September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Here are eight books to help you cope with loss and give insight and hope. If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Discusses the factors that affect mental health, historical and modern types of treatment, and mental illnesses, describes how different teens have dealt with mental health issues, and suggests ways to handle mental problems.
(Don’t) Call Me Crazy by Kelly Jensen
Thirty-three actors, athletes, writers, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore a wide range of topics: their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and don’t talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person’s brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan
A teen grieving the loss of her mother travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time and search for her mother’s spirit while uncovering tragic family secrets and struggling to reconcile the truth about how her mother’s life really ended.
Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini
After being hospitalized for depression, fourteen-year-old Kayla is sent from her home in Trinidad to live with her aunt in Canada, yearning to feel at home but feeling more adrift than ever.
Shadows in the Sun by Gayathri Ramprasad
The author discusses the mental illness she suffered from a young age and the treatment she received only after she left India and became a mother for the first time in the United States, describing her emotional recovery and spiritual awakening and her role as an advocate for the mentally ill.
The Hilarious World of Depression by John Moe
Inspired by the immediate success of the podcast, Moe has written a remarkable investigation of the disease, part memoir of his own journey, part treasure trove of laugh-out-loud stories and insights drawn from years of interviews with some of the most brilliant minds facing similar challenges.
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
The popular blogger presents a humorous and candid memoir about her lifelong battle with severe depression and anxiety, discussing how embracing both the flawed and the beautiful parts of life have enabled her to find joy in outrageous ways.
One Friday in April by Donald Antrim
In this moving memoir, Antrim vividly recounts what led him to the roof and what happened after he came back down: two hospitalizations, weeks of fruitless clinical trials, the terror of submitting to ECT-and the saving call from David Foster Wallace that convinced him to try it-as well as years of fitful recovery and setback.
