SJPL PICKS: Mental Health Resources- Lived ExperiencesLike this list

36 items

• My Name Means Fire

  a Memoir

  Yaghmaian, Atash

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  When she was a child, Atash Yaghmaian’s home life was unpredictable: a confusing mix of love and terror. Outside of her home, Iran was also on fire. Her reality of abuse, war, gender oppression, and religious superstition left her feeling unsafe…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Unshrunk

  a Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance

  Delano, Laura, 1983-

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  At age fourteen, Laura Delano saw her first psychiatrist who immediately diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and started her on a mood stabilizer and antidepressant. At school, Delano was elected the class president and earned straight-As and a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Murder Next Door

  a Graphic Memoir

  D'Andrade, Hugh (Hugh Byron), 1968-

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  When Hugh was ten years old, he walked home from school to find his friends next door crying outside – they had just come home and discovered their mother’s body. She had been murdered. Now an adult, Hugh has a happy social life and a successful…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Monster and the Mirror

  Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell

  Aiello, K. J.,

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  Revelatory memoir and cultural criticism that connects popular fantasy and our perceptions of mental illness to offer an empathetic path to compassionate care. Growing up, K.J. Aiello was fascinated by magical stories of dragons, wizards, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Docile

  Memoir of a Not-so-perfect Asian Girl

  Song, Hyeseung,

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  A daughter of Korean immigrants, Hyeseung Song spends her earliest years in the cane fields of Texas where her loyalties are divided between a restless father in search of Big Money, and a beautiful yet domineering mother whose resentments about her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Color of Everything

  a Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within

  Richards, Cory,

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  “In order to escape madness, I will live madly. I will risk my life in order to save it.” Growing up in the mountains of Utah, Cory Richards was constantly surrounded by the outdoors. His father, a high school teacher and a ski patroller, spent…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Story Game

  a Memoir

  Tjoa, Shze-Hui, 1993-

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  A transcendent, profoundly imaginative memoir that explores the complexities of sisterhood, the cost of expectation, and the power of storytelling to shape—and ultimately repair—a life. What was that game we used to play when we were children? We…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Fox in My Brain

  Lubie, Lou,

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  After many troubled years, Lou finally discovers what's causing the chaos in her brain: her Cyclothymia, a Bipolar Disorder that appears to her in the form of a fox. Join Lou as she learns to tame the fox within, and learns to cope with her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Sociopath

  a Memoir

  Gagne, Patric,

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  With emotions like fear, guilt and empathy eluding her, the author, trying to replace the nothingness with something, realizes, after connecting with an old flame, if she's capable of love, it must mean she isn't a monster and sets out to prove the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• No One Gets to Fall Apart

  a Memoir

  LaBrie, Sarah,

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  On a highway in Houston, Texas, Sarah LaBrie’s mother was found screaming at passing cars, terrified she would be murdered by invisible assailants. The diagnosis of schizophrenia that followed compelled Sarah to rethink her childhood, marked at…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Men Have Called Her Crazy

  a Memoir

  Tendler, Anna Marie, 1985-

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  When artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital, she underwent myriad tests and therapies. Here, she recounts her experience and examines the expectations and pressures modern women face.

• Everything / Nothing / Someone

  a Memoir

  Carrière, Alice,

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  This compelling literary debut tells the story of a young woman coming of age in the bohemian '90s as she navigates through the challenges of adolescence and grapples with dissociative disorder.

• Sure, I'll Join Your Cult

  a Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere

  Bamford, Maria, 1970-

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  Stand-up comedian Bamford catalogs all the “cults” she’s joined—from Debtors Anonymous to “Suzuki-method violin training”—in search of structure and community in her hilarious, eyebrow-raising debut memoir. “I’m not suicidal, but I’m not…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• What My Bones Know

  a Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma

  Foo, Stephanie,

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  A searing memoir of reckoning and healing from an acclaimed journalist and former This American Life producer investigating the little-understood science behind Complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life.

• In Love

  a Memoir of Love and Loss

  Bloom, Amy, 1953-

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  Amy and Brian's world was changed forever with his diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's. Forced to confront the daily frustrations and realities of the disease and its impact on their lives and marriage, Brian resolved not to let it dictate his life…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I'm Glad My Mom Died

  McCurdy, Jennette, 1992-

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  "A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• This Will All Be Over Soon

  a Memoir

  Strong, Cecily, 1984-

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  A powerful memoir from the Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong about grieving the death of her cousin-and embracing the life-affirming lessons he taught her-amid the coronavirus pandemic.

• And Now I Spill the Family Secrets

  An Illustrated Memoir

  Kimball, Margaret (Illustrator),

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  A beautifully illustrated memoir and empathetic investigation into a family's history with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and one woman's quest to find healing among what remains.

• I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder

  a Memoir

  Kurchak, Sarah, 1982-

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  "An autistic writer's memoir of the detrimental effects of pretending to be normal, and her impassioned call to redefine what is considered a successful life. Sarah Kurchak is autistic. She hasn't let that get in the way of pursuing her dream to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dear Scarlet

  the Story of My Postpartum Depression

  Wong, Teresa, 1976-

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  "In this intimate and moving graphic memoir, Teresa Wong writes and illustrates the story of her struggle with postpartum depression in the form of a letter to her daughter Scarlet. Equal parts heartbreaking and funny, Dear Scarlet perfectly…Read moreRead more of this annotation