Mental Illness Fiction

Her world was color. Canvas and paint. Indie O'Connell lived inside her head. Her voices the muse. And as a freshman at St. Peter's College, all she wanted was to create a name for herself with the brush in her hand. His world was over. Despite his humble upbringing, Kai Carter seemed to have it all. Captain of the swim team and a full scholarship. His golden boy status a mask he had to wear to keep his dream and his family afloat. All the pieces of his life dangled precariously from his fingertips. They never planned for their worlds to collide.

Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

When 12-year-old Maddie's older brother vanishes from his college campus, her carefully ordered world falls apart. Nothing will fill the void of her beloved oldest sibling. Meanwhile, Maddie's older sister reacts by staying out late, and her parents are always distracted by the search for Strum. Drowning in grief and confusion, the family's musical household falls silent. Though Maddie is the youngest, she knows Strum better than anyone. He used to confide in her, sharing his fears about the climate crisis and their planet's future.

Norah has agoraphobia and OCD. When groceries are left on the porch, she can't step out to get them. Struggling to snag the bags with a stick, she meets Luke. He's sweet and funny, and he just caught her fishing for groceries. Because of course he did. Norah can't leave the house, but can she let someone in? As their friendship grows deeper, Norah realizes Luke deserves a normal girl.

In her early 20s, investigative journalist Anna Mehler Paperny had already landed her dream job. On the surface, her life was great. Nevertheless, she spiraled out, attempted suicide (the first of more attempts to follow), and landed in the ICU and then in a psych ward before setting out to tackle her recovery. In Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me, Mehler Paperny turns her journalist's eye on her own experience and others' - in the ward; as an outpatient; facing family, friends, and coworkers; finding the right meds; trying to stay insured and employed.

In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.

Until sophomore year of high school, 15-year-old Allison Britz lived a comfortable life in an idyllic town. She was a dedicated student with tons of extracurricular activities, friends, and loving parents at home. But after awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.

In this classic account of madness, Michel Foucault shows once and for all why he is one of the most distinguished European philosophers since the end of World War II. Madness and Civilization, Foucault's first book and his finest accomplishment, will change the way in which you think about society. Evoking shock, pity, and fascination, it might also make you question the way you think about yourself.

What would you do if your dead sister sent you postcards? I've struggled to get my life back on track after a lifetime of despair, addiction, and loss. I finally have it all. A bustling business, a home, my health, and time with my beloved daughter Sophie. But that tenuous balance is tipped when my twin Jane's postcard arrives in the mail. My family thinks she's dead. They want to put it all behind them. But how can I agree when the evidence is right in front of me? When my nagging little sister provokes my rebellious teenager to run away, I am forced to confront the past I've wanted to ...

New hope for those suffering from conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, addictions, PTSD, ADHD, and more. Though incidence of these conditions is skyrocketing, for the past four decades standard treatment hasn’t much changed, and success rates in treating them have barely improved, either. Meanwhile, the stigma of the “mental illness” label - damaging and devastating on its own - can often prevent sufferers from getting the help they need. Brain specialist and best-selling author Dr. Daniel Amen aims to change all that.

Gracie Hollaman finally decides to follow the voices in her head. She leaves behind her family for the small African-American town of Rockrun to join Mama Toot and Mattie. Together, the three will learn to shed their pasts to begin life anew.

In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her 18-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and African-American roots, showcasing her best writing yet.

In 15th century England, there are two cousins, both the daughters of dukes, both widowed young, both the mother of sons called Henry. Both are named Margaret Beaufort. One Margaret’s son will be a future King. The other one’s son will be an infamous rebel. The ‘other Margaret Beaufort’ is the daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. Proud and temperamental, Edmund’s bitterest enemy is Richard, Duke of York. Rumours swirl about Edmund—Is he to blame for losing many English territories in France? Is he the true father of Queen Margaret’s baby son, Edward of Westminster? Tensions ...

Psychologist, Amy Rose Michaels, spent years in her attempt to understand the crazy workings of her parents' dysfunctional minds; her father, Brandon Michaels, suffers from bi-polar illness and alcoholism, and her mother, Silvia Michaels with an extreme case of OCD and a whole lot of cuckoo. This search for answers leads Amy to study psychology. After years in practice, Amy grows alarmed as she sees, one by one, her patients become murdered. Is there romance in this story? Do ducks have wings? * The word Bedlam can be traced back to 1247 when the Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem was ...

In 1860 America, contrary women are often declared insane. When Hannah True witnesses a young woman being assaulted, she rushes to her rescue and is taken into custody for interfering with the arrest of a fraudulent voter. The judge orders Benita Walton, who dressed as a man and attempted to vote, committed to the Brookdale Lunatic Asylum. He gives Hannah a warning: stifle her impulses and leave physical rescues to men or face prison. Concern for Benita’s welfare leads Hannah to have her family commit her to Brookdale. Inside the asylum, Hannah learns Benita has been removed from the ...

When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy, and cherished by those who knew her - from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders and her friends Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other, and maybe even themselves.

Medusa, once a bewitching beauty, has become a hideous monster with snakes for hair. When men look at her, they turn to stone. When King Polydectes sends Perseus for Medusa's head, he thinks Perseus will soon be another one of Medusa's stone men. Or will he?

Sometimes, in order to find your soul, you have to lose your mind. Kyle Getty was a successful, accomplished person. Until the day he lost his mind and brutally assaulted a man who was bullying a disabled person. Now, Kyle has been placed into court ordered therapy at Fallbrooke Mental Institution in Oregon. Waiting to meet him at Fallbrooke are a group of fellow “clients” that he will never forget. There is the young man who will only speak in rhymes and the French girl who cannot sleep. There is the old man who is trying to sketch his memories in the face of his Alzheimer’s, and ...

Dallas, Dealey Plaza, 1963. Nineteen-year-old Mariah Byrne is following her dream of a career in photography. One moment she’s filled with joy and hope watching the president and Mrs. Kennedy drive past. In the next, the world—and Mariah’s life—is split into before and after. What follows, and the unconventional decisions Mariah makes, will affect her and her family forever.