Bang Your Head: Mental Health in Fiction and Non-Fiction
Whether it's inherited or the result of trauma, or a mix of both, mental illness and mental health matter more than ever. Some of these stories are from the perspective of friends or family; some are in first person. What connects them all is a need for help, the knowledge that help doesn't always come, and, if and when it does, it doesn't always look like you might suppose.
Famous people get depressed. The elderly get depressed. Mismedication hurts. Depression hurts. As the title says, the award-winning novelist makes the darkness visible and also tangible in this slender volume.
I read this for the first time when I was in high school. It cracked open my world and my heart.
Eye-opening, thought provoking, funny, and strange. This book also taught me how to recognize the symptoms of an anxiety attack. From the author of The Men Who Stare At Goats.
When people commit heinous acts, it's easy to brand them monsters. In this graphic memoir, Backderf recalls (and researches) his time as a high school friend/bully of the notorious serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. Thought provoking, painful, and at times deeply uncomfortable, it is nevertheless humane.
Funny, sad, weird, and ultimately hopeful, if also annoyed, Brosh writes and draws her life with her S.O. and her dogs. The way she explores severe depression helped me understand what it can look and feel like. It is well worth reading.
A slow-burning thriller for people who prefer books about psychology, Ireland, and multiple viewpoints as well as a fascinating introduction to multi-generational mental illness as a result of terrorism.
I read this because I knew I wouldn't see the movie. I'm glad I read the book. It's about so much. Love, family, forgiveness, anger, friendship, dancing, healing-it's all in there.
Mona Starr loves art. She loves hanging out with her friends. She doesn't love how sometimes it's hard to get her thoughts to quiet down, be gentle, or stop overwhelming her. This story has setbacks and triumphs, and a playlist from the author in the back.