author suzanne o'sullivan

the age of diagnosis welldoing book of the month

The Age of Diagnosis

On Learning from the Patient

Probably one of our most-recommended books by Welldoing therapists, Bessel van der kolk's seminal work is a must-read for anyone interested in trauma and the body 

The Body Keeps the Score

Our Welldoing Book of the Month for January 2025

No Filters: A Mother and Teenage Daughter Love Story

"This is one I’d recommend to any colleagues looking to become more queer affirmative. It is presented in a conversational/interview format, which is very engaging and readable" – Therapist Julie Gosheva

Queering Psychotherapy

"It’s a deceptively simple book that opens up crucial questions about psychoanalytic theory and technique: What is it for; what might we be aiming at; why do we create the environment we do; what’s play got to do with psychoanalysis?" – Therapist Nicole Scott

Playing and Reality

"This book has helped my clients understand themselves" – Therapist Neil MacVicar

How Emotions Are Made

How to Think Like Socrates

Ten Steps to Positive Living

Grandparenting: On Love and Relationships Across Generations

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Getting the Love You Want

A searingly honest and unflinching co-memoir, In the Blood was our Welldoing Book of the Month for November 2024

In the Blood: On Mothers, Daughters and Addiction

"I first read it before entering psychoanalysis and found it a moving description of a young woman’s attempt to find out who she is and to develop her own method for doing so" – Therapist Nicole Scott

A Life of One's Own

All the Rage

Codependent No More

"Why Love Matters is about the science behind the importance of loving our children. Reading it can help my clients comprehend the neurological realities of a damaged childhood and inspire a new parent to give their child the holding they need." – Therapist Emma Rasalingam

Why Love Matters

Raising Hare

"Grosz an outstanding and articulate writer. He makes his insights from psychoanalysis accessible to the average person" – Therapist Sumeet Grover

The Examined Life

What You Are Looking for Is In the Library

Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy

"Describes a love story in a humorous way, intertwined with really insightful reflections of what true love really is and how to survive a modern relationship" – Psychologist Dr Ana Costa

The Course of Love

"A lovely book that liberates the idea of giving up from notions of failure" – Therapist Nicole Scott

On Giving Up

"Particularly enjoyable, and relatable. It was fascinating to understand how a very experienced therapist understood the profession" – Therapist John Garrow

The Gift of Therapy

"For helpful insights into relationship dynamics and difficulties" – Therapist Jess Orlik 

From Impasse to Intimacy: How Understanding Unconscious Needs Can Transform Relationships

"A very practical book, not just a book to read; to get the most out of it you read a chapter a week and follow the exercises and suggestions within it" – Therapist Sarah Elizabeth Blake

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

Daring Greatly

Rising Strong

The Untethered Soul

"A helpful guide to the psychology of relationships within family, friends, colleagues or partners" – Therapist Michael Armstrong

Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships

"I often recommend this book to clients working through anxiety and depression" – Therapist Aaron Kelly

The Feeling Good Handbook

"Details the basis of acceptance and commitment therapy and has loads of exercises that I have used with clients" – Psychologist Dr Ana Costa

ACT Made Simple

The Descent of Man

"My go-to for understanding how the brain functions" – Therapist Klara Sharples

The Compassionate Mind

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress

Introduction to Internal Family Systems

"Poetic, tender and questioning" – Therapist Camilla Nicholls

The Mothers I Might Have Had

"Despite the title this is not a religious book at all, but written by a leading evolutionary scientist robustly exploring Buddhist techniques and why they work on the brain. It’s great" – Therapist Matthew Landers

Why Buddhism Is True

Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy

The Anatomy of Dependence

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

The Mindful Way through Depression

"Profoundly impactful in helping clients navigate grief. Many have shared that reading it made them feel less isolated in their grief journey" – Therapist Klara Sharples

The Year of Magical Thinking

"Invaluable for clients struggling with loss" – Therapist Klara Sharples

The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss

We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life

'An astonishing book offering a psychoanalytic take on sadness" – Therapist Nicole Scott

Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia

Talking it Better: From Insight to Change in the Therapy Room

"I think you can get therapeutic insight from great literature as much as therapy texts!" – Therapist Dan Lowe

Anna Karenina

Wherever You Go, There You Are

The Happiness Hypothesis: Ten Ways to Find Happiness and Meaning in Life

"Forrest was a precociously talented journalist, flying high until her mind unravelled into self-destructive mania. Many reviewers didn’t like this book for its self-indulgence but there’s some winning prose and a fascinating insight into her relationship with a psychiatrist who suddenly died" – Therapist Julia Bueno

Your Voice in My Head

"The book I most commonly recommend to clients, as it offers strategies and skills that they can use to help themselves which can be really powerful" – Therapist Jenny Hunter-Phillips

Mind Over Mood

Mysterious Realities: A Dream Archaeologist's Tales from the Imaginal Realm

"A real opportunity to consider a completely different way of thinking" – Therapist Stephen Slatter

The Red Book: A Reader's Edition

"One of the first books I read when beginning training and led me on the road to object relations and the effect of early years care received on us as adults, and I really appreciated it’s straightforwardness" – Therapist Stephen Slatter

They F*** You Up: How to Survive Family Life

"Explains in layman’s language that genes do not dictate our biology but are instead switched on and off by outside influences, among others, our beliefs" – Therapist Bettina Falkenberg

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles

The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory

Come Together: The Science (and Art) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections

"Complex theories but such an easy read" – Therapist Matthew Reed

Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy: A Relational Approach

"This book eally helped me to understand the various theories I was studying" – Therapist Matthew Reed

Integration in Counselling & Psychotherapy: Developing a Personal Approach

"This book really helped me during training and I still refer to it now" – Therapist Matthew Reed

Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy

1984

The Lost Weekend

Narcissus and Goldmund

John Bowlby and Attachment Theory

The Freud Reader

 The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness

"Sort of my bible" – Therapist Matt Thomas

Person-Centred Counselling

All Is Well: Heal Your Body with Medicine, Affirmations and. Intuition

"It's a must-read" – Therapist Ruthie Portnoy

Awareness

"This extraordinary work (with one of the most beautiful birth scenes in particular) narrates the slow growth of pregnancy and parenthood and the author’s partner transition" – Therapist Julia Bueno

The Argonauts

Mindfulness Skills for Trauma and PTSD

"Norman was one of the first to scream loudly at the dreadful care and understanding of the life-limiting endometriosis she suffered" – Therapist Julia Bueno

Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain

"Westover escapes from an abusive family system through separation and education" – Therapist Julia Bueno

Educated

"A moving memoir of infertility and the redemptive power of swimming" – Therapist Julia Bueno

Adrift: On Fertility, Uncertainty and the Wilderness of the Body

"A brilliant exploration of the experience of miscarriage and its relegated nature amongst research and medicine" – Therapist Julia Bueno

"Recommended for stress and anxiety about work-life balance" – Therapist Rory Howlett

Four Thousand Weeks

"A collection of powerful essays, exploring the shame of growing up with a female body, alcoholism, miscarriage and a troubled adolescence" – Therapist Julia Bueno

Notes to Self

"Offers an interesting perspective on depression and anti-depressants" – Therapist Mark Moore

Lost Connections: Why You're Depressed and How to Find Hope

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

I'm OK, You're OK: A Practical Approach to Human Psychology

I Am Enough

Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential

"A great growth-mindset book for children aged 7 and above" – Therapist John Turland

You Are Awesome

High Performance Habits

Braving the Wilderness

Atlas of the Heart

Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

Your Symphony of Selves

The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind

The Choice: A True Story of Hope

Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living

"This book has been helpful for a lot of my Black clients in particular. The tools provided enable people to not just find ways to ‘survive’ but to also thrive, whilst also providing validation for their experiences that can often be dismissed in society" – Therapist Ruth Abban

Living While Black: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Racial Trauma

With the End in Mind: How to Live and Die Well

"This is a very easy read for individuals curious about their process using the Parent, Adult, Child Ego State Model. Clients are able to talk around the characters in the book, linking their own stories and experiences" – Therapist Samantha Carbon

Counselling for Toads

Facing Codependence

"Highly recommended to anybody who has been bereaved or is supporting someone experiencing loss" – Therapist Hermione Ruck Keene