First Person accounts of mental illness
Explore powerful first-person accounts of mental illness through a curated list of impactful books. Gain insight, empathy, and understanding from real-life stories of struggle and resilience.
Book
An Unquiet Mind
by Kay Redfield Jamison
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A deeply powerful memoir about bipolar illness that has both transformed and saved lives—with a new preface by the author. Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide. Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication.
Book
Darkness Visible
by William Styron
Zusammenfassung: The author describes his experiences with depression and his resulting suicidal tendencies beginning in 1985
Book
Wasted
by Marya Hornbacher
The author shares her lifelong battle with bulimia and anorexia, chronicling her secret life of bingeing and purging and her obsession with food and body image, substance abuse, and sex.
