The best books to read after a mental breakdown

I loved this book, which I read shortly after recovering from my first major manic episode. I remember sitting on the patio of the LSU student union and thinking, “Yes, this!” again and again.

Written by a medical doctor (a psychiatrist), this memoir offers a unique view of bipolar disorder as Jamison herself has bipolar. I needed to know more about my diagnosis, and I needed to hear it from someone who had experienced it herself. 

I have read this book repeatedly in my life, the first time as a high school junior and the most recent time as I entered my thirties, and every time, I understand the plight of Holden Caulfield a little bit better.

Poorly attached to his family (who mostly ignore him), poorly attached to his friends (who change as often as he changes boarding schools), and still grieving for the loss of his brother, Holden attempts to take on life independently in Manhattan, of all places, with predictably disastrous results.

As someone who lived in four different states and had five different family arrangements before my sophomore year in high school, I identified heavily with Holden. That sense of kinship has only grown over the years. 

This novel gets a bad rap, but I found it quite funny. If you have personally struggled with a mental health disorder, then I think it is easy and rewarding to find the humor in it. Perhaps my favorite moment is when Esther Greenwood is wandering around her house with a string following behind her like a cat’s tail.

It is the contrast of absolute darkness and humorous light that makes this one so hopeful to me. Yet, it never dismisses the stark reality of Esther’s condition. Both are present. 

On New Year's Eve, four Londoners climb to the top of a high rise with the same intention. They've all come for different reasons, but their plan is the same. Instead of ending their lives, however, they save each other. 

I love this novel, which is perhaps the truest and most hopeful story about suicide I’ve read. The final scene, which takes place on the one-year anniversary of the opening scene, is something I think of at least once a year, and I am always shaken by its insight. At times, side-splittingly funny and heart-rendingly sad, this is a must-read for anyone recovering from a mental illness. 

This coming-of-age novel has everything: love, grunge music, angst, and a slow revelation of past trauma. I don't think I speak for everyone with mental health issues, but I know that having a traumatic childhood is a common, shared factor amongst people with serious diagnoses. I read this one before I understood why I identified so strongly with it.

Charlie lives on the fringes, barely dipping a toe into the social melee that is high school life, yet, with courage and determination, he carves out a place for himself. While his new friendships allow him to find himself, they also allow him the safety to confront the wounds of his past, wounds too large for even his teenage self to come to grips with. 

Even though my last manic episode was over sixteen years ago, I am only recently doing the real work of processing and understanding the traumatic experiences that contributed to it. Chbosky’s classic is a great reminder that we don't always see what's beneath the surface, but we must deal with it if we want to have any hope of recovering.