Depression or mental illness book recommendations

[Adele101]

Hello, I've been searching for young adult/ adult books that explore the coming of age themes or books that explore depression and mental illness. The only good book I've read that doesn't sugar coat these kinds of sub matter was Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow so if anyone's read it you'd get a taste of what kind of books I mean. Also I think Girl In Pieces would be very triggering in case any of you guys were wanting to check it out. Anyhow, I basically want book recommendations on topics such as depression and mental illness.
Thanks

[Kyburg]

Try Patrick Ness "The Rest of Us Just Live Here". It's a fascinating and beautifully written book, in which Ness shows the life a perfectly normal boy with normal aspirations. It deals with depression and other issues that teenagers face through high school.

Not to be cheesy, but there's always 13 Reasons Why. The book is supposedly nothing like the series, but I haven't read or watched either so I can't say.

Maybe not fully connected to the topic, but also Simone Van Der Vlugt "The Reunion". It's about a woman who has had a mental breakdown and is dealing with toxic people everywhere while simultaneously coming to terms with her dark past. It alternates between her adult life and her life growing up when she had to deal with bullying and unpopularity. It shows the debilitating effects that these things can have on people, as well as the effects of a mental breakdown and being sucked into a relationship with a sociopath.

Hope this helps

[matthewmatters]

id like to read a book which shows someone working through the obstacles of their depression and so on, so the reader leaves with a positive experience. You know, instead of thinking, well that was a very grim read. More the sort of thing i could use.

[Adele101]

Thanks for those recommendations. And Mathew I think if your looking for a book that explores depression and self harm but leaves you feeling positive I really would recomend Girl In Pieces but as I said it's very raw so if reading about self harm or substance abuse and sexual abuse triggers you I wouldn't go for it.

[Resilient]

Anything by Ellen Hopkins! She writes only about teenage issues like depression, self harm, gender identity, etc... I highly recommend Impulse by her, it has three different view points from three different people in it about living in a mental institution.

If you're looking for classics I recommend Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, they made a movie about it you know it's a memoir about a girl just coming into adulthood and her experience in a mental institution.

There's also The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn, it depicts what life is like in a mental institution through the eyes of the author, she does add some fiction into her real life experience but it's still a wonderful book.

I'm way into these kinds of books as you can tell

The rest of us just live here, cut, paperweight, impulse, the memory of light. Those are my faves. ) Hope you enjoy!!

The impossible light was a really decent book and it's told in verse and its about a girl with an ED.

Ellen Hopkins is great and her books always tackle tough subjects.

Willow, scars - Cheryl reinfield, skin game, bloodletting - Self harm and some of these are quite triggering for some people.

Laurie Halse Anderson has some good books and she tends to deal with tough topics - Speak is about rape - Catalyst is good but exceptionally sad - The impossible knife of a memory - it's about PTSD caused by the Military- Wintergirls which is about a girl with an ED. I personally didn't like it.

Some books I have heard about but have not read them all:

Paperweight-Ed so it might be triggering
Wasted by Marya Hornbacker -ED and I have heard it's triggering
Unbearable lightness by Portia De Rossi - It is super triggering. I have actually read this one right around the time it came out.
Suicide notes- I have heard mixed things and am not sure about triggers
What I lost - It's about an ed and it's relatively new. I have heard relatively good things but have not read
Sugar- It's about a girl who has a food addiction and is overweight
Hunger by Roxane Gay - This is an adult novel and it's a memoir I suppose. She discusses a lot of topics such as her weight and her sexuality
Difficult woman by Roxane Gay - I believe it's a compilation of short stories about woman dealing with all kinds of complex issues. I have heard it is triggering
Under rose tainted skies -Agoraphobia and anxiety and it might have some other mental illnesses mentioned as well
Sad perfect - It focuses on a very different eating disorder called arfid- I should mention that some reviewers found the book harmful. I did not feel that way in the least but please take it into consideration before reading
Queens of geeks- One of the character has social anxiety and general anxiety. They also have aspergers. That is not the main focus of the book though. It's basically two love stories.
Made you up by francesca zappia - deals with schizophrenia. Wasn't my favorite.
A list of cages by robin roe - deals with abuse and one of the characters has adhd. There is a review that was done in articles if you'd like to get more information
Such a pretty face deals with a woman who was overweight and had a food addiction and then lost the weight. Discusses her struggles with losing weight and food to an extent. It was an okay book. The food addiction is the only real reason it could be considered to deal with mental health
The luckiest girl in the world by steven levonkron. This book deals with eds and he has written a few other books. They were written quite a long time ago so some of the stuff might be outdated.
Sharp objects- Has a character that self harmed but its mainly just a thriller which was interesting because the self harm wasn't the main focus
The unquiet mind by Kay Redfield Jamison- this is a memoir and she talks about her struggles with bipolar while also becoming a relatively well known therapist/psychology/researcher. Triggering because of suicide and grief


These are all the books I have read or have on my TBR on goodreads. I hope that it helps. Not all of them have mental illness as the main focus which is something I like to see in a book. Some of these are adult books so the content might not be something your parents will approve off.

If you would like to find more books you could probably do a google search for something like 'books that deal with mental illness' or 'books that deal with [insert something like self harm, bipolar etc]'