or adopt rules and principles of how the world works. These are mental models. 

Unfortunately, if we know too few of these models, or they are of poor quality, our understanding of reality suffers and so does the quality of decisions we make. This, in turn, limits how successful we are in life. 

The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our decisions, and the quality of our decisions is determined by the quality of our thinking.

This book attempts to lay out the most powerful and robust mental models from a wide range of disciplines. Many you will be familiar with, but they are still worth ruminating on. Plus, there’s a good chance there’ll be several more you haven’t heard of, and each will provide you with a new lens through which to approach life's challenges. 

8. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World: General Stanley McChrystal

This has been a staple on many reading lists for several years now, and for good reasons. Firstly, it’s an incredible insider’s perspective of a military leader - where each decision decides the lives of scores of humans. Secondly, and more practically for us civilians, it explores how complexity and the accelerating rate of change in the world are demanding a new way of thinking about how organisations should be managed. 

‘VUCA’ may be a well-worn buzzword by now, but how many of us truly comprehend its significance and have integrated its lessons into our business strategy? This book is an opportunity to go beyond the buzzword and better prepare ourselves for the chaotic and dizzying pace of things to come.

“Attempts to control complex systems … tend to be pointless at best or destructive at worst.”

There you have it - 8 great books to expand your thinking around the complex and nuanced world of workplace mental health.

Right now, a major shift is taking place in how workplaces approach mental health and Allos Australia on the the front of this next wave. We'd like to challenge your expectations of what's possible with an Employee Assistance Program.

If you're curious, reach out - I'd love to chat.