Our brains are doing our best to help us out, but they can be real assholes sometimes. Sometimes it seems like your own brain is out to get you—melting down in the middle of the grocery store, picking fights with your date, getting you addicted to something, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. You already told your brain firmly that it isn't good to do these things. But your brain has a mind of its own. That's where this book comes in. With humor, patience, and lots of swearing, Dr. Faith shows you the science behind what's going on in your skull and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life. If you're working to deal with old traumas, or if you just want to have a more measured and chill response to situations you face all the time, this book can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and get your life and brain back.Here's an excerpt from the book:Knowing what’s going on up in your brain is HUGE. So much of how we interact with the world around us is a completely normal response when we take into account our past experiences and how our brains work. • Freaking the fuck out • Avoiding important shit we need to take care of • Feeling pissed off all the time • Being a dick to people we care about • Putting shit in our bodies that we know isn’t good for us • Doing shit we know is dumb or pointlessNone of these things are fucking helpful. But they all make sense.Your brain has adapted to the circumstances in your life and started doing things to protect you, bless it. It’s not TRYING to fuck you over (even though it totally is, at times).As we navigate the world, nasty shit happens. The brain stores info about the nasty shit to try to avoid it in the future. Sometimes these responses are helpful. Sometimes the responses become a bigger problem than the actual problem was. It’s called a trauma reaction.And even if you aren’t dealing with a specific trauma? Adaptive coping strategies, bad habits, and funky behaviors all wire in similar ways. And research is showing that these issues are actually some of the easier ones to treat in therapy … if we address what’s really going on, rather than just the symptoms.

Is your body an asshole? Does it keep you up at night, crave nonstop French fries and ice cream, and try to convince you that exercise is evil? Does it develop weird illnesses and pains for no apparent reason and run out of energy just when you need it the most? Does having a body at all fill you with uncomfortable emotions? Enter Dr. Faith G. Harper, therapist, nutritionist, and bestselling author of Unfuck Your Brain. She explains the emerging science of the gut-brain connection and the vagus nerve so that everyone can understand what's going on in your body and how to make friends with it again, especially if you've experienced trauma or chronic stress. Filled with straight talk and practical exercises so you can reconnect with your physical needs and reactions, work through body shame, manage illness and disability, and implement small changes that make a huge difference in how you feel every day. You are a whole person and it's time to reconnect with yourself!

Want to keep track of your appointments, tasks, and moods while also working through the mental health stuff that's holding you back? Unfucking your year doesn't have to start in January. Take control of your life with this unplanner at any point in the year, and fill in the months and days as you plan your weeks and work through the exercises month by month. Unfuck Your Year is a perpetual planner with themed months to help you unfuck your life. Features weekly activities in Dr. Faith Harper's frank style to address a different topic each month, including anxiety, addiction, anger, depression and more. Also includes mood and period trackers, and space for you to set monthly goals along with plenty of achievable suggestions to get you on the right track.

Want to be a writer, but the words won't come? Do you have a lot to say but don't know how to write it so people will read it? Do you struggle with anxiety, procrastination, or feeling like an imposter around your writing? Microcosm's two most prolific authors teach you their tricks of the trade in this no-nonsense, practical guide to the craft of writing longform work. Learn skills like setting and sticking to goals, communicating effectively with your writing, having fun while writing, working with an editor, and creating reader-oriented work. This is not a book about crafting beautiful sentences with perfect grammar; instead Harper and Biel will teach you to write so that your words have the greatest possible impact on the world.

Untangle your emotions and expectations about money so that you can live your best financial life. Without fear and shame holding you back, it's more possible to move past all those social barriers to actualizing whatever your money aspirations are, whether that's getting a raise, getting out of debt, having honest conversations about money with your family, raising your kids to be savers, or wherever your values lead you. Dr. Faith, author of the bestselling Unf*ck Your Brain and Unf*ck Your Intimacy, tackles one of the toughest emotional topics there is with her trademark mix of neuroscience, gentle encouragement, and no-nonsense language. This book isn't about getting rich quick (or necessarily at all)—it's about figuring out your own economic values and baggage, and learning to be the person in the world you know you have it in you to be.

Boundaries are the ways we communicate our needs. They are what allow us to feel safe among strangers, in everyday interactions, and in our closest relationships. When we have healthy boundaries, we have a strong foundation in an uncertain world. And when someone crosses your boundaries, or you cross someone else's, the results range from unsettling to catastrophic. In this book, bestselling author Dr. Faith Harper offers a full understanding of issues of boundaries and consent, how we can communicate and listen more effectively, and how to survive and move on from situations where our boundaries are violated. Along the way, you'll learn when and how to effectively say "no" (and "yes"), troubleshoot conflict, recognize abuse, and respect your own and others' boundaries like a pro. You'll be amazed at how much these skills improve your relationships with friends, strangers, coworkers, and loved ones.

Anxiety is a survival skill gone haywire. It happens when our brain is working so hard to protect us that it forgets to notice that the danger has passed. It feels like choking, stifling, smothering, tingling, panicking our brains cut out and we start to make bad decisions all normal anxiety reactions. Dr. Faith G. Harper, author of the bestselling Unfuck Your Brain and This is Your Brain on Depression packs a ton of knowledge and help into this practical manual. She helps us understand the history and science of anxiety, realize when it's become a serious problem, know the difference between anxiety and other conditions, and cope with it in the moment as well as addressing it long term. This book is a lifesaver for panic attacks, breaking out of flight-fight-freeze responses, similar and co-occurring conditions, and for chronic anxiety. Straightforward, funny, kind, and judgment free, it includes a wide range of tips, exercises, and medical interventions. It's also good for people who aren't burdened by daily anxiety but want to cope better with the tough life situations we all face. Read this book and breathe!

Shame and guilt are perhaps the most difficult emotions humans experience. They tell us we are fundamentally broken, wrong, and unsalvageable—and then we operate in the world from that self-concept. Dr. Faith G. Harper, bestselling author of Unfuck Your Brain and Unfuck Your Stress, writes that these emotions often result from our sense of "not-enough-ness" and the overwhelming feeling that we need to hide parts of ourselves in order to be loved and accepted. But we don't need to keep going through life feeling guilty, ashamed, and disconnected from ourselves. With compassion, humor, brain science, and swearing, she guides us through the difficult shadow work of finding and reconnecting with these hidden parts and learning to accept our whole selves to regain our sense of vitality and completeness. Because we each deserve the experience of being a fully alive human.

Food is complicated. And our relationships with food and eating are all kinds of fucked up. It doesn't help that cultural messages about health, diet, body image, and weight are fatphobic and often medically dangerous. Dr. Faith Harper, author of the bestselling Unfuck Your Brain and Unfuck Your Body, brings her trademark combination of science, humor, and real talk to help us work through our food, health, and body image issues and develop a healthier relationship with food so that it can fuel us and bring us pleasure. She delves into the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating and the causes and consequences of both, breaks down the difference between various behaviors, tackles trauma and other co-occurring conditions, and provides compassionate and practical steps to improve your eating habits and repair your relationship with yourself.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 We tend to separate mental health from physical health. But what we actually know about the brain is that it resides in our gut. It takes in tons of information and makes decisions before we are even aware that a decision needs to be made. #2 The prefrontal cortex, the front part of your brain, is in charge of executive functioning, which includes problem-solving, goal-oriented behaviors, and managing social interactions according to expectations of what is appropriate. #3 The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that is responsible for thinking and making decisions. It is highly connected to the rest of the brain, and it receives feedback from the brainstem arousal systems. #4 The limbic system, which is the middle part of the brain, stores memories related to emotions. The amygdala, which is part of the limbic system, stores event-based memories. The brainstem is the final part of the brain, and it controls basic functions like breathing and heart rate.