Part I – autobiographies, memoirs
After the article on series dealing with mental health, I continue the series of representations of mental illness in art with the form I appreciate most – writing. Books that contain characters or stories we can identify with can make us accept and understand our own feelings, making reading a therapeutic source. By reading, you discover that you are not alone, that there are other people just like you, who have gone through similar experiences and managed to deal with them successfully, and then had the incredible courage to share their stories with millions of readers.
Next, I will recommend a number of books that I liked because they accurately told what it is like to live with a mental illness, thus contributing to raising awareness and understanding of mental illness.
1. I Never Promised You A Rose Garden – Joanne Greenberg/ Hannah Green (English)
“I Never Promised You A Rose Garden”, written by Joanne Greenberg as Hannah Green, is the first book I discovered in my quest to better understand mental illness. I found out about the author in a documentary about people who have recovered from various mental illnesses with the help of treatment, in which she presented her book as a slightly fictionalized biography written at the end of her battle with the illness.
In the book, Joanne tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who retreats from everyday reality into an imaginary world, like a lush but threatening kingdom, where various characters are found sending her daily messages.
The book is very well-written and tells an honest and detailed account of the teenage girl’s three-year struggle with schizophrenia, focusing on her relationship with the psychiatrist who gave her the tools she needed to recover: ‘I wrote this novel to give a picture of what it means to have schizophrenia and what can be achieved with a trusting relationship between a talented therapist and a patient. It’s not a history or a case study; I like to think of it as a paean to reality.”
2. Dante’s Cure – Daniel Dorman (English)
Each chapter of this book begins with a quote from Inferno (part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy), alluding to the state of mind of the main character Catherine and the stage of her recovery.
Catherine, 19, suffers from severe schizophrenia and is hospitalized, constantly hearing voices. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Dorman, who is also the author of this book, discovers that the roots of his patient’s psychotic behavior lie not only in chemical imbalances, but also in family circumstances.
The author reconstructs Catherine’s early life and the onset of her illness in striking detail, covering the entire treatment she receives. Thanks to the dedication and perseverance of Dr. Dorman for 6 years, Catherine is able to live a new life, where instead of being defeated by the disease, she takes control of her own life. Towards the end of the book, we witness Catherine’s success when she takes the exam to become a certified psychiatric nurse and also becomes an activist for the rights of patients with mental disorders.
Daniel Dorman offers us a story full of courage and hope, an inspiration for all of us who are fighting for recovery, healing and, of course, a return to a life as normal as possible after battling a mental illness.
3. Picking Up The Broken Pieces – Arielle Bradberry (English)
“Picking Up The Broken Pieces” is a book I discovered during the pandemic last year on a mental health page on Instagram. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet the author of the book and I was able to talk more with her in a video call. As a result, I learned from her that she self-published her book and all the money she earns from book sales will be donated to her local psychiatric hospitals.
Arielle writes about her own struggle with depression, anxiety and psychotic episodes. In her case, she ends up with mental health problems due to stress and burnout. The psychotic episodes she experiences are accurately described, as are the states she experiences as a result of her drug treatments.
It is a book that I read in one breath and I just could not put it down because it was so real and direct. Having been through similar experiences as the author, I can say that it is very comforting to know that you are not alone when you are dealing with mental problems for the first time, especially in a world where this subject has always been hidden. I enjoyed the book immensely and I can say that it is very therapeutic, as Arielle manages to turn a series of painful experiences into a healing story, to become an inspiration to the community of people struggling to find meaning in the condition they are dealing with, or simply to find ways to manage it.
“Picking Up The Broken Pieces” is Arielle’s honest and very intimate account. A diary of her memories and experiences, the story is written in the hope that the stigma associated with mental illness will disappear and more people will start to talk openly about how they really feel.
4. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression – Andrew Solomon (English/Romanian)
I first discovered this book in English and then I had the joy of finally seeing it translated into Romanian as “Demonul Amiezii. O Anatomie a Depresiei”.
Unlike the other books, I found this one quite heavy, very complex and slightly philosophical, but at the same time a very good book that dissects depression and mental illness from all sides.
The book is written over 5 years and includes three of the author’s nervous breakdowns, making it very informative, honest and heartbreaking. He creates the image of an illness which, although universally experienced, is also profoundly individual in its experience and manifestation.
“The Noonday Demon explores the phenomena of melancholy and dread with vivid, deep-seated images. It is a comprehensive testimony in every sense – personal, scientific, historical, and political – to clinical depression, its origins, how it manifests itself, and the treatment required. An important work that speaks of suffering but also, even to a greater extent, of hope.” Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry (see also book 6).
Andrew Solomon also has a very good Ted Talk (“Depression, the secret we share”), where he talks about his experience over the years with the disease.
5. The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery – Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle (English/Romanian)
“I am a neuroscientist. Throughout my career I have studied mental illness, my specialty being schizophrenia. In June 2015, without warning, my own mind took a strange and frightening turn.” Barbara K. Lipska
Barbara Lipska is diagnosed in early 2015 with metastatic melanoma in the frontal lobe of the brain. As the cancer progresses and Barbara receives treatment, she begins to show behavioral and cognitive symptoms similar to conditions like schizophrenia and dementia. Barbara’s family becomes very alarmed by what is happening, especially because the author is unaware of what she is going through. Gradually, she undergoes treatment and is helped by her family and friends to recover. Once back to some semblance of normality, almost 2 months after experiencing acute symptoms, Barbara begins to remember what happened and, with her knowledge of neuroscience, identifies the ways in which her brain has changed.
The author explains that her symptoms closely mimic those of people suffering from various mental disorders such as schizophrenia. She emphasizes that these conditions are diseases of the brain, not human defects, which is why they should be viewed and treated like any other physical illness.
Most patients with similar brain cancers do not survive to describe their ordeal, but Barbara’s memoir shows that strength and courage, and sometimes even privilege and a stable support network, are essential to recovery.
The book is very informative and inspirational, showing Barbara’s journey from health to “crazy” and back again.
6. An Unquiet Mind. A Memoir of Moods and Madness – Kay Redfield Jamison (English)
‘An Unquiet Mind’ is an autobiography by psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison, who has also done extensive research into bipolar disorder.
The book details the author’s experience with bipolar disorder and how it has affected her in various areas of her life, from childhood to the writing of the book. Through her stories, Kay wants to show the effect of this disorder in relationships, both family and romantic, in professional life and in self-knowledge. The author highlights the damaging effects of the disease, but also creates space at times to be grateful for her struggle with the condition and how it has changed her life.
Bipolar disorder is examined both from the perspective of a therapist and doctor in the field as well as from that of a patient, giving the book a unique, holistic view of the condition.
“An Unquiet Mind” is a deeply transformative memoir, especially for people coping with bipolar disorder, who can see it as a real help in managing the illness and recovery.
7. Everything here is beautiful – Mira T. Lee (English)
My last recommendation is a complex story about two sisters of Chinese origin, Miranda and Lucia. The novel exposes in a realistic way how mental disorders can affect not only the ill person, but everyone around them. Lucia struggles with schizophrenia, and Miranda is the sister who stands by her side and helps her fight the disease.
Although this book brings mental illness to the forefront, the whole story touches deeply on themes of love, family and life as an immigrant. Mira T. Lee’s story is about hope and fighting, especially when everything seems impossible.
Miranda fights to ensure and preserve Lucia’s safety and sanity, trying her best to convince her sister to adhere to her treatment and take her medication, but Lucia believes that she is not ill and does not need medication. I empathized deeply with the situation, having had similar experiences with members of my own family. I strongly believe that a person can only get better when they accept their condition and start to seek help, i.e. go to the doctor and get treatment, which they then administer rigorously.
“This is not a fairy tale. Things don’t work out just because you want them to.” says Mira T. Lee. Mira’s novel is a thoughtful and profound exploration of mental illness, a beautiful story about ordinary lives and the impact of mental disorders on a family, about their ongoing struggle to provide understanding, support and care to a suffering loved one.
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Each reading above has been a source of hope, strength, understanding and comfort to me because I have managed to find so many authors who are themselves caught in a battle where I thought I was alone. I connected with their writing and felt the authors were like friends who take you in their arms at the end of a long, hard day and promise that everything will be all right in the end.
Resources about the disorders mentioned in the article:
- our factsheet on bipolar disorder
