Best Mental Health Books – Top 13 Books For Your Mind State

In today’s world, nearly 1 in 5 adults struggle with mental illness. Despite mental illnesses being widespread, stigma around mental health persists, and it takes an average of 10 years for someone with depression to seek treatment.

Learning about and developing a deeper understanding of mental health can benefit you in numerous ways, from cultivating a healthier mindset to recognizing you’re not alone in mental health struggles. This guide explores the best mental health books to help you find the information you need.

Best Mental Health Books

Below are the top 13 books on mental health and mental illness that will help you better understand treatment options, what certain mental illnesses are like, and how you can feel happier without medication. 

1. The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon 

The Noonday Demon is an atlas of depression crafted by award-winning author Andrew Solomon. Solomon takes readers on a journey of incomparable range with humanity, candor, and wit. This contribution to mental illness understanding and human compassion stands among the most remarkable books of our time. 

This book examines depression through cultural, personal, and scientific lenses. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with mental health professionals, Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease.

2. (Don’t) Call Me Crazy by Kelly Jensen

Named The Washington Post’s best children’s book of 2018, (Don’t) Call Me Crazy explores the need for open discussions about the term “crazy” in mental illness conversations. Since there is no single definition of crazy, there is no universal experience that embodies the term. Crazy can mean passionate to one person and extreme to another.

Here, 33 actors, athletes, writers, and others share their personal experiences with mental illness and provide the best approaches to discussing mental health. This book will deepen your understanding of how each person’s brain is uniquely wired. 

3. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

In Girl, Interrupted, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen recounts how she was placed in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital after her first session with a new psychiatrist in 1967. For the next two years, she spent most of her life on the ward with other teenage girls. This psychiatric hospital was renowned for its famous clientele, from Sylvia Plath to James Taylor.

While this psychiatric ward treated those who could afford it, their progressive methods attracted attention everywhere. This memoir encompasses razor-edged perception and the horrors that unfolded in the ward. This clear-sighted document provides lasting insight into our definition of mental illness and those recovering from it. 

4. No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers

No One Cares About Crazy People explores the chaos and heartbreak of mental health in America. This New York Times bestseller offers a richly researched narrative of the social history of mental illness in America. Author Ron Powers combines this history with deeply personal stories of his two sons’ battles with schizophrenia.

This thought-provoking book provides fresh insight into a widely misunderstood illness. Powers examines our fears and misconceptions about mental illness while explaining how public policies have contributed to these problems. 

5. Darkness Visible by William Styron 

This New York Times bestselling memoir chronicles crippling depression and the struggle to recover. In the summer of 1985, William Styron became unable to speak or walk while grappling with depression’s consequences: disaffection, apathy, and despair. His obsessive preoccupation with the disease nearly drove him to suicide.

Before the darkness completely engulfed him, he sought help. This book tells the story of his remarkable recovery and triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. 

6. It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

In It’s Kind of a Funny Story, teenager Craig Gilner seeks entry into Manhattan’s Executive Professional High School. Craig studies relentlessly to ace the entrance exam and succeeds. However, at his new school, Craig realizes he isn’t nearly as brilliant as the other students around him.

Craig struggles to accept that he is nothing more than average, if that. Soon, he watches his once-perfect future crumble before his eyes. 

7. Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

This New York Times bestselling memoir explores being depressed in America. Quickly after publication, this book became a cultural touchstone, examining how the overdiagnosed generation created icons like Kurt Cobain. Wurtzel provides an outstanding glimpse into the mind of someone with depression.

Articulate and brave, Wurtzel’s account of depression reveals how those with mental illness often persist while going unnoticed. Both entertaining and helpful, this book offers readers one of the most accurate depictions of depression. 

8. We’ve Been Too Patient by L. D. Green

We’ve Been Too Patient consists of 25 unflinching stories and essays from the front lines of the radical mental health movement. From overmedication to involuntary hospitalization, those labeled as mentally ill endure multiple traumas that lead to intense altered states. 

While much has been written about systemic problems in our mental health system, this book illuminates those who experience psychiatric miscare. Often, these are the voices left unheard, particularly in the LGBTQ+ and POC communities. This book advocates for better alternatives to treat mental illness, beginning with shifting the conversation from mental illness to mental health. 

9. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns 

This #1 bestseller demonstrates how mental struggles like anxiety, guilt, and procrastination can be overcome without medication. Eminent psychiatrist David D. Burns outlines scientifically proven techniques that will lift your spirits and help you develop a more positive outlook on life. This book answers your questions about available treatments for curing depression and anxiety. 

By reading this, you’ll understand what causes your mood swings, how to handle guilt, and how to overcome addiction. These clinically proven, drug-free treatment options for curing depression and anxiety have helped countless readers over the years.

10. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig 

This accessible and life-affirming memoir describes how Matt Haig’s triumph over mental illness taught him to truly live. In this modern classic, Haig explains how he overcame depression through writing, reading, and the love of friends and family. Eventually, he learned to appreciate life more because of the experience.

Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness. If we don’t suffer from mental illness ourselves, we know someone close to us who does. Haig’s candid account of his experiences is both relatable and inspiring to those struggling with depression. 

11. The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn R. Saks 

This much-praised memoir provides a stereotype-shattering look at a tenacious woman whose brain serves as both her greatest ally and enemy. Author Elyn Saks has battled schizophrenia most of her life and still experiences recurring episodes. In this moving story of her life, Saks explains how she learned to live independently as an adult.

From attempted suicides to voices speaking to her as a young teenager, Saks discusses her ongoing paranoia and inability to distinguish imaginary voices from real ones. To become a highly respected professional, Saks had to overcome numerous obstacles imposed by her mental illness.

12. Lost Connections by Johann Hari

This New York Times bestseller offers a revolutionary approach to understanding depression and anxiety. While Johann Hari experienced depression and underwent therapy, he was told his condition stemmed from a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, he began investigating whether this was actually true.

Through his research, Hari discovered that everything we’ve been told about anxiety and depression is wrong. Across the world, he found social scientists discovering that anxiety and depression weren’t caused by chemical imbalances. Instead, they were largely caused by problems in how we live. 

After Hari uncovered nine real causes of mental illness, he and a group of social scientists identified seven helpful paths to treatment. 

13. Life Inside My Mind by Maureen Johnson 

In Life Inside My Mind, 31 authors share their personal struggles with mental illness. Everyone has days when they battle the voices in their head or struggle to get out of bed. But what if this happens daily? Johnson and 31 other YA authors are here to let you know you’re not alone. 

Even though millions struggle with mental illness, it remains a topic shrouded in shame. It’s much easier to have a broken bone or tangible illness that can be treated than to battle an invisible enemy. These authors tackle everything from OCD to PTSD and much more. 

Conclusions: Best Mental Health Books

Reading what psychiatrists and social scientists have discovered represents an excellent way to learn more about mental illness and its potential causes. Additionally, reading about others’ experiences with mental illness can instill hope and remind you that it’s a common struggle. Not only do millions struggle with mental illness, but these conditions are far more complex than their stereotypical media portrayals. Reading the books above will deepen your understanding of these illnesses.