Own Your Self: The Surprising Path beyond Depression, Anxiety, and Fatigue to Reclaiming Your Authenticity, Vitality, and Freedom

by Kelly Brogan

For years, we've been telling ourselves that our difficult feelings - sadness, rage, shame, intensity, worry - are somehow "not okay". And, all too often, we've relied on the promise of pharmaceuticals to tamp them down. The fact is, though, that these feelings are a vital part of our experience. They are real. And those of us who feel them most strongly are the canaries in the coalmine - sensitive to things that are seriously wrong in the world today.

In a book that's both provocative and promising, holistic psychiatrist Kelly Brogan, MD, author of A Mind of Your Own, shows us that we don't have to medicate our mental, emotional, and physical pain away - that the best way out is through. She explodes the mistaken belief that our symptoms - from mood changes to irritability to fogginess and fatigue - are evidence that we are sick or broken. Then she charts a new path to get real, get well, and get free. The journey



Coming to a new appreciation of the meaning behind symptoms, and whether you are a canary in the coal mine Learning the two major risks of medication that most doctors are not trained to disclose Exploring the five reversible physical drivers of so-called mental illness Starting the process of radical physical healing with inclusive details of Dr. Brogan's history-making 30-day protocol Taking an emotional inventory of energy drains and toxic relationships Taking a deeper dive into the spiritual awakening and expansion that comes when you reclaim your real self from conventional medicine Identifying the most likely places you have given your power away Understanding what the science has to say about psychedelics as a tool for awakening Navigating health challenges with curiosity and the proper tools Guidance, support, and many Travel Tips shared from the trenches! Our experiences, Dr. Brogan argues, aren't problems or pathologies; they reflect what we need to accept, acknowledge, and transform in order to truly become who we are. Own Your Self is a journey of healing, and also something a journey of coming home to ourselves.

PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Personal Development, Spirituality, Mental Health

Audible Audio

Published September 17, 2019

Reviews

[Fleeting Bird · Rating 1 out of 5]

This kind of books is dangerous. It's full of pseudoscience, parapsychology, abusive guru quotes and other kinds of bs mashed with things that are actually useful and true. The problem is, you won't know which is which. I actually read it so I can see with what kind of nonsense I used to waste my time. If you want to get sober and start being serious, choose these books:

It's Not Always Depression by Hilary Jacobs Hendel to learn what a real scientific book looks like. Check out her website and podcasts with her.

Traumatic Narcissism by Daniel Shaw. To learn the real face of cults and gurus.

The F* it Diet by Caroline Dooner to know how to actually listen and trust to your body.

Mindsight by Daniel Siegel. And then look into the rest of what this author has to offer. He's good in interpersonal neuroscience and parenting.

Listen to Therapist Uncensored podcasts.

These are all safe, no bs, sources.

[Rebecca Sandham Mathwin]

While some of Dr. Brogan's recommendations are solid (cleaning up your diet, exercising, meditating, practicing good sleep hygiene) there's a lot of pseudoscience in this book. While I completely agree that psychotropic medications are overly prescribed and have their definite downsides, I think it's very irresponsible and unrealistic to advocate that everyone and anyone (even people with severe mental illness) should go off of them. There's a real lack of nuance that's concerning-I just don't think you can paint things with such a broad brush. Yes, for some people psych medications have been a net negative but for many people they've been lifesavers.

If you're a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow's website GOOP or Marianne Williamson (who wrote a blurb on the back), this is a book you'd probably appreciate but it wasn't for me. However, it's beneficial to get a different perspective sometimes even if you don't agree with it.

[Maria Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Are We Here?

This is a book whose time has come. I would recommend it to every single person because even if you are firmly entrenched in the medical-industrial paradigm and are still chasing a “pill for every ill” or still blindly following your doctor’s advice even though you know it isn’t working, the introduction of another way to live is huge in and of itself.

Anyone who has followed Dr. Brogan’s work for any length of time will be clear that she was meant to write this book at this time. She offers a new yet ancient path for radical health and healing that puts the individual fully in the driver’s seat and she does so with love, light, and a hell of a lot of science. It would be hard for a person without Brogan’s beyond-impressive resume to write and publish a book as radical as this one. We are fortunate to have her as a pioneer and champion for true health and vitality.

Brogan sifts through confusing messages that have us believing that we are fundamentally sick and broken and in need big pharma and their fancy little foot soldiers (aka doctors) to parcel out our required medicine and string us along while we become sicker and poorer.

She challenges the dogmatic religion of scientism and how it drives a dangerous wedge between us and our highest source. Is it really true that we were born faulty, with non-working immune systems that couldn’t possibly protect us under the right conditions without health-destroying lab concoctions?

She offers a way to get off the merry-go-round and reclaim our powerful autonomy. It can sound like an overwhelming impossibility but I assure you it is not. It is however, an audacious process and the beauty of this book is that every step of this process is held in the highest regard, validated, and respected.

I have now read A Mind of Your Own and Own Your Self and in doing so, I feel less alone in a world where I have watched those I hold most dear lose their peace of mind, their health, and even their lives at the hands of a sick, dysfunctional, and driven-by-profit medical system. I have walked my path with a heart broken many times over and my resolve has strengthened.

Read the book! Know that there is more beyond it so that it doesn’t end here.

BRB Rating: Own It.

[Mezzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a dangerous book. It sneaks pseudoscience and illogical conclusions between actual research and good advice. It quotes from respected books and studies and often has the veneer of respectable work only to then include a recommendation or "fact" that is completely off the wall.

Read Anatomy of an Epidemic and The Body Keeps the Score to get the good stuff without all the junk.

[Loverly Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

"We are ultrasounded in the womb regularly, birthed surgically, formula-fed, vaccinated, left by mothers who have a three-week maternity leave, schooled into a state of near-irreversible brainwashing while being microwaved by 5G networks. -- pg 6

As someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, I was interested in reading non-medical coping methods from an MD (not because I have anything against medicine except that it's too damn expensive) but after finding the quote above, I knew I couldn't finish this book. The only part of that quote that didn't scare me, that I could even remotely agree with the author on is that (at least in the US) new mother's need the option for a longer paid maternity leave. Otherwise, the authors use of vaccinated, brainwashed, and 5G screamed of anti-vax conspiracy BS and her use of formula-fed, shaming mothers who can't breastfeed like baby formula is to blame for the mental health epidemic.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters give an interesting catalogue of woes of our current society. Unfortunately, they also read like an infomercial. Thus, I am upping my reading speed to see if it perhaps gets better.

It didn’t get better. I was very disappointed with this book when I came across this statement.

“And what about contagion? It has never actually been proven that germs travel from one person to another and infect them.” (29%)

Really? I already thought this book read like an infomercial, and now an outrageous statement like this. BTW, There have never been double blind placebo controlled studies on whether parachute use is effective in preventing injuries when falling from an airplane.

Part 2 is about weaning off prescription medications. Many patients find withdrawal to be an extremely trying time. Dr. Brogan never called 911 nor put them on suicide watch. Several reports of the joy of being off those medications that blunt their feelings.

Part 3 incudes:

Your Daily Kundalini Yoga Pre-Dawn Practice
- Prepare
- Go to bed before 9 pm
- Set your alarm for no later than 6 am
- Create space
- Meditate
- Choose a 3 to 11 minute meditation that you will commit to for 40 days.
- Posture: Easy pose
- Eyes closed
- Breathe
- To end:Hold the breath for 10-15 seconds while you stretch the spine
(Page 185 of 331)

Kundalini Yoga appears in six places in the index. Yoga also appears six times with identical page numbers to Kundalini Yoga.

The book reads well. Some of the suggestions are well founded. Others are not for me. Many of them will work for some people.

She cites lots of sources, provided an index and bibliography.

I bought a kindle edition of this book because it looked interesting and was cheap.

[Esther Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can a person do when the anti-depressants, mood-stabilizers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs, and tranquilizers turn that person into a zombie? That’s what happened to me at the end of the 1990s. Fortunately, I was able to locate a therapist who helped me taper off all my medications. At the same time, I was being educated about a healthier, more balanced set of beliefs after leaving a high-control religious cult. Then, once I became a functioning human, I got along quite well in my job and my newly-single life. At least in the interim.

I wish this book had been available years ago. Even so, I’m happy to have it now. I could have easily fit the description of one of Dr. Brogan’s patients. What she writes about to this point, I have already lived. Medical doctors will rarely suggest the possibility that a diet change might be the answer when their client’s health goes off the rails. No, because their job is to offer a pill for every ill. After all, it’s a preferred business model that shows well on their quarterly reports. Read more at https://phoenixoffaith.wordpress.com

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely eye-opening. Also, to be honest, extremely confirmation-bias lol. I am all about holistic healing and am a major proponent of decrying the pharmaceutical industry.

Her big thing about using mental illness as the gateway into a spiritual journey that can allow you to fully understand yourself and your mission. I agree with this. I have been fortunate enough to transmute my battle with depression into this incredible energy and lust for life.

For many people – not all – things like depression and anxiety are stories we tell ourselves. They've literally become a part of our identity (usually due to conditioning) and it is POSSIBLE to separate from them! Sounds crazy? Yeah, to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand. I've felt it, Kelly's felt it, so have many of her patients. Maybe you can too.

[The Canadian Book Worm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the last book, a bit more emotional and a bit less "manual" than the previous book. I found so many passages very inspiring (as some one currently finishing a taper off anti-psychotics) and had to stop and read them to my husband. This totally gave me more energy to deal with my current situation, and more hope for the future. Lovely and informative! Thank you.

[Aisling · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there was a lot I agreed with in this book (particularly advice about diet and just the general idea of approaching mental health holistically and not just as a purely physical issue), a lot of the content seemed.. forced, as if the author was on a crusade. I kept getting the impression this book was written for extreme cases of people who've been living at a rock-bottom level for such a long time, they need something radical and they'd be willing to try anything (not to mention many of the cases presented in the book were actually pretty extreme: decades of medication and nothing seemed to work, together with, in some cases, serious health issues).

There were tons of resources and citations given, which served to make everything look properly researched and scientific (not saying some of the things talked about in the book aren't), but I found it weird that there was no mention of more western methods of therapy like CBT, DBT, ACT, whatever you have; the solution was to be found strictly in the philosophies/movements/interests of the author herself: Kundalini yoga, Qigong, homeopathy, and so on (there could be an infinitely long discussion held on this topic alone, why the west lacks a solid spiritual support for people who suffer, but let's leave it at this). My point is only that help can be found closer to home, too.

While trying to make the reader understand why western medicine fails patients, it kinda looked like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, there is a lot of room for improvement in the attitudes of both psychiatrists and patients, but it would be irresponsible to assume that western medical methods haven't helped anyone, with or without pills. I'm personally a firm believer that different people with different problems will need different solutions, and while meditation (as an example) can potentially be beneficial for everyone, there are other approaches too, that might be easier for some to understand. To give a particular example: if someone is living an unhealthy life with a narrow vision of what they are capable of to do for their own well-being and health, coming with truly radical and very unfamiliar solutions just brings up more resistance, and thus creates extra work that might put people off, making them feel even more hopeless (this is why I mentioned earlier this book is probably suited best for people who are willing to try anything and everything).

The fact that the author says somewhere towards the end of the book that going through such radical changes might put one through a divorce should be a big enough red-flag to reconsider the approach taken in their path towards well-being - not because the ideas are bad, but because one needs to be prepared for it. There are different, more gentle approaches one can take, without burning bridges and leaving people behind. This is also a subject that, in my opinion, should have been explored in more detail, or at least could have pointed the reader towards more resources on the subject.

Personally, I didn't really learn anything new out of this book. It was a good reminder of things I should keep an eye on, but nothing special, and occasionally weird, thus 3 stars.

[Arminda Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I was reading this book I was simultaneously thinking, "I love this! Yes, I believe this is true!" AND "Woah. Controversial and definitely 'out there' for a lot of people."

That is my summary of "Own Your Self."

I highly recommend this book to anyone who's ever been on psychotropic drugs (I have), or who is currently taking them, or who knows anyone who has either taken them in the past or is currently taking them. (That should about cover all of us, yes?)

While Dr. Brogan's ideas may seem radical, you can't contend her results, over and over again.

18 years ago I stopped taking (in one day) all seven medications I had been prescribed to treat depression, IBS and multiple undiagnosable symptoms. I intuitively knew my body couldn't, and wasn't designed to, function on chemicals. So I stopped. And I drastically changed my diet, intuiting here, as well, and trusting the feedback my own body was giving me about what it needed to be pain-free.

Dr. Brogan's book felt familiar to me because I know how it feels to reclaim my Self.

[Aubrey Tester · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I agree with many things in the book, there is quite a bit left up in the air without direction. For as long as it is, I expected more how-to or description rather than user stories with little background

[Lex Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's clear the author is very passionate about taking a more holistic approach to mental health, which echoes many of my own sentiments. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two thirds. Unfortunately I lost interest when it shifted focus to the diet she recommends and for this reason, I did not finish the book. I understood the general premise as being a type of elimination diet that you slowly build back up incorporating more of the good stuff, but I found her reasoning for introducing or avoiding certain types of foods a little light on the research. Perhaps I resume this book at a later time, but for now it's taking a backseat. However, I would still recommend this book to all if for no other reason than considering other treatments for mental health apart from pharmaceutical drugs.

[Tarah Awai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love Kelly Brogan. I picked her first book up as a last-ditch effort to get well and ended up ditching veganism for a diet more compatible with my body. I ended up off of all medications, was happier, healthier, less anxious...basically all the claims she makes.

This book was a great refresher but also included a lot of supplemental wellness practices, meditations, journal exercises, natural supplements, and ideas to ponder. I'm glad I picked up this book. I don't know if I'll ever truly be done healing but her books help me get closer every time I read them.

[Angelika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best.Book.Ever. A loving yet very clear guide to self respons-ability. Though there is (lots of) comfort in the victim story we keep telling ourselves, there is no way around than through to break cycles, heal, dis-cover ourselves, thrive, LOVE AND LIVE. This book takes away the fear from fear, the discomfort from discomfort, the pain from pain. A heartfelt thanks to Kelly Brogan and her COEURage to light the path so we dare to birth our true selves…

[Bev · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm. While I think Dr. Brogan makes some good points as to eating processed foods and mental health, I do not believe all mental health can be solved strictly holistically in some instances, especially those with severe mental health diagnoses. There are other points in the book I vastly disagree with, but on those I chose to keep my mouth shut. To each their own. To the people giving this 5 stars: please don’t believe everything you read, this is pseudoscience at its finest.

[Llamazing Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so vitally important.
Kelly's work brings together all the most crucial practices critical to our deepest wellbeing, and synthesises them into one beautiful package.
I believe in the power of this book so much I have told friends I will buy a copy for anyone who is interested... I'm usuall Scrooge McDuck with money, so you know I'm serious!

[Mel Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring. I found my personal journey through grief and loss to parallel what Dr. Brogan described of her patients tapering off meds. It fascinated me. Feeling what we feel, treating those feelings as meaningful symptoms and trusting the wisdom of our own selves is one of Dr. Brogan's messages to us all.

[Suhad Ishaqat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reflects a journey of healing, and also something more like a journey of finally coming home to ourselves. Accepting our selves they way we are and reflects what we need to accept acknowledge and transform in order to become who we really are

[Sina Martel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote a favorable review of this book.
However after Covid-19, Kelly Brogan hS become an avid anti vaxxer.
Update. I was kicked out of Vital Life Project.
It's only for people who agree with Kelly Brogan's politics.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was reading an infomercial. She had some powerful points but they were few and far between. There was just an abundance of testimonials and it felt like I was reading reviews and not an actual book.

[Carmela Delgra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great self help book, one that really makes you look at your self, challenge your self to accept or change things. Kelly, the author seems to be down to earth, straight forward with a sensitive touch.

[Karen Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Kelly's wisdom and passion for health. I've implemented so many things from her books already and made great progress. Made many notes throughout reading. A must for anyone stuck in the rut of the Healthcare system, not making progress. This will awaken you.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anybody who wants to learn about mental health.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a thoughtful and well written book. It was better than your first book, which I enjoyed and shared with many people. Thank you!!!!!

[Susie Pettit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding!!! I recommend it to everyone !! Thank you so much for this amazing resource and for peeling away some of the erroneous layers of news that we are exposed to.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

dumpster fire. would be useful in a dumpster fire.

[Cortney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should put this on their must read list.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book!

I read Kelly Brogan's previous book & it resonated so much with me, I had to read this one too. I studied Psychology & had the same reservations as she did regarding the use of medications. I don't condone them quite as much as Brogan does (I see them as a tool, a temporary solution & last line of defense), but I agree with her stance regarding having the right towards a learned decision over our choices for our own bodies, and that the doctor is a valuable reference, not an authority, over our bodies. While doctors know a lot, they don't always know everything. If you've experienced, or know many people who have experienced chronic illnesses, than you no doubt already know this. Not that there's anything wrong with doctors, they are a blessing, but Western medicine is much better at treating acute health issues than they are at chronic ones, such as those involving mental health. I also agree that the system is messed up: less concerned with healing & more concerned with profit & therefore you must remain vigilant regarding your own health & learned regarding what is or isn't right for you. You know your body best. I have read some reviews that slam this book as antivax, that is just not the case. Brogan barely discusses anything to do with vaccinations here. This book is FAR more than that crap & anyone who can't see that, I honestly feel bad for.

I appreciate that Kelly Brook is so learned, has done the research, & has the undeniable first hand experience to be able to share such strong perspective.

I'm so grateful for this woman championing us "canaries in the coalmine" while also challenging us towards a more whole life!

The research she references throughout the book are absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend this book & no doubt will be returning to it again & again.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was only ok because navigating it was enormously stressful. I was asked to read this by a trusted doctor last year and have spent most of the last year plus avoiding it. When I finally started the book it was clear right away that there was a huge risk of this book directing me right back into many unhealthy restrictions that structured at least a decade of my life. Eventually I was able to address these concerns with the doctor and clarify that we both understood I'd only be reading it from a "huh" kind of perspective. Basically to read it and see what it said but not feel obligated to obsessively follow every direction as a guarantee of specific results. Eventually I turned it up to about 1.8 speed. My version of speed reading. There were some great things in the last hour of the book. Some "Ah ha!" moments. But it was at the cost of what sure as heck comes across like the worst kind of fear mongering. Combine the fear mongering with my own trauma/restriction history and there's no enjoying this book. If I'd read it in 2009 or 2010 I'd probably have given it five stars.