Book Review : the Pocket Therapist by Therese Borchard

I have to confess that when life gets stressful I don't always follow the sound advice that I give my clients. When the going gets tough, I get a box of really good chocolate truffles- my own personal version of therapy in a box. I love the sweet and sometimes bitter richness of the chocolate and the plethora of fillings, each one offering me a different kind of comfort. I can rest assured that somewhere in that box will be just enough consolation to get me through life's latest challenge. That is exactly how I felt reading Therese Borchard's latest book, The Pocket Therapist. It is a perfect compilation of witty, thoughtful, scientific, and personal anecdotes and I can assure you that the answer to whatever emotional crisis ails you can mostly likely be found between its pages. Offered in bite-size chapters, each no more than a page or two, this book is a guide to improving and protecting your mental health.

Therese Borchard is not a professional in the mental health field but her years in and out of various forms of treatment combined with her personal experience battling depression, anxiety, and a variety of other issues, make her the best kind of expert... one who understands. In each of the 144 "chapters" you will find the voice of someone who gets it. Someone who recognizes that the challenges of maintaining a sense of balance and calm in this world is overwhelming for most of us on a good day and can feel nearly impossible for those struggling with mental illness. Therese offers you her hand, and her wisdom, in this comforting book of advice and insight.

It is the author's own emotional frailties that make this book so wonderful. While the tips she offers are not always based in a particular theory or the latest research trends, they are no less valuable or meaningful in the quest to maintain your own mental health. She offers readers an honest look at some hard-won lessons about being kind to yourself, creating boundaries with those who hurt you, and learning to live with rather fight against your imperfections.

In a particularly insightful chapter on honoring your neuroses, Therese quotes Buddhist nun Pema Chodron:

"... our brilliance, our juiciness, our spiciness, is all mixed up with our craziness and our confusion, and therefore it doesn't do any good to try to get rid of our so-called negative aspects, because in that process we also get rid of our basic wonderfulness."

The Pocket Therapist offers a fresh perspective on the psychological and emotional hurdles so many of us strive to remove from our lives. Rather than seek to eliminate the challenges, this book explores the lessons learned when we face even our most difficult experiences, while offering its readers a much needed dose of hope and solace in the midst of whatever challenge life has thrown their way. As Therese so eloquently puts it, "don't go to a hardware store for tomatoes." This is not the book that will save your marriage, help your son get sober, or eliminate your need for anti-depressants; that's what life-sized therapists are for. However if you are looking for a little daily encouragement to make facing those challenges (and many others) just a little bit easier, then a "pocket therapist" may be exactly what you need.