Mental illnesses are common, yet the stigma of discussions around mental health remains. We hope this compilation inspires conversations about mental health, whether you are a professor looking to round out a syllabus or someone hoping to better understand your own experiences. Read on to discover study guides for fiction and nonfiction titles spanning a variety of important topics, such as suicide, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, trauma, and bipolar disorder.
Publication year 2016
Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: New Age
Tags Self Help, Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Education, Psychology, Philosophy, Mental Illness
Publication year 1998
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Natural World: Appearance & Reality
Tags Mental Illness, Science / Nature, History: World, Psychology, Psychology, Biography
John Nash is born and raised in Bluefield, West Virginia. As a child, he is introverted and quiet, preferring reading and performing experiments to playing with other children. He is obsessed with codes and patterns and enjoys playing pranks on his sister and schoolmates. Intending to become an engineer like his father, Nash secures a scholarship to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. After a year, he abandons engineering to major in mathematics. He... Read A Beautiful Mind Summary
Publication year 2002
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Identity: Disability
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Historical Fiction, Grief / Death, Depression / Suicide, Health / Medicine, Mental Illness, American Literature, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Hattie Owen’s life changes the summer she turns 12 and meets the young uncle she never knew existed in Ann M. Martin’s middle-grade novel, A Corner of the Universe (2002). Uncle Adam has been kept a secret because of his mental problems. Adults have trouble handling his emotional extremes, but shy Hattie finds a true friend in her exuberant uncle. Adam teaches Hattie to explore life beyond the safety of her front porch. As Hattie... Read A Corner of the Universe Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Identity: Mental Health, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Identity: Gender, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Relationships: Family
Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
A Heart in a Body in the World is a young adult novel by Deb Caletti, published in 2018. The novel is a work of contemporary realism and is a Michael L. Printz Honor Book.Other work by this author includes the novel, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.Plot SummaryThe novel follows the story of Annabelle Agnelli, a high school senior living with her mother Gina and her brother Malcolm in Seattle, Washington. Annabelle is a talented cross-country runner... Read A Heart in a Body in the World Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Mothers
Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Trauma / Abuse / Violence
A List of Cages is a 2017 young adult novel by Robin Roe. The story centers on the friendship between two teenagers, Adam Blake and Julian Harlow. Adam and Julian first become friends when Adam is Julian's reading buddy in grammar school. The friendship deepens when Julian's parents die, and he lives in Adam’s house as a foster child. Although they knew each other in grammar school, the main action of this story takes place... Read A List of Cages Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Disability
Tags Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Drama / Tragedy, Relationships, LGBTQ, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Depression / Suicide, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
Allegedly (2017), a young adult contemporary novel by Tiffany D. Jackson, tells the story of Mary Beth Addison, an African American teenager who has spent the last six of her 15 years in custody for allegedly murdering a white baby, Alyssa Richardson. Currently, Mary lives in a group home in Brooklyn with her foster mother and five roommates, who at times, endanger Mary’s life. Mary’s mother, Dawn Cooper—Momma—struggles with mental illness, but she visits Mary... Read Allegedly Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Romance, Depression / Suicide, Mental Illness, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
All the Bright Places (2015) is a young adult novel with elements of romance written by Jennifer Niven that deals with the topic of teen suicide. The book was winner of the Goodreads Choice award and has become a popular read among the BookTok community. Niven tells the story from two different voices, those of high school students Theodore Finch (who goes by “Finch”) and Violet Markey. The characters first meet at the top of their... Read All The Bright Places Summary
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family
Tags Romance, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Drama / Tragedy, Historical Fiction, Mental Illness
Bryn Greenwood’s novel All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (2016) acknowledges and inverts the features of fairy tales and romance novels to depict a relationship that challenges accepted social values and questions the definition of love itself. Sunk in the depravity and degradation of her father’s drug-dealing lifestyle, eight-year-old Wavy finds her only solace in a questionable attachment to Kellen, a 24-year-old man who is also isolated and longing for some scrap of beauty in... Read All the Ugly and Wonderful Things Summary
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Emotions/Behavior: Grief
Tags Romance, Grief / Death, Depression / Suicide, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Relationships: Friendship, Identity: Disability, Self Discovery, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Relationships: Family
Tags Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Korean Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Asian Literature, Mental Illness
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: The Future, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Place, Natural World: Space & The Universe, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mental Illness
Publication year 2005
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Depression / Suicide, British Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Humor
A Long Way Down is a 2005 novel by international best-selling British author Nick Hornby. This dark comedy incorporates themes of existentialism and mental illness, including suicide and depression, in Hornby’s signature upbeat style. The novel follows four characters in a first-person, round-robin style narration in which each character advances the plot in succession. The story takes place in modern-day England. The four main characters—Martin, Maureen, JJ, and Jess—meet each other for the first time... Read A Long Way Down Summary
Publication year 1956
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Apathy, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: Mental Health
Tags Poetry: Dramatic Poem, Satire, Politics / Government, Mental Illness, The Beat Generation, WWII / World War II
Publication year 2019
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race, Identity: Gender, Society: Colonialism
Tags Race / Racism, Social Justice, Mental Illness, Colonialism / Postcolonialism, Gender / Feminism
Publication year 1995
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Family
Tags Psychology, Mental Illness, Science / Nature, Psychology, Health / Medicine, Biography
An Unquiet Mind, written by Kay Redfield Jamison and first published in 1995, is a memoir about a clinical psychologist’s experience living with manic-depressive illness. The book details her life, from her early experiences as a child, through the beginning of her mood swings, her diagnosis of manic-depressive illness, her struggles with the disease, and her eventual management of and control over it, following years of therapy and medication. Aside from having experienced it, Jamison... Read An Unquiet Mind Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: The Past, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt
Tags Realistic Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Humor
Publication year 2006
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Addiction / Substance Abuse, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Play: Drama, Inspirational, Biography, Mental Illness
Publication year 1965
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Identity: Gender, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Identity: Femininity, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos
Tags Free verse, Animals, Race / Racism, Gender / Feminism, Confessional, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), American Literature, History: World, Mental Illness, Classic Fiction