11 Best Books for Therapists to Read in 2025
I am a reader, and always have been. I find that part of my continuing education as a therapist and clinician needs to be reading and continuing to ingest new ideas. Whether you’re an experienced therapist or a new clinician, it’s a great idea to read different books to see what you can offer you clients. Here I’ve compiled a list of my favorite books for therapists in no particular order!
The Gift of Therapy
Irvin Yalom
Dr. Irvin D. Yalom’s book The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients is simply one of the most well-regarded books in the world of psychology and psychiatry. Dr. Yalom works from his 30+ years of experience, offering practical and super personal advice and suggestions for working with individuals. It’s full of many different suggestions you may not find elsewhere in other books, with the main point being to find ways to connect with your clients.
The Making of a Therapist
Louis Cozolino
I can’t speak for the author, but it seems that the goal of this book is to really personalize therapy and the experience of a therapist. Rather than going through theory and tehcnical aspects of psychology, Cozolino focuses on the therapist’s personal journey. The book aims to address aspects of the therapist, not their knowledge of therapy or psychology. Anyone who reads The Making of a Therapist: A Practice Guide fro the Inner Journey will find themselves questioning, investigating, and discovering themselves in new ways. The book starts with a section on “Getting Through Your First Sessions,” moves into “Getting to Know Your Clients,” and ends with “Getting to Know Yourself.” It covers topics like how healthy one needs to be in order to support others, how to deal with a client that scares you as a therapist, and how to turn your personal weaknesses into strengths in your practice.
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel Van der Kolk
Drawing from decades of experience in working with survivors of trauma, Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk offers this book as a way to understand how the brain and body hold onto trauma. Investigating the areas of pleasure, control, trust, and more, Dr Van der Kolk investigates how we can reactivate these parts of the nervous system through various treatments and modalities. He covers techniques like mindfulness-based therapy, yoga, play therapy, neurofeedback, and more. It receives what I agree are valid criticisms for its lack of evidence-based practices, but I still think it is a worthwhile read to open up to different methods of treating and understanding trauma.
Practicing Mindfulness
Matthew Sockolov
This book by my friend Matthew Sockolov of TheMindfulCounselor.me is a great introduction to mindfulness practice. It contains 75 different practices that cover formal meditation, practicing mindfulness in daily life, and workign with difficult emotions. As a therapist, I find this book to be a great way to offer little moments of mindfulness to my clients in an approachable way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. For anyone interested in concrete ways to offer mindfulness to clients, check this book out!
On Becoming a Person
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers is the founder of the humanistic psychology movement. Many of Rogers’ ideas have been incorporated into mainstream psycholgoy in a way that we almost don’t recognize them as his original ideas. In this book, Rogers examines being vulnerable, authentic, ourselves, and comfortable in our own skin. It is through this transformation of acceptance that we are able to orient toward change he argues.
Self-Compassion
Kristin Neff
This book is simply one of my favorites in working with self-compassion. In my experience as a clinician, most of us could use a little self-compassion boost. Dr. Neff works of years of research looking at self-esteem and self-compassion, making the point that those who are compassionate toward themselves and their imperfections experience significantly higher rates of well-being. In addition to offering the “why” of self-compassion, she goes into the “how” in an approachable and pragmatic manner that I find useful in my own life and the lives of my clients.
Waking the Tiger
Peter Levine
Written back in the late 90’s, Peter Levine’s book is a wonderful look at trauma and what we can do to heal. By investigating the experience of trauma in wild animals, Levine makes the argument that trauma is held partially in the body. I don’t find it to be the most well-written book on this list to be honest, and I recommend The Body Keeps Score as a first-pick for working with trauma. But this book still offers an interesting look at trauma and gives many things you can add to your toolbox as a therapist working with individuals with PTSD.
Bad Therapy
Kottler and Carlson
In Bad Therapy, Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson compiled experiences from twenty clinicians who cover their mistakes, miscalculations, and more with clients. These individual stories can shed light on what it means to be a therapist, what mistakes may look like, and what we can learn from them. It’s said that a wise person learns from the mistakes of others, and this book offers a powerful way to investigate some common or painful mistakes therapists may make. It’s not to say you or they are bad therapists, but it does offer some insight into the growth process a therapist experiences.
Don’t Panic
Reid Wilson
Don’t Panic is a wonderful book for working with panic and anxiety attacks. Whether your clients are suffering from generalized anxiety or having silent panic attacks, this book is a must-read. Dr. Wilson offers a five step strategy that includes breathing exercises, focused thinking, and more. The core of the book is that our intuition or instinct on how to fight panic/anxiety are often not helpful. Instead, Dr. Wilson offers a way to be with the anxiety and allow it to move through you. This takes time and practice, but this book offers a step-by-step method for working with these difficult moments.
What Every Therapist Needs to Know About Anxiety Disorders
Martin Seif and Sally Winston
This is definitely not the most exciting book on this list, but a great resource. It’s not quite a textbook or reference book, but it’s also not very narrative or a self-help book. What it does offer is key insights and interventions for working with anxiety. Whether its phobias, panic attacks, or compulsions, this book offers a handful of different ways to approach these difficulties and work with them with your clients.
The Happiness Trap
Russ Harris
The Happiness Trap is a book that investigates the drive we all have toward being perfectly happy. It looks at the stress and anxiety caused by this thirst for happiness, and how to actually be where we are and confident in ourselves. It utilizes the ACT framework (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and I have found it to be immensely useful with my clients personally!
