Mental Health Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 🧠🩺

Check out these books from our fiction, nonfiction, and health & fitness sections dealing with mental illness and mental health

Updated March 6, 2025
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Really Good, Actually : A Novel
Heisey, Monica.
Paper Book
"Hilarious, heart-warming, wise." -- Paula Hawkins A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman's messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey Maggie is fine. She's...
How not to fall apart : lessons learned on the road from self-harm to self-care
Van Eijk, Maggy
Paper Book
"She's [Maggy is] really funny . . . If I had a self-destructive young adult in my life . . . this is probably the book I'd get her." --The New York Times Book Review  "How Not to Fall Apart is the book that finally understands...
Notes on a nervous planet
Haig, Matt
Paper Book
The instant #1 international bestseller from the beloved author of How to Stop Time and The Humans The societies we are part of are increasingly making our minds ill. It very often feels that the way we live is almost engineered to make us unhappy. Whether it is our attitudes toward sleep,...
Furiously happy : a funny book about horrible things
Lawson, Jenny 1973-
Paper Book
In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what...
No one cares about crazy people : the chaos and heartbreak of mental health in America
Powers, Ron
Paper Book
New York Times-bestselling author Ron Powers offers a searching, richly researched narrative of the social history of mental illness in America paired with the deeply personal story of his two sons' battles with schizophrenia. From the centuries of torture of "lunatiks" at...
The silver linings playbook
Quick, Matthew 1973-
Paper Book
Why did NPR's popular librarian Nancy Pearl pickThe Silver Linings Playbook as one of summer's best reads for 2009? "Aawww shucks!" Pearl said. "I know that's hardly a usual way to begin a book review, but it was my immediate response to finishing Matthew Quick's heartwarming...
This close to happy : a reckoning with depression
Merkin, Daphne
Paper Book
This Close to Happy is the rare, vividly personal account of what it feels like to suffer from clinical depression, written from a woman's perspective and informed by an acute understanding of the implications of this disease over a lifetime. Taking off from essays on depression she has...
Brain on fire : my month of madness
Cahalan, Susannah.
Paper Book
An anniversary edition of the award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity--with a new note to readers by the author. ...
I liked my life
Fabiaschi, Abby.
Paper Book
"An emotional journey of love, loss, healing, and redemption. I rooted for every character." --Lisa See,New York Times andUSA Today bestselling author ofSnow Flower and The Secret Fan "I Liked My Life is a treasure of a novel. Warm-hearted and...
What happened to you? : conversations on trauma, resilience, and healing
Perry, Bruce Duncan 1955-
Paper Book
ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road, and What Happened to You? provides powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand....
This close to okay : a novel
Cross-Smith, Leesa 1978-
Paper Book
A powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers, from the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller."​ On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way...
Back from the brink : true stories and practical help for overcoming depression and bipolar disorder
Cowan, Graeme.
Paper Book
On July 24th, 2004, author Graeme Cowan took pen to paper and said goodbye to his family. "I just can't be a burden any longer," he wrote. After four failed suicide attempts, and a five-year episode of depression that his psychiatrist described as the worst he had ever treated, Cowan set...
Pathological : the true story of six misdiagnoses
Fay, Sarah
Paper Book
AN APPLE BOOKS PICK OF THE MONTH "Masterfully written, distinctively researched, deeply humane . . . Genius."--ANTHONY SWOFFORD, author of Jarhead "A major contribution . . . A necessary book."--JOHANN HARI, author of Lost Connections "This book is a triumph of the spirit and...
A cure for darkness : the story of depression and how we treat it
Riley, Alex (Science writer)
Paper Book
A fascinating, "rich, and generous" (Financial Times) look at the treatment of depression by an award-winning science writer that blends popular science, narrative history, and memoir. Is depression a persistent low mood, or is it a range...

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