Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? For 76 years now, people have used this month to speak up about the challenges of living with a mental illness and advocate for better healthcare. Recent research shows that almost a quarter of Americans live with a mental illness, ranging from depression and anxiety to borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Whether you want to see your experience represented in a character, understand your diagnosis, or learn how to support a struggling loved one, the Boston Public Library can help! We've compiled an all-ages list of fiction with mental health representation – all by authors who share their characters' struggles – and nonfiction for exploring more. Since some of these stories contain potentially-triggering topics, feel free to look up content warnings on websites like "Does the Dog Die?"; your well-being always comes first! Please note that all titles may be available in multiple formats and languages.
Children
Children’s Graphic Fiction. Isaac is a shy boy with OCD, but after meeting new friends who introduce him to role-playing games, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery and growth.
Children’s Horror. In the past four years, Jasmine lost her dad, moved four times, and has been followed by a ghost. When a teacher at her new school invites her to a GSA meeting, Jasmine finds not only some potential friends, but people who believe in her haunting. But the more the group investigates, the more the supernatural escalates.
Children’s Nonfiction. A licensed therapist introduces kids to what therapy is, how it works, and why it matters.
Children’s Fantasy. Drawn into the mystical world she created, 11-year-old Kiki Kallira must battle against her anxiety to save two worlds from the wrath of an ancient deity bent on total destruction.
Children’s Fantasy. A child suffering from depression escapes to a spirit realm every night, but a mistake they make there threatens it as well as the real world.
Board Book. Young readers can lift the flaps to see all of the things that make Unicorn and her friends feel scared, such as a visit to the doctor or a loud thunderstorm – and what will help them overcome their fears.
Picture Book. In rhyming text, a small girl admits she sometimes gets angry when she is frustrated, and her grandmother shows her how to cope.
Picture Book. A young child experiences sadness as if it were a visitor, acknowledging the emotion and suggesting activities to do with it.
Teens
Teen Fiction. Natalie feels pressure to hide her recent bipolar disorder diagnosis, but between a new crush, an art show, family pressures, and forgoing medication, everything starts to unravel.
Teen Nonfiction. Using essays, comics, and lists, writers explore living with addiction, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, disordered easing, OCD, and PTSD.
Teen Nonfiction. A social worker provides down-to-earth discussions about trauma-informed care and the history of mental health treatment.
Teen Graphic Nonfiction. Author-illustrator Cara Bean uses comics to teach readers about the basic neuroscience that influences mental health.
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
Teen Romance. When Bradley, a high school football player with OCD, is paired with his ex-best friend Celine at an outdoor survival course, their messy history and academic rivalry starts turning into chemistry.
Teen Fiction. After hearing that an asteroid will destroy the earth in a week, a suicidal teen reconnects with friends and even starts falling in love.
Teen Fantasy. Prudence left the Scouts, a group of hunters who protect humanity from interdimensional parasites, after seeing her best friend die. To cope with her PTSD, she infiltrates the group to find the Tea of Forgetting…but soon finds herself drawn back to her old life.
Teen Nonfiction. A nonprofit dedicated to mental health provides clear, honest, jargon-free information for anyone struggling emotionally and looking for help.
Adults
Adult Nonfiction. Edited by two experts on BPD, this book contains firsthand accounts of how people diagnosed with BPD manage their symptoms and calls for de-stigmatization.
Adult Nonfiction. A researcher specializing in PTSD teaches about the effects trauma has on the body, and practices that can reduce symptoms.
Adult Fantasy. A secret organization recruits Millie, a paraplegic with borderline personality disorder, to oversee relations between the human world and fairy world.
Adult Fantasy. A professor of magic must survive his own failing mental health and a tenuous partnership with a hotheaded soldier in order to save the city from a spreading curse.
Adult Fiction. Miranda has always been her younger sister’s protector, and when Lucia refuses to acknowledge her schizoaffective disorder, Miranda flies across the ocean to help.
Adult Graphic Memoir. Living with cyclothymia, a bipolar spectrum disorder, Lou navigates life alongside her metaphorical companion: a mischievous fox representing her condition.
Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking
Adult Memoir. Diagnosed with OCD as a teen, Eloise reflects on obsession and the power of embracing neurodivergence.
Adult Memoir. Curtis—struggling with PTSD and other diagnoses—shares her life-changing journey hiking the Appalachian Trail to confront the roots of her childhood traumas.
Adult Romance. Gene, the first openly trans professional baseball player, finds his life turned upside down when long-time rival Luis (who uses a service dog for severe anxiety) is traded to his team.
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