Ya books featuring characters with mental illness the seattle. Mental health book recommendations from those who struggle. Ya involving mental health issues 2000present 359 books. Adult symptoms of mental health disorders healthyplace. Haunting yet hopeful, this book offers a realistic portrayal of eating disorders, guilt, and anxiety. This is a fantasy novel that just happens to star characters who struggle with mental health issues, particularly ptsd. Ya books that explore mental illness mood disorders a mood disorder is a condition that disturbs a persons mood to the point where it impacts their ability to function daytoday. Young adult ya novels are one way teenagers learn about life, relationships, sexualitygender issues and mental health. Mustread young adult books about mental health sheppard pratt.
Ya author holly bourne has just launched an online book club with mental health charity rethink and. From how to deal with a manic episode to coping with the stigma often associated with mental illness, this. In makersville, indiana, people know all about ronneyhes from that mixedrace family with the dad who tried to kill himself, the pillpopping mom, and the genius kid sister. Whether its some trendy post about what mental health is or how people with mental health illnesses actually are, its pretty likely to be somewhere in the social media sphere. I think there have been lots of good ya books about mental illness over the years. Childrens books childrens books illness in ya fiction do authors go too far, or not far enough.
These books help kids name and understand feelings and experiences they may be struggling with. This book explores how mental illness is portrayed in 21stcentury young. Art and mental illness, psychopathology, books barnes. As society grows in its understanding of mental illnesses, their effects and treatments, were seeing more ya narratives tackle these subjects. Since may is mental health awareness month, i asked some of my favorite authors of mental health ya, as well as and including authors who are also mental health professionals, to share their favorite mental health yas that get it right. Mental illness in young adult literature by kia jane richmond. These new novels face the complicated reality of mental. Romanticizing mental illnesses feeds mental health stigma.
This anxiety disorder often occurs with panic disorder. This list of mental illnesses is intended for use by adults only. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. This right here is hands down the best book about living with depression and anxiety. They dont focus on symptoms or diagnoses or treatment plans. Also overviews of mental illness, anxiety disorders, depression, childhood psychiatric disorders and more. Ya novels that get real about mental health hellogiggles. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. With a helpful question and answer format, this invaluable guide reveals everything about the condition, and shows how to keep it firmly under control. A list of young adult books featuring characters with. The hunger games is one of the few popular young adult geared franchises that deals extensively with mental illness.
Find me elsewhere goodreads hailsheartsnyc twitter hailsheartsnyc instagram. Complete list of mental illnesses and the adult symptoms of mental health disorders. John green on mental illness and writing a book that mirrors his own life. Young adult literature has been somewhat of a pioneer in the realm of representing mental illness because in so many ways, the ya genre was built around the idea of the issue book.
The more representation of mental health, the more opportunities to see the ways it plays out. In some ways, mental illness has been a crutch in ya writing for a long time, much like the holocaust was. Has someone close to you been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. There are books about addiction, eating disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and more, as experienced by the teen main characters. Crazy author amy reed regularly draws on her own experience with mental health challenges in her books. The victorians loved stashing mad women up in towers or attics, where they could sloly peel the.
Score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Many staff members across our 100 branches are participating, and recently we asked them what their picks and recommendations are for a book about mental health. Chapters focus on mental disorders identified by the most recent diagnostic and. For more, please see my recent blog post on ya novels of obsessivecompulsive disorder ocd at teen librarian. One of the best recent examples is john greens book turtles all the way down, which deals with anxiety and possible obsessivecompulsive disorder, though its only the former thats explicitly diagnosed. Best sellers in popular psychology mental illness books.
If you want to better understand different mental health issues and how psychiatric treatment has evolved, the 16 nonfiction books about mental illness listed below are a great jumping off point. Exploring mental illness in ya literature rebecca alasdair. I appreciate this list of books and would like to know the procedure for sending you mine. Published on may 18, 20, the dsm5 contains extensively revised diagnoses and, in some cases, broadens diagnostic definitions while narrowing definitions in other cases. Two years ago, the novelist john green was unable to control his thoughts. John corey whaley talks highly illogical behavior and the. Whether they are issues we are dealing with personally or issues of someone we know, these books provide us with insight, and at times, the strength to deal, empathize, and help. One of the ones that bothers me the most is the one about being strong for too. It is about a teenage girl coming to terms with her mothers bipolar disorder in the sixties. Welcome back to another edition of yas that get it right, in which pros weigh in on ya books they think nailed an aspect of the human experience. The fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders dsm, the dsm5, was approved by the board of trustees of the apa on december 1, 2012.
Women and mental illness fiction and nonfiction, best eating disorder books, ya involving mental health issues 2000present, borderline. Here are 9 ya novels that feature mental illness and health. Bitesized chapters, lists, and anecdotes make it a perfect book to keep in your back pocketjust in case. Why the hunger games is important for mental illness. While i watched this scene, i gripped my partners hand a little more tightlyand it wasnt the first time that ive felt a sense of camaraderie with the onscreen characters portrayed in the hunger games. Ya mental health resources published may 24, 2016 you may be familiar with ya fiction books that deal with mental health issues, but in honor of it being mental health month, im highlighting mostly nonfiction ya resources with a few new or forthcoming fiction titles. With mental health issues on the rise, the importance of ya fiction on these topics cannot be undermined. Ya books featuring characters with mental illness by stepha89 a communitycreated list. Another thing thats certainly fostering dialog and better understanding is the growth in ya books about mental illness. So today im going to share some of my favorite books that tackle topics of mental illness as well as a little bit about my own journey with my mental health this year. Autobiography of a serial killer aileen wuornos in her own words. Although ya books on mental health definitely arent new, it seems like theres been an extra push in.
As stevie goes through treatment for her eating disorder, she is. Why ya fiction needs to tell stories of mental illness. Ya books about mental illness and mental health book riot. The protagonists struggle with her diagnosis felt so real, and it even helped me. These books are not tools for diagnosis andor treatment, but a means of continuing the. Its about so much more than mental illness which is why i love it so much. More and more ya authors are featuring teens with serious illnesses in their books. There is a great tradition of mental illness in fiction. From theme to style, there are a lot of exciting developments happening in the ya novels of mental illness. Mental health issues in ya fiction can be a great way of helping teens make sense of their own misbehaving brains as long as theyre tackled responsibly.
At the child mind institute weve contacted publishers all over to call in books that address mental health and learning disorders and other common challenges, like dealing with painful experiences and coping with strong emotions. His mind played relentlessly over the same fears and anxieties. Why ya fiction needs to tell stories of mental illness books for younger readers that include painful subjects like ocd, bipolar disorder and depression may. Ya books dealing with issues relating to mental health and clinical psychology, first published in 2000 or later. Its a way to add depth or tragedy without earning anything. If anything, there isnt a problem of having mental illness be present as a theme in.
There are a lot of depictions of mental illness out there that feel super disingenuous. Author john corey whaley talks to mtv news about his new release, highly illogical behavior and the implications of mental health as a hot topic in todays young adult literature. These books traverse all aspects of mental health and mental illness, and theyre both fiction and nonfiction. Its a spectrum, and by reading about a wide variety of mental health experiences, we better see that mental illness can take a range of symptoms. Sometimes it feels like romanticization of mental illness is everywhere these days and this feeds mental health stigma. Like, you can tell when an author is including something as a oneoff plot point instead of giving it the love and care it needs. The marbury lens, by andrew smith despite my clinical background, the representations of mental health in ya literature that resonate with me the most are ones that are the least clinically presented. It is a young adult novel in verse called crazy eerdmansoct. The last thing in the world that any child needs is to be given a mental illness diagnosis or to be told they have a mental disorder. John green tells a story of emotional pain and crippling. Writers with mental illness is a book club supporting writers with mental illness and books with themes containing mental illness.