Books by David Bedrick

The Unshaming Way

A Compassionate Guide to Dismantling Shame — Heal from trauma, unlearn self-blame, and reclaim your story

Shame affects us all…often in ways we might not expect. Author, mental health expert, and professor David Bedrick helps us understand how shame shows up—and offers a revolutionary, stigma-free model to help us unshame and release its hold on our happiness.

Shame is more than feeling guilty, sad, or responsible. It develops when we experience a trauma but can't access the tools or freedom to express how we feel—or are denied the ability to ask for the care we need. It shows up when we aren't witnessed—whether by a loved one, our community, our culture, or anyone from whom we need to hear: whatever happened to you, these parts of you that you think are unlovable or wrong—you're not broken. I see you.

Bedrick helps readers bring shame out of the shadows, inviting us to get to know it and listen to its wisdom without minimizing our traumas or pathologizing our experiences. He helps us move from seeing shame as a feeling toward holding it as an internal viewpoint—and offers us practical tools and exercises to dismantle the narratives that hold us back from living our lives whole, free, and in alignment with our most authentic selves.

The Unshaming Way Workbook

Exercises and Reflection Questions to Heal from Trauma, Unlearn Self-Blame, and Reclaim Your Story

A hands-on companion to the beloved bestseller The Unshaming Way — a step-by-step guide to free yourself from shame and trauma. Through practical prompts, personal reflections, and self-help exercises, this workbook makes David's evidence-based method more accessible than ever.

Walking through the three keys to healing shame — seeing, feeling, and believing — you'll learn to unburden yourself of complex and childhood trauma, trust yourself, and free yourself from the compulsive idea that you need to be "fixed." As one reader wrote: "Nothing has helped me more in all my years to be able to love and appreciate myself more fully."

You Can't Judge a Body by Its Cover

17 Women's Stories of Hunger, Body Shame, and Redemption

In You Can't Judge a Body by Its Cover, David Bedrick offers seventeen stories of individual women who open the door to their souls: stories of shame and self-love, victimization and empowerment, being small and being big, fear and hope. In his illuminating therapeutic interviews, you'll witness women discover the secret behind their resistance to diet programs, the beauty of their bodies and hungers, and the redeeming insights of what moves them to reclaim authenticity, power, and grace.

Get ready to be inspired. Get ready to see it all differently. Get ready to meet the life-changing secrets held within your body's rebellion to living in a society that fetishizes thinness and shames authenticity.

Revisioning Activism

Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change

Many forms of activism live in the margins of more conventional strategies. These essays broaden our vision of activism to include how the social/political world impacts the inner lives of people, how dialogue across diverse viewpoints can impact hearts and minds, and how psychology can play a role as a social-change agent.

Bedrick deconstructs racism by looking at divergent views of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He deconstructs sexism by critiquing the diet industry and the way women feel about their bodies. Bedrick brings this same psychological eye to understanding societal problems (e.g., gun control, addiction), national celebrities (e.g., Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong), and popular psychology's failure to create sustainable change.

Whether used in a classroom, with a friend, or alone, Revisioning Activism provokes critical thinking, feeling, and dialogue. It's a daring call to empower activism and see ourselves as individuals intimately woven into a web of relationships and social issues.

Talking Back to Dr. Phil

Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology

In this innovative book, counselor, coach, educator, and attorney David Bedrick introduces a fresh approach to understanding disturbing feelings and behaviors. Using examples from the television show Dr. Phil, he illustrates mainstream psychology's tendency to shame people into thinking something is wrong with them. He then debunks many standard protocols and "fixes."

Drawing on provocative insights into such topics as dieting, sex, anger, addictions, domestic violence, and more, Bedrick goes on to present a love-based psychology rooted in the belief that there is profound meaning in our struggles, which can come to light when they are compassionately reframed.