The bookstores are filled with books about self help for anxiety and depression. If you are looking for a book about the subject there is just no way you can come up empty. However, some people buy books about self help for anxiety and depression for family and friends when all they are doing is wasting money. The first step on the road to recovery from anxiety or depression is accepting that problems exists and then muster up the desire and motivation to overcome. It does not matter how many books on self help for anxiety and depression one buys for loved ones if the recipient does not have the motivation to change. Don't get me wrong there a lot of great books out there and even some of them can be better than paying a psychologist but before we do anything we must have the complicity of the recipient. The problem here is that things like anxiety and depression can paralyze people and it's almost impossible to get people to get themselves started on the road to self help for anxiety and depression. So the first thing one would need to do is to infuse the person with the need to change. So initially instead of buying a book for them , buy one for yourself on motivation so you can get them hungry for self help for anxiety and depression. With this first step you might be able to propel them into the road of depression self help or anxiety self help.