I highly recommend this book for everyone. Truly, everyone.

Just as one doesn't need to be in crisis to go into therapy, one doesn't currently need mental health help in order to benefit from this book. Every last one of us will face a mental health challenge at some point in life - some will be "run of the mill" and easy enough to tackle alone, while others will require professional help - but Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? offers solid, actionable guidance for dealing with a variety of mental challenges, not only in ourselves, but in those around us. Even if you don't think you'll need the advice in this book (which I can guarantee you will, but I digress), the advice in this book can help you better relate to or even help a friend or loved one who is going through a mentally challenging time.

Dr. Julie Smith, a practicing psychologist (IG @drjulie), breaks down the book into several sections so that the reader can pick and choose from a buffet of options in order to best suit their needs. And it's not all about major mental health issues; there are sections on self-doubt, stress, and grief - undoubtedly parts of the human experience that everyone will go through at some point.

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? offers strong, concise advice that aligns with much of the advice I received from my own therapist. Rather than offering a single approach, she offers a toolbox of approaches so that the reader may pick and choose what works best for them at that point in life. I see this book as more of a reference book than a one-time read. It's the kind of book that, yes, you can read through cover to cover and get a lot out of it, but the reader will truly benefit from by revisiting individual sections as they become more relevant to their current personal experience.

Having dealt with various mental health challenges throughout the years, this book was a fresh breath.

𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓗𝓪𝓼 𝓝𝓸𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓣𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓜𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓑𝓮𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮 by Julie Smith had me asking myself "why didn't I already know this?"
She does a wonderful job of showing you 'yes, you may have a mental illness, but doing a, b, or c could help you improve your health and your overall way of thinking.
What impressed me most was that it wasn't the same thing I've read in nearly every single Self help/mental illness book I've read, she didn't tell me that the only way I could feel better was by taking medication or spending thousands on ineffectual therapy.

I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with grief, stress & anxiety, or just in a dark place.

The book is written in a way that you can choose which section pertains to you the most, without having to read/skim looking of areas that you need.

This book is truly incredible. Everything Dr. Julie Smith writes makes me feel seen and understood in a way I haven't previously. She gently forced me to work through and understand a lot of essential things. Everyone should read this book.

Dr. Julie Smith, as a cognitive behavioral psychologist, offers an excellent overview of how this arm of therapy works. Designed not for the medical field, but for patients who may or may not be familiar with the psychological therapy process, Dr. Smith organizes her work into chapters based on the real-life questions patients might ask. This really is where the rubber meets the road for the answers need to be understandable, have relevance and offer reasonable, do-able strategies for healing. In this, her book performs beautifully.

There are several references to potential readers who may read her book in an attempt to follow her guidelines and help themselves without a therapist. This is one book that I believe makes this possible to do. If one is motivated, the answers are there! This is a good read, simply and elegantly written, that has the potential for much healing.

I have a couple of suggestions that might add some depth to the author’s approach. She recommends mindfulness therapy and meditation as critical tools to help with this work. I believe just as much time and attention needs to be placed on these healing remedies as the book itself. As a mindfulness practitioner, finding that NOW moment through which to work on change is very difficult. It takes a great deal of time and constant practice. While some resources were listed, I feel much greater emphasis should be placed on exactly the best way this should be done for therapy. The same goes for meditation. While these activities are useful transitions as we choose to apply them to healing, they also tread closely to the spiritual realm. Medicine shies away from any meaningful discussion on spirituality and It’s time to make a change. Finding meaning in life is one of our objectives. It would be nice to see a strong belief from the healing field that our thoughts on things we believe to be bigger than ourselves are critically important to our overall physical, mental and emotional health.

An easy to read and understand book full of great options for building and maintaining your mental health in trying times such as these. It really does make you ponder why you didn’t think of some of these! Very good!

I really liked this book. I’ve been having a hard time and it got me out of my slump just by reading words that forced me to think outside the box. I like how it was split into multiple chapters of interest and I can always refer to the chapters that resonate with how I’m feeling. Definitely recommend.

As a veteran reader of self-help books I look for original content and information that can be actually put to use rather than theoretical prose. This book accomplishes both of these things and there are actual tools and ideas which can be put to use by those who need some help with emotional issues. Dr. Julie has a following on social media and this book is her way of putting together advise on a variety of subjects from self-esteem, to depression to grief. I appreciated the fact that the author did not start the book with chapters of scientific studies on the brain as I have read those many times and that type of information is not useful to someone who is suffering. Each chapter has a theme and she includes ideas which are identified with a light bulb graphic and tools which are identified with a wrench graphic. I would not say any of her tools are new but they are presented in a new way which makes it valuable.

The author suggests we identify our values and who we want to be and then analyze our thoughts and behaviors to see if we are going in the right direction. She also talks about identifying our emotions in more detail; instead of saying we are sad, are we really bored, anxious, frustrated? She suggests journaling and writing down our negative emotions to try to make some sense of how and why they appeared which will help us to understand them. One of the most important things to me was the idea of not stopping bad feelings but letting them flow through you while trying to identify what they are and where they came from. This is amazing advice as so many times we are told to stop negative feelings which can be impossible.

I did think there was some repetition, although this book is really set up to read sections as needed, If you are not currently grieving for example, you might not need that section at this time. There is a lot of emphasis on exercise, eating well and gratitude lists and I thought this information was perhaps repeated one too many times. Overall, I would recommend this book for people struggling with their emotions, particularly during the pandemic where our lives have become more stressful. I look forward to viewing some of her videos and following her on social media.

I'm so glad I discovered Dr. Julie's work. This book is particularly great for those who have gone or are currently going to a therapist. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

This book is full of great tips, tools, and wisdom that will help most people learn to use the tools presented or serve as a reminder for those that already know how to use them. The book has a friendly tone, and I feel as though the author would be a delight to sit and have a cup of coffee (or tea) with. She encourages the readers to reflect and journal, asking thought provoking questions that relate to the content of the chapter. The chapter summaries are effective and to the point. While the author does remind readers that there are times to seek professional help, it might be wise to emphasize that a bit more often, as it is still quite stigmatized. This book is appropriate for those who have few tools to help deal with stress and relatively mild symptoms. It is also appropriate as an accompaniment for those with more severe symptoms working with professionals. This is a book I will recommend to my clients when appropriate. A great resource to keep on one's shelf and pull out occasionally to review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the advanced readers copy of this book.
You can think of this book as therapy light.
It give a well rounded look at the issues that plague a mind, and follows with some general advice and exercises that could be helpful.
If you have severe depression or severe psychological difficulties, a therapist would be a much better alternative.
This book is for those who are having mild issues.
The advice is good, but in a general manner

This book is incredibly insightful. I love how each chapter gives real life tools to help you deal with things that life throws your way. Each chapter also gives you a summary to really drive the point home. While reading this book I found myself re-reading aha moments. Dr Julie puts things in such a way that it really hits home, So many tools to help transform your life. This is a book that I will want to re-read and keep in my library as reference. Thank you for writing it!

If you are a traditionalist, then you have an urge to read all books cover to cover. I believe this book is best digested in the segments that most speak to you at the time that you pick the book up. I appreciate that the author gives you permission to skip sections all together. In the spirit of the book itself, you can't take the whole book in all at once and be productive. It's more of a road map and you plot the points that you need rather than attempting to visit every location.

2 most essential bits of information for me (paraphrasing here):
1. We are conditioned to believe that if we aren't happy all the time we must have some mental health condition.
2. "Who do I want to be today?" and how to do I take a small step in the direction of moving more towards my goal.

Your 2 bits will likely be different than mine. That's what the book is about. Everyone has different needs at this moment.

We are all uniquely qualified to benefit from this book in a moment such as this.

***Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!***

This is a great self help book by a psychologist sharing her wisdom she’s shared with many of her clients on topics such as depression/Low mood, anxiety, grief and other mental health topics. It’s very ready and provides practical tips and easy solutions to understanding how our minds work and how we can bring ourselves up out of our despairs. I wish I had read this book many years ago while dealing with depression- this would have been helpful.

This book is definitely worth a read for anyone who suffers from low moods way too frequently - whether they're caused by depression, trauma, or whatever else. It's full of a lot of useful information, but one thing kind of bothered me. A lot of it seemed very repetitive to me. But other than that, I could definitely see it being useful for anyone with mood disorders, mental health issues, or people going through a tough time in life!

This book takes an empathetic approach and gives bite size approaches and allows you to have kindness and patience with yourself when dealing with life. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. Highly recommend. Especially loved the reflection to true life to humanize my feelings and relate. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Amazing. Just fantastic and life changing. After reading this you will shake your head and say “why has no one ever told me this?” Seriously. This is life insight that everyone needs to hear and it’s written in such a way that it’s easy to understand. I highly recommend reading this book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy!