Looking for mental health/ deeper meaningful books!

[megs]

Hey friends:) I’m looking to find more mental health related books, along with possible poetry books. I’ve always been fond of the deeper topics and I’ve been struggling recently to find good titles to keep me interested. Any suggestions?

[Mary]

My time has come!
Eliza and Her Monsters - an all time favorite of mine, deals with social anxiety, escapism, and depression (TW for suicidal thoughts and ideas)
It's Kind of a Funny Story - deals with academic pressure, anxiety and depression. essentially about a boys stay and journey in a psychiatric ward. (TW for suicidal thoughts, ideas, and attempt)

The Only poetry books ive read have been
Secrets for the Mad which centers around mental health (depression,anxiety, derelisation/depersonalization), and Egghead; or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone which is definitely just a comedy book.

[Riley]

I second It’s Kind of a Funny Story, it’s one of my faves and it does a really good job of portraying psychiatric wards without making them seem like evil prisons that “crazy people” get locked away in as well as not romanticizing mental illnesses and showing recovery

[Raven]

I really enjoyed Girl, Interrupted. I had to read it for school last year and I did at first have a hard time starting the book but very quickly I got drawn in. It’s about this woman who is sent to a psychiatric facility during the 1960’s. It’s based off of this woman (Susanna Kaysen)’s real life experience there. It’s a memoir and very worth the read

[Amy]

A few that I highly rated when I read them.
The Pause
Holding Up the Universe
My Heart and Other Black Holes
A List of Cages

[Heather]

One book that I really like that has to do with mental health is Random by Tom Leveen. It’s really puts the phrases “innocent until proven guilty” and “not guilty doesn’t mean you’re innocent” into perspective.

Book description:
“This tense and gripping novel explores of the consequences of cyberbullying.

Late at night Tori receives a random phone call. It's a wrong number. But the caller seems to want to talk, so she stays on the line.

He asks for a single thing--one reason not to kill himself.

The request plunges her into confusion. Because if this random caller actually does what he plans, he'll be the second person connected to Tori to take his own life. And the first just might land her in jail. After her Facebook page became Exhibit A in a tragic national news story about cyberbullying, Tori can't help but suspect the caller is a fraud. But what if he's not? Her words alone may hold the power of life or death.

With the clock ticking, Tori has little time to save a stranger--and maybe redeem herself--leading to a startling conclusion that changes everything...”

[Scarlett]

Hi! I just joined so I know I’m late to this, but ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath is a classic for mental health discussion. Also one of my favourite books of all time! It’s semi-autobiographical and she was primarily a poet so it sort of crosses novel and poetry in that sense! TW for: depression, suicide discussion, suicide attempt, hospital, self harm, general outdated treatment and ideals.