Through the centuries, many works of literature have often dealt with themes of struggling with mental health. With some classics and some new viewpoints, here are five books that encompass various forms of mental illnesses in different ways.

“Every Last Word” by Tamara Ireland Stone

Samantha is one of the popular girls, with her “straightened hair and expertly applied makeup.” However, underneath it all, she stands out like a sore thumb. Samantha has purely-obsessional obsessive compulsive disorder, or primarily obsessional OCD, which is a lesser-known form of OCD that manifests in cognitive ritualizing behaviors. She spends her life second-guessing every word she says and every move she makes. However, when she meets Caroline near her locker, she begins to feel more like herself than she ever felt with the mean girls.

While the book has been praised for its introduction to OCD, some people have said the book doesn’t do complete justice to the complexity of the disorder. “Every Last Word” acts as a positive representation of OCD in a world where the word is often thrown around, rather than a complex analysis of it.

“The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath

If you haven’t read this book in high school already, now is the time to pick it up. “The Bell Jar” is a lauded classic and is considered an autobiography of Plath’s own experiences with, what may have been, clinical depression or bipolar II disorder. Taking place in the early 50s, the novel follows Esther Greenwood, who is a brilliant girl working at a fashion magazine. However, Esther begins to feel lost as she struggles with her work and her personal life. The book was published a month before Plath’s suicide and is packed with dark humor and horrifying truths. It is an intense look into depression and doesn’t shy away from any of the gritty details.

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“Everything Here is Beautiful” by Mira T. Lee

Lee’s debut novel surrounds the love that two sisters share, a love that cannot be broken even when the two are miles apart. Lucia Bok is headstrong and impulsive who makes life-changing decisions on a whim. Her more responsible older sister, Miranda, acts as her protector.

When Lucia starts to hear voices in her head, she refuses to stop living her life. While doctors cannot agree on whether her illness is schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or somewhere along the spectrum, Lucia leaves her husband, moves into a house with immigrants and gets pregnant. The novel spans decades and focuses on the two sisters trying to save Lucia. Lee attempts to erase the stigma that is attached to mental illnesses in society.

“A Kind of Miraculous Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia” by Sandra Allen

In 2009, Sandra Allen received an autobiography, riddled with errors and in all caps, from their uncle Bob that claimed to be a true account of the life of someone “labeled a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic.” Before this, Allen had only known of Bob as the “crazy” uncle who spent his childhood in mental hospitals.

Over the course of several years, Allen pulls together the facts and narratives Bob had written with contextual evidence and their own stories of Bob. Questioning society’s stigma towards schizophrenia and America’s mental healthcare system, Allen produces a work describing the personal and emotional experience of someone with schizophrenia who works to stabilize his life.