What are some books to relieve anxiety?

In the past two years, I was busy working on quarterly projects for three months. At one point, I was sitting at my workstation and my heartbeat suddenly shot up to 120, and I couldn't calm down even while watching a 15-second short video. I read more than 20 related books, and in my personal test, the one that was most effective at relieving anxiety was "Handbook of Anxiety Disorders and Phobias," which is a self-help tool book officially recommended by the American Psychological Association. The chicken soup that just screams "You have to work harder" is all easy to use. When I was so panicked that I couldn't hold the pen, I followed the "abdominal breathing + 478 breathing method" in the book, and my heartbeat stabilized in less than 5 minutes. It contains different adjustment plans for social anxiety and generalized anxiety. I still use it when I occasionally have anxiety.

If your anxiety mostly comes from "fear of others being dissatisfied" or "always feeling that you are not doing well enough", don't read too hard-core professional books. Instead, you can read "The Courage to Be Disliked". In the past, I never dared to refuse jobs offered by colleagues because I was afraid that my boss would think I was capable. Worse, even posting a post on Moments took me half an hour to figure out whether anyone would mind. After reading the concept of "separation of subjects" in the book, I came to a realization: How I do things is my subject, and how others evaluate it is their subject. I don't have to be responsible for other people's emotions. After that, I tried to push back work that was not my own twice, and found that the sky did not fall at all, and my daily anxiety was reduced by 60%. Of course, this book is controversial. Many people feel that its views are too "idealistic" and even mean to teach people to be selfish. In fact, there is no solution that suits everyone. People who are trapped by this kind of interpersonal anxiety are naturally too considerate of others. Taking this "selfish" perspective out of it can pull themselves out of the vicious circle of pleasing people. People who are inherently self-centered will not be entangled in this kind of anxiety, so they naturally find it useless.

If you are so anxious that you can't read large sections of theory, don't force yourself to read a thick book. A thin book called "Mr. Toad Goes to a Psychologist" is enough. It blends the entire process of psychological counseling into a fairy tale. Some people complained that this book was too shallow and had no practical information. But for me, who couldn't even read a word at the time, its purpose was not to teach me how to do things. It was to make me realize that "it's not my fault that my current mood is wrong." It was to let me out the emotions that were stuck in my heart, and then I could learn how to understand it later.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe the propaganda that “reading a book can cure anxiety”. In the final analysis, a book just gives you a ladder with handrails. If you just put it aside to gather dust after reading it, without practicing breathing and refusing an unreasonable request, even buying a whole bookshelf will be useless. If I had only read books at that time, I might still be holding a thermos cup every day and counting my heartbeats.