Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts

**I received an advance copy of this book as part of the launch team and also from Netgalley.**

This book has the power to reshape our generation (and future generations). Our society is obsessed with “being enough” in every way, and there’s reactionary, growing trend focused on self-care. People, now more than ever, are feeling the pressure to at least appear to have everything together—the perfect car that you drive to the perfect job that pays for the perfect house for the perfect family that goes on picture-perfect vacations every year. And it’s too much. The increased focus on mental health shows us that people aren’t coping well, and a huge part of that comes down to deception.

Jennie Allen highlights all of this show more beautifully in this book. The lies we believe, the deep pain they cause, and the lengths we go to hide it all are laid bare in Get Out Of Your Head. She pairs scientific research with scriptural truths in a way that will have you gearing up for battle. The ultimate battle: the battle for your mind.

Make no mistake—this is rough, gritty, deeply entrenched stuff. Jennie doesn’t throw around shallow platitudes. This isn’t prosperity Gospel that promises you’ll have that perfect life if you only change the way you think. This is real and vulnerable. It might shock you, it should anger you, and it *will* change you if you pay attention.

Buy it. It’s done all of that for me. I bought digital, audio, AND paper copies so I could highlight and digest it as much as possible. This is one I will come back to annually. It’s *that* important.

NOTE: Jennie makes sure to compassionately acknowledges the very real and serious role of mental health disorders. She doesn’t downplay their physical reality, but rather highlights that it’s always a good idea to get help. I am a counselor and I 100% recommend this book. show less

If Cara Putman’s Flight Risk is my mic-drop ficton read of 2020, Jennie Allen’s Get Out of Your Head is its non-fiction counterpart.

Challenging, convicting, entertaining, raw, honest … I could go on, but you get the picture. It’s particularly timely as we go on week number I don’t even know anymore of shelter-in-place, where coronavirus rules many the news feed — not just on social media, but news sites too. We need a break. We need hope. We need Christ. And Get Out of Your Head points us back to Him.

I started reading the book B.C. — before coronavirus — and saw so many truth bombs … yet set it aside as I took a small trip to New Zealand.

In today's world, more so than ever, the pressure is on for us to have it all, do it all, So what happens when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, scared or anxious? So many of us suffer in silence, spiraling downward at increasing speeds as we try to hold it in and keep it together without knowing where to turn for relief. Thoughts form negative feelings that can leave you thinking the worst about yourself and/or your life. Is that how you want to proceed through the rest of your life? If you're looking in to this book my guess is you're already at your wits end, you may even doubt the need for this book, assuming its another self help guru trying to sell you the magic fix like the dozen before you've read. This book is not a typical self show more help book.

Jennie Allen challenges readers to fight the battle against toxic thoughts with an approach that is deeply personal, yet not intimidating at all. Allen writes in a way that while reading you feel as though you are talking to a friend; She gently leads readers exactly where we need to be, showing us what we need to see, a combination of Bible verses mixed with science which feeds your spirit while satisfying any logical part of your brain that needs hard evidence. Her message is clear right from the start. WE CAN CHANGE.

I love that the beginning of the book states very clearly that mental health struggles are very real for some and require counseling or medicine and there is nothing wrong with that she tells us. God wants us to use the resources we have if we need to. Far too many books fail to touch on the subject at all so that statement and her experience with mental health was a very welcome breath of fresh air.

This book is necessary. Vital and powerful, inspirational and comforting. Do not miss this one!

I will note that I highly suggest buying a physical copy of this particular book as the format does not come through as strong in the ebook version, which is what I received from netgalley and the publishers in order for me to share my honest thoughts with you. Even with the minor issues of the ebook being not an ideal way to absorb this particular book I will still be buying several copies to be gifted to friends and family whom I know need this book just as much as I did show less

In today's world, more so than ever, the pressure is on for us to have it all, do it all, So what happens when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, scared or anxious? So many of us suffer in silence, spiraling downward at increasing speeds as we try to hold it in and keep it together without knowing where to turn for relief. Thoughts form negative feelings that can leave you thinking the worst about yourself and/or your life. Is that how you want to proceed through the rest of your life? If you're looking in to this book my guess is you're already at your wits end, you may even doubt the need for this book, assuming its another self help guru trying to sell you the magic fix like the dozen before you've read. This book is not a typical self show more help book.

Jennie Allen challenges readers to fight the battle against toxic thoughts with an approach that is deeply personal, yet not intimidating at all. Allen writes in a way that while reading you feel as though you are talking to a friend; She gently leads readers exactly where we need to be, showing us what we need to see, a combination of Bible verses mixed with science which feeds your spirit while satisfying any logical part of your brain that needs hard evidence. Her message is clear right from the start. WE CAN CHANGE.

I love that the beginning of the book states very clearly that mental health struggles are very real for some and require counseling or medicine and there is nothing wrong with that she tells us. God wants us to use the resources we have if we need to. Far too many books fail to touch on the subject at all so that statement and her experience with mental health was a very welcome breath of fresh air.

This book is necessary. Vital and powerful, inspirational and comforting. Do not miss this one!

I will note that I highly suggest buying a physical copy of this particular book as the format does not come through as strong in the ebook version, which is what I received from netgalley and the publishers in order for me to share my honest thoughts with you. Even with the minor issues of the ebook being not an ideal way to absorb this particular book I will still be buying several copies to be gifted to friends and family whom I know need this book just as much as I did show less

My mom kindly bought me this book when I was going through a *very* rough patch with my anxiety. It was very encouraging/convicting for me and I found myself taking lots of notes and bookmarking several pages. At one point I must have felt complacent enough and put this book down, not to pick it up for several weeks, until a wave of intense anxiety flooded over me again. I remembered this book and finished it that day (sorry, biology homework). A great read for those suffering with their mental health and seeking guidance from the Word.

Get out of Your Head is a much needed book in this day and age in our society. Jennie Allen does an excellent job dealing with the topic of our thought life and how those thoughts play out in things like anxiety and depression. Mental and emotional health have been such taboo topics to talk about and write about in the past so I appreciate her venturing into those areas. I was grateful for her transparency about her own battles with toxic thoughts and her practical advice to battling the toxic thoughts in our own lives.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Net Galley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I like my self-help books to be very practical and I like to jump right into it. I found this book to be a little slow to get started. I felt like part 1 was just setting up for the rest of the book and I didn't find that part to be very engaging. Once I got to part 2 it started to pick up.
There were seven different principles: I choose to be still with God, I choose to be known, I choose to surrender my fears to God, I choose to delight in God, I choose to serve God and others, I choose to be grateful, I choose to seek the good of others. Each chapter in Part 2 starts with some things that we may say to ourselves that may or may not be true. Also in each chapter is a visual with what happens to our emotions, thoughts, behaviours, show more relationships and the consequence when we don't think in a healthy way and then how that changes when we change our thought pattern.
I didn't have any lightbulb moments about how I can stop my thoughts from spiraling but there was some really good general practices that I'm going to try to be doing more often to help my thought life in general.
I would recommend it to everyone as it's all good advice that can help anyone in their walk with God.
Review coming soon on The Literary Club Podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185/episodes/10632384 show less