✎ Written by: Dubravka Rebic ✓ Fact-checked by: Carola Tuerk, Ph.D.

Nearly 50 million Americans, or 1 in 5, are struggling with mental health conditions. And more than half of them are not getting the support and care they need.

That's why Dr. Julie Smith, a clinical psychologist and bestselling author, decided to write a book packed with skills that are taught in therapy. Drawing on years of clinical experience, she revealed the most helpful strategies from her very own therapist toolkit, started posting valuable mental health advice on social media, and quickly became an online sensation.

The result?

Her book Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before was nothing short of a grand slam; it spent four weeks at the top of bestseller lists, Dr. Julie Smith currently has more than three million followers on TikTok, and the number of people that benefit from her advice continues to rise.

What makes Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before so helpful?

Powerful coping techniques that tackle everyday issues and offer practical solutions make Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before applicable to almost anyone.

Techniques described in this book can help you build resilience, learn how to deal with criticism, improve self-confidence, manage anxiety, or cope with depression.

And even though the book might not be a replacement for working with a trained professional, these bite-sized, easy-to-digest lessons can help you improve your mental health by making small changes to your everyday behavior.

In order to support you on your self-improvement journey, we cherry-picked three key learnings from the book that we found particularly helpful.

Lesson 1: You can take power away from negative thoughts

Negative thoughts, also known as thought biases, happen to many people to varying degrees. They're subconscious errors in thinking that might lead you to misinterpret information from the world around you.

For example, you might dwell on a single negative comment made by your manager and view the professional relationship as hopelessly lost while failing to acknowledge years of positive comments and experiences preceding said comment.

To be sure you respond to thought biases in a manner that is driven by factual, not emotional, evidence, aim to recognize when you're falling into the