12 Compelling and Candid Books on Mental Health

A Different Kind of Same by Kelley Clink

Kelley Clink’s brother Matt was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager and had once attempted suicide but failed. Kelley was diagnosed with depression at a young age and had once attempted suicide but also failed. Two weeks before his college graduation, Matt attempted suicide again and this time he succeeded. This book traces Kelley’s journey through grief, her investigation into the role her own depression played in her brother’s death, and, ultimately, her path toward acceptance, forgiveness, resilience, and love.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A classic novel that still rings true with contemporary audiences, Sylvia Plath tells the shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional story about a woman falling into the grip of insanity. Esther Greenwood is a brilliant writer living out a small-town girl’s dream of living in New York City, with all seemingly perfect in her world. Yet still, she is slowly going under and perhaps this will be the last time. Sylvia Plath draws readers into Esther’s psyche as she falls apart and builds herself back together again.

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher

At age twenty-four, Marya Hornbacher was diagnosed with Type I rapid-cycle bipolar, the most severe form of bipolar disorder. Marya takes readers on an utterly self-revealing journey, describing her own violent mood swings, self-starvation, substance abuse, numbing sex and self-mutilation. Marya tells her story to let others know she is not alone.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Following her suicide attempt, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen finds herself placed in a ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous patients including Sylvia Plath, James Taylor and Ray Charles. Susanna’s memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Twenty-four-year old Susannah Cahalan has a seemingly normal life as a New York Post reporter until one day, she wakes up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. Susannah has absolutely no memory of how she’d gotten there. This New York Times bestseller tells the bizarre and jarring story of one woman’s journey through insanity, and how she was diagnosed with a mysterious condition.

Fire Season: My Journey from Ruin to Redemption by Hollye Dexter

Awakened by her husband’s yells of panic, Hollye Dexter woke to her family’s home set ablaze and her toddler son asleep next to her. With little time to act, Hollye had no choice but to drop her son out of the second story window in order to save his life. Over the course of the next few years, Hollye spiraled into depression, unable to let go of the horrific fire that destroyed everything including all five of her family’s pets. This book tells the true story of a mother who must take back her own sanity and defeat her anxiety to keep her family in tact.

Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi

Portia De Rossi tells the painful and true story of her struggles with anorexia as an up and coming actress in Hollywood. In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Portia is able to convey the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. From rock bottom, Portia began the difficult climb back to a life of health and honesty and emerging as an outspoken advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.

Chasing the Milky Way by Erin E. Moulton

This YA novel pairs science with mental illness and heart with adventure. Lucy Peevy has a dream to leave her trailer park home behind and become a famous scientist. What’s so great about this book is that it’s geared for young audiences and discusses a parent’s mental illness without holding much back. Lucy’s mom has manic-depressive disorder and hasn’t been taking her medication, and the author does a great job of telling her story.

Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression by Sally Brampton

Brilliant magazine editor, prize-winning journalist and founder of Elle magazine in the UK, Sally Sampton’s success was supremely admirable. But her friends and colleagues had no idea Sally was struggling with severe depression and addiction. Sally tells her story in a candid and greatly honest manner, calling out the culture that sends the overriding message that people who suffer from depression are somehow responsible for their own illness. This memoir is deeply insightful and ultimately uplifting.

The Day the Voices Stopped by Ken Steele and Claire Berman

Ken Steele bares his truth about his battle with schizophrenia in this powerful and poignant memoir. With voices in his head telling him to kill himself for thirty-two years, Ken’s life is far from conventional and has barely been able to survive the mental torture. Ken tells this story of hope and how activism and advocacy helped him regain sanity.

The S Word by Paolina Milana

Paolina Milana’s family has an unspoken code that all secrets must be swept under the rug. No one can know about her mother’s schizophrenia or how her male caretaker has been sexually abusing her. Keeping quiet for so long proves to be too hard to bear and soon Paolina grows more and more resentful of her family. On the eve of her sweet sixteen, pushed to edge — Paolina attempts to take her own mother’s life. Raw and compelling, The S Word is the true story of a girl who nearly suffocates in the silence she was taught.

Lucky by Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold’s struggle with mental illness stems from the moment she was raped at eighteen years old. She made a promise to herself in the very tunnel where she was raped: someday she would write a book about her experience. Alice tells a real-life thriller story about her downward spiral that sucks readers in and brings them into her mindset.