Mental Health in Literature

Perpetuating the stigma of mental illness

The stigma shrouding mental illness is a prevailing one. This stigma breeds distrust of mental health professionals, reducing them to the term "shrink." People in therapy are seen as weak. People who can’t handle their emotions. This stigma is especially detrimental for men and people of color.

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration defunded federal mental health programs, flooding society and with people who couldn’t care for themselves. With no place to go, many of these former patients ended up on the street. Some entered the prison system. Here’s a link to a short history of mental health in the US.

As a child of the 80s, the media's message rang out like a bell: therapy is pointless. Therapists were expensive quacks who took your money and provided no real benefit. Better yet, mental health professionals were crazy themselves, loaded with issues they projected onto their patients. This storyline became a comedic trope prevalent in movies and television. The misconceptions it promoted prevail today. One place an honest look at mental illness can be found is in books.

An Early Introduction into the Complexities of Mental Health

I first stumbled upon I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg in my high school library. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is a semi-autobiographical novel about author Greenberg’s mental decline and eventual diagnosis of schizophrenia. Until this point, I had only heard vague stories of so and so’s friend or child who had a mental illness. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden took that vagueness and transformed it into something informed and empathetic. However, it wasn’t until my own battle with postpartum depression that my view of therapy changed.

I discovered that mental health is nuanced, and mental illness expresses itself in a myriad of symptoms. To understand mental illness and its many therapies, we have to learn about it. Books offer a wonderful introduction into how mental illness can present itself and how it affects those around the afflicted.

6 Books that Address Mental Illness

Challenger Deep (HarperTeen, 2015)

Authors Neal and Brendan Shusterman join forces in this 2015 National Book Award and Golden Kite Award-winning novel. Challenger Deep follows Caden Bosch as he heads to the deepest point on Earth, Challenger Deep, the southernmost area of the Marianas Trench. Named artist in residence, Caden documents the ship's journey in images. Caden, a gifted high school student, begins engaging in uncharacteristic behavior, worrying his friends and family. As a means of escape, Caden lies about joining the track team and uses his newfound freedom to hike for hours, lost in thought. Caden’s mental deterioration has placed him between two worlds; the real world around him and the world of his thoughts. Paranoia and fantasy take the driver's seat as schizophrenia takes over Caden Bosch’s mind, and his parents will do whatever they can to save their son.

Possessing the Secret of Joy (Washington Square Press, 1992)

This novel by Alice Walker revisits a little-known character found in The Color Purple and The Temple of My Familiar. Possessing the Secret of Joy delves into the personal implication of belonging to two separate cultures that are fundamentally at odds. Tashi, a tribal African woman raised in North American. As a young woman, she resolves to undergo female circumcision. The act severely traumatizes Tashi, and she suffers a mental breakdown. Only through intense psychotherapy and an unlikely source of assistance can Tashi overcome her trauma and find inner peace.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Harcourt, 2006)

Author Magie O’Farrell explores what happens when mental illness becomes a family secret. Iris Lockhart receives a mysterious letter from a mental health institution. Experiencing budget cuts, the facility has to reevaluate its patients. The institution releases Lockhart's great aunt to her, who has been internationalized for the past 60 years. The only problem is, Lockhart has even heard of this aunt, and her grandmother has always maintained that she’s an only child. The more Lockhart learns about her aunt, the more she realizes Esme isn’t crazy but a misunderstood non-conformist who was a victim of sexual assault and other traumatic events.

Lisa, Bright and Dark: a novel (Berkeley, 1970)

Selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s Best Books of the Year and esteemed internationally, author John Neufeld details how mental illness affects the loved ones of the afflicted. In the 40 years since its first publishing, Lisa, Bright and Dark have not lost its value to those who know someone struggling with mental illness.

The Goldfish Boy (Scholastic Press, 2017)

Lisa Thompson brings us Matthew Corbin. A teenager crippled emotionally by obsessive-compulsive disorder. To pass the time, Matthew sits in his room and writes about his neighbor's activities. When a child disappears from the neighborhood, Matthew is the key to solving the mystery and perhaps finding the child before it’s too late, but will he be brave enough to expose his secret voyeuristic pastime?

Some Kind of Happiness (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016)

Finley Heart is having trouble coping with life. Her parents' marriage is in trouble, but they won’t admit it. Then they ship her to her grandparents for the summer -- Grandparents who are strangers to her. Finley has always had blue periods, but her depression is starting to overwhelm her. She takes to writing in her journal when her fantasy world begins to bleed over into reality. Now she must save this fantasy land to save herself. Claire Legrand’s novel is the winner of six book awards, including the Bank Street Best Books of the Year, Cybils Award Finalist, Edgar Allan Poe Award (Finalist), and the New York Public Library Best Books for Kids.

Whether affected personally by mental illness or would like to learn more about the subject, these books offer a guided journey behind the stigma.

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