Books

In this section, we've created a list of books that explore aspects of mental health or feature a character who struggles with mental health.

A Beautiful Mind — Sylvia Nasar

A Beautiful Mind is a biography of Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., whose career was cut short due to schizophrenia. After living with intense delusions for 30 years, he was honored with a Nobel Prize.

Everything Here Is Beautiful — Mira T. Lee

Everything Here Is Beautiful is a novel about how mental illness impacts the lives of family, friends, and the career of the person with the diagnosis. One sister starts hearing voices while the other struggles with finding a way to support and protect her.

When We Collided — Emery Lord

When We Collided is a YA story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control. Two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever. One of the protagonists, Vivi, struggles with bipolar disorder.

All the Bright Places — Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places is a YA story about two teens: one, fascinated by death and contemplates ways of suicide; the other, living for the future and counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

Impulse — Ellen Hopkins

Impulse is a story about three lives with three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted suicide. In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. Now, they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other’s help, they can find their way to a better life—but only if they’re strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.