The Big Feelings Survival Guide: A Creative Workbook for Mental Health

by Alyse Ruriani

Find peace and stability with this friendly, full-color, illustrated workbook guide filled with practical and creative exercises designed to improve your mental health and encourage healthy coping mechanisms. Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, is a revolutionary treatment that helps people identify, cope with, and move through emotions. Art therapy uses creativity and techniques like drawing to help a person further explore their feelings and express them. What happens when you link them together? You get The Big Feelings Survival Guide, a unique and powerful workbook designed to yield insight and understanding. Covering the three classic “parent emotions”—Anger, Fear, Sadness—the exercises are deceptively simple yet richly thought out, and each has a clinical underpinning. Draw a safe space for yourself. Scribble out angry impulses. Explore the mind-body connection by matching emotions with somatic sensations. Embrace confusion by working through a maze with different paths. Act out rebellious urges by painting a messy rainbow. Plus tips, games, and other practical help. There is no wrong way to use this book. No art skills required. Just work through it with honesty and discover practical skills to help you engage in self-care, cope with life, and take care of your mental health.  

Genres: Mental Health

128 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Workman Publishing Company, for the advance reading copy.

I appreciate the contents regarding mental health wellness. I find the topics mentioned relevant and the prompts quite helpful.

I do know that this workbook is meant for younger audience and for everyone else who needs to sort out their emotions which we find overwhelming.

I find the illustrations and the prompts a bit chaotic at times. I feel that if this guidebook were meant for me, I would ask for a little more space for me to work out the exercises/ activities.

A good guidebook. It will help guide the reader to work out on three main emotions: anger, fear and sadness.

[Ren || Reading What I Want · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely fantastic workbook for individuals of ALL ages. From childhood to adulthood, I can see the benefits and fun of engaging in the multitude of activities and prompts within the pages of this amazing book. Focusing on DBT, which is an interesting form of therapy, it uses four main areas to help people overcome emotional and mental problems.

My 16 year old daughter is currently in therapy for anxiety and mild depression. We did a couple of pages together and the addition of art therapy was right up her alley (since she loves art). Not only can readers express themselves with words, but with colors and imagination as well. This allows people to focus without focusing.

The information was given in a no-nonsense way but in a way that was fun and easy to understand. I’m honestly a bit obsessed with this workbook because I feel like it explains DBT thoroughly and gives people a better understanding of the newer form of psychiatric care.

[Kimberly Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Big Feelings Survival Guide is a workbook designed to assist an individual with understanding and coping with his/her feelings. The book’s underpinning is that of Dialectical Behavior Therapy which helps individuals manage emotions and live a life worth living. The workbook introduces the main tenets of Dialectical Behavior Therapy including: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness and explains them in an easy to understand way. The book is split into 4 different sections: identifying the feeling, anger, fear, and sadness. So, as the user of the book, you first navigate to identify your feeling and then choose the applicable feeling and complete those activities for relief. The book is colorful, whimsical, and easy to utilize. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to better understand and regulate emotions. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Dani V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This workbook is an absolute gem, beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully designed to guide you on a journey of self-discovery and emotional healing. As someone new to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), I found the exercises not only enlightening but also deeply impactful, encouraging me to explore my feelings in a meaningful way.

What sets this workbook apart is its authenticity—created by a real art therapist and counselor, it offers genuine therapeutic value rather than just another self-help trend. The exercises are accessible to people of all ages dealing with mental health challenges, making it a versatile and valuable tool.

I’m so impressed by the quality and depth of this workbook that I can’t wait to share it with my loved ones. It’s a resource I’d recommend to anyone seeking to better understand and manage their emotions, offering a blend of creativity and therapeutic insight that’s truly rare to find.

[Kit K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

What a great idea from this author and artist to fulfill the need for a workbook that uses art therapy and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). I had no idea what DBT therapy was, but this book has great visual exercises that I could see psychologists, school counselors, and even parents or individuals using over and over again.

I think this is meant to be of use for adults primarily, but I could see myself trying to adapt this for my own children as we try to work our way through the complicated way to manage our own emotions.

Overall, this is a great and beautifully illustrated workbook that would be a great tool or gift for almost anyone.

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult one to review. I went in expecting a fairly straightforward mental health-based workbook, and in some ways it is. However, it has very detailed exercises, that I feel would probably work better if you 1. have had DBT before, or 2. are working through these exercises with a therapist. On their own, I didn't feel most of them helped me much, which was my only way of deciding if I could recommend the book.

That said, this may be great for other people. The exercises are definitely interesting, and most people who are looking will probably make use of something in this book; I have noted a few of them for myself. In other words, your mileage will vary.

Thank you to Workman Publishing Company and to NetGalley for this ARC.

[Eviana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what I've been looking for. I am a clinical psychologist who often uses DBT for my clients. Some many valuable skills and theories may help them increase their well-being (mindfulness, wise mind, DEAR MAN, etc). However, I find it's a bit hard to teach especially for teenagers and the younger generation. I've seen a book combining CBT and Art Therapy but not much combining DBT and Art Therapy, which is brilliant and gives me ideas to use in the future.
Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read The Big Feelings Survival Guide by Alyse Ruriani in exchange for an honest review.

[Tabitha (Tabi Thoughts) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thanks to Workman Publishing for my review copy. All opinions are 100% my own*

I absolutely love The Big Feelings Survival Guide. It helps you express your feelings in a creatively and therapeutic way. All of the art is really well done and good at helping you find an outlet for your feelings. This is good for everyone but especially those who are learning how to better manage their mental health. I find it so valuable that I ended up getting my sister a copy to use with her clients in therapy.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the DBT workbook that the author describes in the introduction. It took me forever because it is so not engaging. As a result, I never really felt like DBT was the right route to go in therapy. But Ruriani’s combination of DBT with art therapy made it way more accessible! This is a great resource!

I will not purchase this for my library because we don’t purchase workbooks, but I will keep it in my back pocket for mental health resources beyond the library.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to read a book made for the general public by an art therapist. As a music therapist myself, it is great to see us represented in books like this. This book is amazing and I am already seeing ways that I can use some of these ideas to work with my clients. However, this book is a great stand alone to understand emotions and process things. Of course, this does not take the place of therapy, but is a great jumping off point or a great workbook to work through with a therapist!

[Lisa Gisèle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. All opinions are my own.


As someone who dropped out of high-school due to depression and general anxiety disorder, I have to say this book would of been a wonderful tool to help me learn about myself. As an adult who still suffers from both, this book is going on my shopping list. It's great as a refresher tool and as a first step for self examinating of your emotions

[Kalis + · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this workbook!!!! It’s so cute, the visuals are so upbeat and fun, and the activities are just the right amount of helpful and stress free.
Since i have an e book, i’m gonna print some out and add them to my personal journal for me to do!!!
I absolutely recommend this to anyone who’s healing their innerchild <3

[kar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Feelings Survival Guide is a workbook for mental health, something I believe many can benefit from. The topics in the book include describing what feelings are, the benefits of meditation, relaxation and impulsiveness - among others. I enjoyed the visual feel of this book - the graphics and bright colors make it feel fun and accessible. Thank you, NetGalley!

[Diah · Rating 4 out of 5]

(e-ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange of an honest review)

Such an interesting book!

Consisting of four emotions, this book brought me to an at-home therapy. Filled with cute drawings and writings, it also offered me spaces to make it my own. I can definitely buy myself the physical book since I wasn't able to doodle and write on screen.

[Dimitris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this workbook. It is beautifully illustrated and I love that it's suitalbe for all ages of people facing mental health problems. I also really love that it's created by an actual art therapist and councelor (the book is based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy) so it's not your typical self help cash grab nonsense. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

[Lüsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been looking for a combination of art therapy and DBT and finally found it.
It is full of skills to use when emotions take over in all kinds of crisis situations. It even helps other people to help you quick when you can't help yourself. I can't wait to work with it more frequently.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love it, would recommend this to many of my clients.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so helpful int he moment. eassy to use..