Help for When Life Feels Heavy

About the booklet

Practical steps to reclaim your resilience

This booklet was written for anyone going through a difficult time — low mood, anxiety, emotional overwhelm, or uncertainty about medication. It offers a clear, calm perspective when clarity feels hard to find.

It does not tell you what to do. It helps you understand your own mind well enough to make decisions that are right for you — with agency, information, and self-compassion.

What feels like a setback can become a doorway. This booklet helps you find it.

Get your copy

Help for When Life
Feels Heavy

By Dr Rani Bora, FRCPsych · The Holistic Psychiatry Clinic

Digital edition PDF — read on any device, instantly

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Physical copy Printed booklet — delivered to your door

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This booklet is also given to patients at the clinic as part of their care. If you are not sure whether it is right for you, read on to see what is inside.

What is inside

The booklet is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on understanding the mind and building resilience through daily practice. Part 2 offers balanced, clinical-grade information to support informed decisions about antidepressants.

Part 1

Understanding Your Mind & Reclaiming Resilience

Why you are not broken — and your mind is designed to recover

How the quality of thinking shapes mood and experience

Your psychological immune system — and how to support it

A simple two-minute stillness practice you can use anywhere

The six pillars of lifestyle medicine — nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, connection, and substance awareness

Part 2

Making an Informed Decision About Antidepressants

Your right to informed consent — what your doctor should discuss with you

The BRAIN framework: Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Information, and Next steps

What the evidence actually says about antidepressants and the serotonin theory

Withdrawal, tapering, and what to ask before you start or stop

Curated further reading and trusted resources

"If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world."

Sydney Banks

About the author

Dr Rani Bora, FRCPsych

Dr Rani Bora is a Consultant Psychiatrist, certified coach, and co-founder of The Holistic Psychiatry Clinic. She qualified in medicine from the University of Calcutta and has worked in NHS and private psychiatric settings for over two decades.

She is the author of How to Turn Stress on Its Head and holds a deep commitment to what she calls Mental Wealth — the innate capacity for resilience and clarity that lies beneath every human experience of distress.

Her work bridges psychiatry, lifestyle medicine, and psychological understanding. She brings this same integrated perspective to everything she writes — including this booklet, which she gives to her own patients as part of their care.

MBBS FRCPsych Consultant Psychiatrist Certified Coach GMC Registered

What readers say

A trusted clinical resource

This booklet gives hope and guidance to anyone navigating life's challenges. Dr Bora's compassionate approach and her championing of innate mental wealth is a powerful tool for change. For anyone who has ever struggled with mental illness, this booklet lets you know you are not alone — and more importantly, it puts you back in the driving seat on your journey to recovery. This is my go-to patient handout.

Dr Donna Hutchinson

Holistic GP · HeartMath Coach · Clinical Hypnotherapist

Ready to read your copy?

Available as a digital download and a printed booklet. Order below, or book a consultation and receive it as part of your care.

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If you have a question in the meantime, please get in touch.