Why Am I Feeling Like This?

My Personal Opinions: I don't know if this book is irrevocably unhelpful or if I simply set my expectations too high, but Why Am I Feeling Like This? is not a book I would suggest to teens suffering from Generalized Anxiety and depression. It does offer some religious insight and comfort into the community of mental health, but a few cognitive techniques with no explanation or research to back it up will not appeal to truly suffering teenagers. Firstly, I am not convinced that eighteen real teens contributed to this book. Each excerpt was short, of the same writing style, and had a too-perfect story arc. Let's face it: Gen Anxiety and depression come in many forms and are caused by literally anything, yet all of these teenager's experiences were far too stereotypical to be real. If they were real teenagers, Murray managed to find the most cookie-cutter experiences that will exclude most reader's journeys with mental illness and make it seem like getting better is a one-step task. Secondly, complimenting the previous point, none of this book was scientific or backed up with research. It is a good effort to help teens, but it is a school counselor's advice, not a PhD's advice. I have nothing against any religion, but the inclusion of Christianity makes mental illness seem like another every-day obstacle that will go away if you keep faith. I'm not saying that Why Am I Feeling Like This? is a bad book for any reason, but if you can only read one self help book for teens, I would not choose this one.

My Favourite Thing: That said, given the correct audience, the inclusion of Christianity will help struggling teens understand that they are not alone and God will always be there to listen. Every chapter ends with a prayer and a religious exercise to keep your mind at rest and help you see the good in the situations you're facing. Murray may not be a PhD in psychology, but he does have a passion for calming young adults and helping them keep faith in difficult times.

My Least Favourite Thing: As a teenager, I struggled with severe Gen Anxiety, OCD, and recurring depression. Although Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder, Generalized Anxiety and OCD are treated in completely different ways. Murray summarized and tried to treat OCD and PTSD alongside Gen Anxiety and depression, which will confuse readers and downplay the seriousness of the two other conditions. This does not mean one disorder is more serious / important than the other, but saying "OCD can be treated the same way as Gen Anxiety" is leading teens down the wrong path and making it more difficult for them to find proper care. Leave OCD, PTSD, and anything besides what you advertised out of this book!

Total Rating: PG-12
Language: PG-12+
Adult Content: PG-12
Violence: PG-12

Recommended For and Similar Reads: Why Am I Feeling Like This? is a guide to calming down and finding yourself while struggling with Generalized Anxiety and depression. If you are a suffering Christian teenager, this book will help you keep faith and restore comfortability with God despite your sins, fears, and mental illness! Similar reads are What to Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner, Anxiety Relief for Teens by Regine Galanti, and Goodnight Mind for Teens by Colleen E Carney!

Disclaimer: this review contains statements of OPINION. If you do not agree, don't listen to me! Read the book and form your own opinions, these are simply my thoughts and suggestions!

First sentence: Freedom! We long for it and love it. At last, free to be and do what we want. That’s the teen years, right? Our first car, our first job, our first date, our first road trip. These are wonderful moments of increasing independence that we experience in our teen years as our parents gradually release us from their supervision. Freedom is so amazing, isn’t it? We can’t get enough of it, and we can’t get it early enough. But for some of us, our teen years are the opposite of freedom. They are years of increasing bondage. It’s not that an outside force like our parents or teachers imprisons us. No, it’s an inside force that restricts us. Our own thoughts and feelings hold us captive, and we can’t break free from them.

Why Am I Feeling Like This? A Teen's Guide to Freedom from Anxiety and Depression has a companion book geared towards adults (parents, teachers, counselors, pastors, grandparents, etc.)

The book introduces readers to eighteen teens. (I'm assuming names have been changed and/or the teens are composites of multiple teens.)

1. Circular Sarah
2. Tense Tom
3. Doomed Dave (this is the author's testimony)
4. Imaginative Imogen
5. Panicky Paul
6. Faithless Flavia
7. Controlling Colin
8. Depressed Dan
9. Negative Nicole
10. Workaholic Will
11. Beautiful Brianna
12. Media Max
13. Friendly Fiona
14. Bullied Benton
15. Rebellious Rob
16. Perfect Peyton
17. Paralyzed Pam
18. Lonely Luke

A couple of paragraphs illustrates each teen's experience with anxiety, depression, or anxiety and depression. After the introduction, a key is shared. One main key per chapter. This key is the key that that teen said helped improve the situation. An update or follow up from the teen then follows. The chapters close with an activity or exercise to try, a verse to memorize, and a prayer to pray. The book stresses that teen readers are NOT to try using or "turning" all the keys at once. Not all keys will work for all readers. And some keys that will end up working in the end require time and patience.

This is the exercise for chapter one:
The next time you feel anxious or depressed, use the key of understanding. Try to view your feelings as an outside observer and briefly describe what you experience in your thoughts, feelings, and body. Instead of getting on the roller coaster, try to think of yourself as a spectator watching it from the sidelines and you are calling your friend to describe it. This may not immediately change your feelings, but it changes the way you relate to them. Write down: • What are my thoughts? • What are my feelings? • What is happening in my body? What was the sequence? What came first, second, and third? Labeling and describing our thoughts and feelings like this reduces their power over us.


The adult book includes these same teens. But my impression from reading the adult book--which includes the two or three paragraph summaries of teens' experiences--was that they were generic stereotypes and not reflective or representative of any actual teen. Perhaps because the adult book didn't include the follow ups? Perhaps because the adult book didn't stress that the main key of each chapter was the one the teen said helped best? Perhaps because the adult book sought to bring in more, more, more, more. Instead of one or two activities per chapter, the author was throwing half a dozen per chapter. Perhaps because there was less narrative quality and more fact-throwing? I don't know.

I definitely got the impression from reading this book that anxiety and depression are normal and natural to humanity. There is help, but you're first and foremost a human being. The adult book I felt tended more towards your teen is a problem to be solved; here are some tools, start experimenting. That could just be me.

Neither book mention the gut microbe. I think if David Murray had bothered to go there--the gut, brain connection--the book would be even better. There is a BIG, BIG, BIG connection between the gut and the brain. Good bacteria can make a HUGE difference in how our brain functions and processes life.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I, personally, did not find this book helpful. Granted, I am not religious and it has never interested me. However, from the blurb, I didn't think it would be THAT focused on religion. I thought I was in for advice from a licensed counselor/therapist but maybe that's my bad.

I would not recommend this book to anybody struggling with mental health because at times I found it patronizing. There is a line in there which basically says, "Don't tell anyone you're on medication" which is really harmful because it furthers the stigma that we can't talk about our illnesses and what we do to ease it.

The stories were really short and offered no depth, nor did the resolution at the end of each story. The titles seemed silly and not appropriate for the subject matter.

As someone who has struggled with mental health, this book made me laugh spitefully.

This book was meh. It was alright but I didn't feel like it would help someone with anxiety or depression. I think it could actually be more triggering. The concept is really good and I liked some of the little activities but it could have been more diversified for people who aren't religious.

Why am I feeling like this by David Murry is a great resource for teens and young adults. This book is very much needed in the world today. Many teens seem to be dealing with depression. The books description states:
DescriptionA Teenager's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety or Depression If you have experienced anxiety or depression, you may have asked yourself, Why am I feeling like this? You are not alone.
I think this book should be in every church library.