First Person Accounts of Mental Illness: Novels and Memoirs
* Please be sure to discuss your selection with me before proceeding. Thanks!
Kaysen, S. (1993). Girl, Interrupted. NY: Vintage.
A classic. The author was committed to a mental hospital at age 18 for two years. Her
memoir describes the patients and staff members but in the process she raises disturbing
questions about hospitalization, diagnosis, women and mental illness. Witty and funny
yet dark and disturbing, in the tradition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Ken Steele. The Day the Voices Stopped
This is the 14 year old boy who is standing outside his father's door.
Lauren Slater: Lying
A highly fascinating and experimental “memoir” of epilepsy, sexual abuse, and Lord Knows
What Else. Beautiful writing… but not for the faint of heart. One of my favorites.
Lauren Slater: Prozac Diary
The author was one of the first to be prescribed Prozac when it first came out. A wonderful
description of severe depression and, ultimately, recovery from it.
Gwyn Hyman Rubio: Icy Sparks
Great Southern Fiction… about a girl growing up with Tourette’s, among other things. One of
Ophrah’s books. I have a copy to loan out.
Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye
One of the greatest authors of our time. This was her first novel… describes a little girl growing
up with trauma as everyday life. The love and the darkness therein.
Sechehaye, Marguerite. (195?) Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl: The True Story of
"Renee".
The young girl who thinks the school turns into a prison, and the jump rope scene.
Boyd, Julia. (199?) Can I Get a Witness? Black Women and Depression
This may be a multiple account book, in which case I’d advise another one or else work
out a plan iwht me on how to approach it.
Robinson, Marilynne. Housekeeping
The young girl who goes with her aunt to see the 'children' in the forest. A novel - a great
account of growing into, almost choosing a very different social world.
Jamison, Kay Redfield. An Unquiet Mind.
One of my favorites. A psychiatrist describes her experience with Bipolar I. I have a
copy to loan out if you contact me. An important and very brave book by an international
expert on manic-depressive illness who "comes out" as a secret sufferer of the condition
she has long studied. Jamison refuses to pit psychotherapy against medication, evoking
the beauty and allure of the manic state, the power of the medication that destroys it, and
the gratitude she feels to both of them for sustaining her life.
Greenberg, J. (1964). I never promised you a rose garden. NY: Penguin.
Classic autobiographical book by Hannah Green about her descent into psychosis when
she was 16 years old, her three years in mental institutions, and her subsequent recovery.
Good representation of psychodynamic therapy. Schizophrenia? Borderline?
Temple
Grandin
Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life With Autism
Fascinating account of a woman with high-functioning autism, who developed an
important device for the agriculture industry. Her inventiveness came, in part, from her
experience with autism and feeling like she understands animals better as a result.
Darkness, Visible, William Styron
"In Darkness, Visible, William Styron evokes the agony of severe depression, deftly
using his literary craft to illuminate the experience for others, more mute. But since for
Styron, depression is like the flu -- something that eventually runs its course, not
amenable to treatment so much as endured -- his is not a narrative that can offer much to
readers seeking transformation or renewal.
The Philosophy of Insanity
Alice Sebold: Lucky: A Memoir
The author of The Lovely Bones describes her experience with rape. PTSD?
Sheehan, S. (1982). Is there no place on earth for me? NY: Vintage Books.
Pulitzer Prize winning account of "Sylvia Frumkin's" struggle with schizophrenia which
began in her late teens and continued for nearly two decades. Beautifully written.
a Late Inmate of the Glasgow Royal Asylum for Lunatics at Gartnavel
(Greenberg, 1947, originally published in 1860). A classic work by a patient who weaves
his own experience into a remarkably insightful meditation on the nature of mental
illness.
Burak, C. S., & Remington, M. G. (1994). The cradle will fall. NY: Donald I. Fine.
True story of a woman with severe post partum depression who eventually commits
murder and attempts suicide, then goes on to recover from her depression. Provides insight
into not only this disorder but also other depressive disorders
A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography, by Clifford Whittingham Beers
(Longmans, Green, 1908). An unforgettable account of what paranoia feels like, by the
patient who went on to found the Mental Hygiene Movement, supported by William
James, Jane Addams, and dozens of other prominent Americans.
Augusten Burroughs: Running with Scissors: A Memoir
The author describes—with an almost disturbing amount of humor—his traumatic and highly
unusual childhood. His mother appears to have some sort of mental illness, possibly borderline
or schizophrenia?
Augusten Burroughs: Dry: A Memoir
This is the “sequel” to Running with Scissors. I haven’t read this one, but apparently he turns out
to be an alcoholic (not surprising, given his rough childhood). So this is his account of that.
The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky
(Simon & Schuster, 1936; retranslated and published in an unexpurgated edition, Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, 1999). A magnificent, mystical outpouring by the "God of the Dance,"
sent as his message to the world from the locked ward where he spent his last three
decades.
Of Mice and Men: Great book about mental retardation
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf: beautiful book by the classic author. Stream of
consciousness style can be difficult to read if you don’t like that, though. Interesting character
with bipolar(?) and trauma issues… suicide themes.
Ordinary People by Judith Guest (which was also made into a really good movie); its about
the aftermath of a family- a brother dies in an accident, and the other brother who lived gets
depressed and tries to commit suicide. the story starts when the brother is released from the
mental hospital and focuses especially on him, his father, and his relationship with his
psychologist.
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. The girl Franny suffers from a nervous breakdown. The
book captures her feelings really well, but the focus of the book is more on a messed up family
dynamic. Its just a great book because you get so attached to the characters.
Death of a Salesman by Aurthor Miller
The Words to Say It, by Marie Cardinal
, (Van Vactor & Goodheart, 1983; originally published in French in 1975). Hailed as
"luminous, intense, and lacerating," this agonizing story of a woman's plunge into the
unconscious celebrates the power of language and insight as healing truths.
Welcome, Silence: My Triumph Over Schizophrenia, by Carol S. North
(Simon & Schuster, 1987). The intriguing story of a determined and courageous young
woman who battles her way through college and medical school despite constant,
debilitating auditory hallucinations and then says her schizophrenia was suddenly cured
by kidney dialysis. In the end, she becomes a psychiatrist.
Anton Chekhov, Ward No. 6 (New American Library) David Karp, Speaking of Sadness:
Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness (Oxford)
Pat Conroy, Prince of Tides
Secrets.
Great novel, decent movie. PTSD? Good example of how disorders are woven into
complex family and cultural contexts ( in the tidewaters of South Carolina). It also shows
how we process traumatic events is related to family dynamics.
I have a copy.
Peter Schaffer, Equus
(Avon) Great play where psychiatrist struggles with the idea that the treatment he gives
restores the child to normalcy but removes his soul, his worship. Not for the faint of heart
(includes bestiality). Sexual disorder?
Barbara Field Benziger's 1969 memoir, The Prison of My Mind
I think there can be no greater suffering than the state of mind I find myself in at present.
I am sane enough to know that I am no longer sane. Somewhere, somehow, I am being
dragged over a line, a line which never even existed for me until now. ... Everyone is on
the other side of an impenetrable glass. ... I am terrified, beyond any understanding, and
the not understanding leaves me in a state of paralyzing panic. I can't move in any
direction. ... I am afraid that if I turn my head, even a little, I will see my horrible terrors
and they will overwhelm me. ... My mind is dying and I want to die with it.
So begins Barbara Field Benziger's 1969 memoir, The Prison of My Mind, one of
hundreds of accounts of madness written by patients. Dismissed by psychiatrists and
invisible to historians of that field, these narratives offer extraordinary insights into
mental illness and its treatment. More than 300 memoirs and autobiographies (some
fictionalized) have been published in English alone (one dates from 1436); countless
others lie half-written in desk drawers, or unacknowledged in physicians' publications
and case notes.
Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
The author’s account of her suicide attempt and her struggle with depression, as well as life in
general.
Mark Vonnegut: Eden Express
Famous writer Kurt Vonnegut’s son describes his experiences with schizophrenia
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
An account of war and insanity.
Ken Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Account of characters in a mental hospital. Classic.
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read this one, but it’s supposed to be good.
James Frey: A Million Little Pieces
Okay, so we all know he’s a liar. Hey, addicts lie sometimes. Doesn’t mean this isn’t still a good
book. Good for folks interested in substance abuse.
Wally Lamb: I Know This Much is True
Fictional account of two twins, one who has schizophrenia.
Wally Lamb: She’s Come Undone
Beautiful story of a young girl with an eating disorder and depression, as well as a history of
trauma. I have a copy to loan out.
Caroline Kettlewell: Skin Game: A Memoir
Blends factual info and a personal account of cutting. So probably about depression and/or
borderline personality disorder.
Marya Hornbaher: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
This looks really good.
Elizabeth Wurtzel: Prozac Nation
A raw look at a woman with depression.
Barbara Gordon, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
Susan Baur: The Dinosaur Man: Tales of Madness and Enchantment from the Back Ward
Anton Chekhov, Ward No. 6
Robert Perrucci, Circle of Madness
Jean Rhys, The Wide Sargasso Sea
William Shakespeare: King Lear, Hamlet
William Inge, Splendor in the Grass