Mental Illness

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