Mental Health Awareness Week: Book giveaway
SANE has joined forces with Vintage Books to give away five sets of four titles offering clarity and insight into important areas of wellbeing for Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 May).
This year MHAW is raising awareness of the impact of loneliness, which affects millions of people every year in the UK, and is a key driver of poor mental health.
Ease loneliness
SANE has growing concerns about the effect of prolonged loneliness, not just on older people who are isolated, but on the young for whom there is early evidence of increased risk of suicide and self-harm.
Loneliness contributes to higher levels of distress, resulting from people’s sense of isolation and reduced ability to connect with others.
A report from Demos and The Reading Agency charity found that reading or listening to an audio book can significantly reduce the feelings of loneliness and help to alleviate social isolation.
The four books you can win are:
Heavy Light by Horatio Clare – After a lifetime of ups and downs, Clare was committed to hospital under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act. From hypomania in the Alps, to a breakdown and a locked ward in Wakefield, this is a gripping account of how the mind loses touch with reality, how we fall apart and how we may heal.
How I Learned to Live With Panic by Claire Eastham – Award-winning blogger and author, Eastham is an expert on panic. She’s not a doctor or an academic, but over a seven-year period, she has experienced 371 panic attacks (and counting), and learnt a thing or two along the way. Part memoir, part guide, this is an honest and uplifting exploration into panic attacks.
What Mental Illness Really Is… (and what it isn’t) by Lucy Foulkes –Psychologist, writer and speaker Dr Foulkes investigates what we know about mental illness – and shines a light on what we don’t. She offers a new approach to how we think, talk and help when it comes to mental health.
Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen – An incendiary examination of burnout – what got us here, the pressures that sustain it and the need for drastic change. Through her own experience, original interviews and detailed analysis, Petersen traces the institutional and generational causes of burnout. And, in doing so, she helps us to let go of our guilt and imagine a possible future.
Transform lives
While reading or bibliotherapy will not cure mental health disorders, it can have dramatic results in people with poor mental health.
It can help to transform the lives of those with low mood or who find themselves socially isolated.
A 2013 study involving 96 patients with mild depression, showed that people given a book to read saw improvement in their depressive symptoms.
How to enter
This giveaway has now closed and the winners have been informed. Thank you for your interest.
SANE improves quality of life for anyone affected by mental illness, including family, friends and carers.
We achieve this by providing confidential help, expert information and practical advice.
