Four Books to Read During Mental Health Awareness Month

May is mental health awareness month.

It’s not just for the mentally ill, for those struggling with unseen disorders. Mental health applies to anyone with a brain and a nervous system.

So… Everyone?

Yes. Everyone.

Mental states are constantly fluctuating, changing, and adapting to your current situations. It’s important to pay attention to but the hard part about mental health is that it’s harder to measure than physical health. Physical health has clear warning signs: high blood pressure, pain, messed up sugar levels, off-kilter hormones, broken bones, etc. Within mental health there are signs that it’s slipping: staying in bed, difficulty concentrating, a hard time sleeping, sudden decrease or increase in appetite, and increased intake of alcohol or weed, but no clear-cut warning signs.

While many mental health symptoms are measured on a Likert scale (a scale of 1-5) and you are scored based on your answers, these numbers do not carry the same weight to most people as an increased sugar level, messed up thyroid, blood pressure, etc. In addition to this, mental health symptoms can be hidden. Often times, hidden until it’s too late.

But why, in the world today, would you be candor about it?

If you tell someone you’re depressed, or that you’re struggling, you’ll likely be told to find a hobby. Have you tried weightlifting? Just take a nap. Sleep it off. You’ll feel better.

If you tell someone you’re anxious, you’ll be told to chill it with the coffee. Go for a run; burn off the excess energy. It’s not a big deal. You have nothing to be nervous about.

That’s complete bullshit.

Mental health impacts quality of life. It affects how you live. A hobby cannot fix messed up neurotransmitters, trauma, or years of neural networking. While the brain is plastic, it takes a lot of hard work and effort to get that stubborn organ to change its ways. It is not that easy.

If you want to feel heard, these are the four books I recommend.

If you’re trying to understand anxiety, depression, or grief, then I suggest you read these books, too.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

First on the list: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.

Craig Gilner is an ambitious teen who attends Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional high school. He worked his tail end off to get in. Now? Now, he’s depressed. He’s overwhelmed. He can’t withstand the pressure but he feels stuck. He doesn’t see a way out. He’s suicidal.

The book follows his relationships and his journey to self-discovery. He ends up in the hospital for a few days after checking himself in. The people he meets alter the trajectory of his life. Vizzini does an excellent job balancing family dynamics, old friendships and new friendships, as well as what it’s like to exist with depression.

Exist, because it’s not living. Not really.

I also found that Vizzini perfectly captured a teenage boy’s mind. Craig had the typical thoughts about girls but he also struggled, and didn’t know how to talk about that struggle with his friends. He resorted to smoking weed, drinking, and avoiding his homework to cope. Of course, those are terrible coping strategies and Vizzini shows the consequences of these actions.

The book is like a hug. I highly recommend it.

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

Next up: Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

Norah struggles with anxiety, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. For those of you who do not know, agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations you can’t get out of. When you can’t get out of a situation, how are you supposed to avoid feeling embarrassed or helpless?

Norah doesn’t push the limits. She stays in her house, watches television, scrolls through social media, and spends time with her mom. She’s tired of not having any friends, of watching the people she used to go to school with pass her by. When new neighbor Luke knocks on her doorstep, Norah gains a greater will to continue battling her brain. He doesn’t see her as mentally ill; he sees her as strong, brave, and kind. She wants to get better.

I’m not a fan of books that use boys to get women through a difficult period in their life. However, it is realistic for them to serve as a catalyst. Luke never magically fixes her. Norah finds someone worth struggling for, and sometimes people need that. And that is okay. That is a great jumping off point.

The story is beautiful.

There is a scene in which Norah engages in self-harm. Trigger warning, for that.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune came into my life while I was grieving. I will be forever grateful to TJ Klune for writing this book.

Wallace is a mean, uptight corporate worker who believes he has everything he could ever want. He’s successful. He has money.

Then he dies.

He ends up at Charon’s Crossing (a concept I absolutely love) where he meets Hugo, the man who has to help him cross over. Wallace has to confront everything he did, everything he didn’t do, and the people he left behind. Was his life really as successful as he wanted it to be? What measure of success should he use? How do you grieve then it’s your own life you’re losing?

TJ Klune wrote this book for his husband, who he lost to cancer. It explores death in every shape and form: illness, violence, suicide, etc. While this is a dark topic, Klune finds a wonderful way to weave in humor and a little bit of brightness to an otherwise heavy story.

This book is like a blanket for people who are grieving. Maybe, somewhere out there, the person you love is in a tea shop with a dog, a grumpy old man, a kindhearted reaper, and a gentle man, learning to live again.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera deals with homophobia, depression, and suicide. Aaron Soto is sixteen years old. He has close friends and a sweet girlfriend named Genevieve who are helping him while he works through some difficult feelings. As he and his best friend Thomas get closer, Aaron starts to realize that something is fundamentally wrong.

When a revolutionary memory altering procedure becomes available to him, he wonders if that would be the thing that could fix everything he feels is wrong.

This is a dark book. It’s about a kid who is terrified to be himself. He considers having his memories altered to cut out pieces of himself. More Happy Than Not takes a complex and multi-faceted approach to sexuality with a diverse cast of well-developed characters. It took my heart out of my chest and stomped on it fifty times. Every other page, a line would hit a little too close to home, and I’d be an emotional wreck.

I found this book when I was fourteen, praying to God every single day that I wouldn’t be bisexual. Nothing in the world can change sexuality. Adam Silvera helped me make peace with this.

Beautiful story.

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I hope this list can provide some sort of comfort. Each and every one of these authors was writing from an incredibly personal place. Their books struck a chord within me and made me feel a little less alone, a little less scared, and a little more capable.

I hope they can do the same for you.