Psychology/Issues in Psychology Reading List
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
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Author: Josh Hamilton
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o Josh Hamilton was a promising young baseball star. His future looked very bright,
but a drug addiction emerged, and the path to stardom was derailed. This is
Hamilton’s story of his road to recovery.
Location:
Acquainted with the Night
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Author: Paul Raeburn
Category: Mental Illness (bipolar), Non-Fiction
o A father tells of the challenges that come with raising not one, but two children with
bipolar disorder.
Location:
Playing with Fire
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Author: Theo Fleury
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o A former professional hockey player describes his addiction, depression, and what
caused him to end up in the situation his life has granted him.
Location:
Beautiful Boy
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Author: David Sheff
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o A father details the trials and tribulations that are directly caused by his son’s
addiction.
Location:
72 Hour Hold
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Author: Bebe Moore Campbell
Category: Mental Illness (bipolar), Fiction
o A woman’s battle with her daughter’s mental illness causes her to go to great lengths
to attempt to restore her daughter’s “normal” life, including some very risky long
shots at that very restoration.
Location:
Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me
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Author: Howie Mandel
Category: Mental Illness (obsessive-compulsive disorder), Non-Fiction
o A future famed comedian, talk show and game show host tells the story of his rise to
fame, all while fighting obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Location:
Saving Sammy
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Author: Beth Maloney
Category: Mental Illness (OCD), Non-Fiction
o A family battles through the bizarre onset of what is believed to be OCD in Sammy, a
young boy with two brothers. The story details the uphill challenges that the family
faces in struggling to understand why he is so sick and how it happened.
Location:
Tweak
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Author: Nic Sheff
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o The son of David Sheff, author of “Beautiful Boy”, Nic Sheff tells his version of the
story of years of addiction, rehab, relapse, rehab, relapse, etc. Name a drug, and Nic
has probably used it, though his drugs of choice are methamphetamine and cocaine.
Location:
Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man
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Author: Bill Clegg
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o Bill Clegg talks about his upbringing in a potentially abusive environment, the
struggles he had as a young boy, and the addiction that was the end result of it all.
Location:
Loose Girl
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Author: Kerry Cohen
Category: Developmental Psychology, Non-Fiction
o This is the story of Kerry Cohen, a girl who goes from being a boy-curious teenager
to a promiscuous young adult, college student, etc. Her upbringing may have
potentially taken her to the many beds she found herself in through the years….
Location:
Open
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Author: Andre Agassi
Category: Developmental Psychology, Mental Illness (addiction), Non-Fiction
o Famous tennis player Andre Agassi talks about the harsh and pressured upbringing
he experienced, the various challenges that resulted, and how he overcame.
Location:
Hurry Down Sunshine
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Author: Michael Greenberg
Category: Mental Illness (bipolar disorder), Non-Fiction
o Michael Greenberg’s daughter has a “crack-up” in Greenwich Village in New York
one day; their lives are never the same.
Location:
We All Fall Down
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Author: Nic Sheff
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o The author of “Tweak” presents us his story of relapse and the attempt to get back on
the road to recovery. (“Tweak” is not necessarily a prerequisite, but it would be a
good idea to be familiar with the story)
Location:
My Lie: A True Story of False Memory
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Author: Meredith Maran
Category: Memory, Non-Fiction
o Was Meredith Maran sexually abused as a child? No one really knows for sure. But
what is known is that even her suspicion of this possibility tears her family apart in
this tragic story of false memory.
Location:
A Million Little Pieces
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Author: James Frey
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o James Frey’s story of how he got to rehab and how difficult finishing the program
truly proved to be.
Location:
My Friend Leonard
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Author: James Frey
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o James Frey was in rehab to save his own life. Under very challenging circumstances,
he managed to complete the rehabilitation program, largely in part due to the help of
a very close friend, Leonard. “My Friend Leonard” takes Frey’s story from the point
he leaves rehab and attempts to tackle his addiction on his own, outside of a
controlled environment. (DISCLAIMER: “A Million Little Pieces” is a pre-requisite
to this book!!!!)
Location:
An Unquiet Mind
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Author: Kay Redfield Jamison
Category: Mental Illness (bipolar), Non-Fiction
o A military-raised “normal” young woman ends up with a diagnosis of bipolar
disorder and becomes a psychiatric patient. In spite of her struggles, she ends up
with a career in psychiatry herself.
Location:
I Know This Much Is True
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Author: Wally Lamb
Category: Mental Illness (Paranoid Schizophrenia), Fiction
o Identical twins, Dominick and Thomas, grow up together with separate interests and
personalities. One is eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Through the
course of the book, the other learns a great deal about himself, his family, his brother,
the disease, religion, and the world in general.
Location:
The Anatomy of Motive
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Author: John Douglas
Category: Motivation/Forensic Psychology, Non-Fiction
o John Douglas details why certain kinds of criminals (serial killers, mass murderers,
bombers, etc.) behave the way that they do.
Location:
The Hour I First Believed
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Author: Wally Lamb
Category: Mental Illness (PTSD), Fiction
o Caelum and Maureen Quirk are employees at Columbine High School during the
spring of 1999, when the well-known Columbine Massacre took place. As a witness
to the terror, Maureen has a tremendously steep uphill battle to climb after the dust
has settled and many of the survivors start to move forward. As a result of her tough
road ahead, her husband, Caelum is on board for the ride as well.
Location:
Are You There Alone?
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Author: Suzanne O’Malley
Category: Mental Illness (major depression, schizophrenia), Non-Fiction
o The story of Andrea Yates, who drowned all five of her children in a bath tub in June
of 2001 in Houston, Texas. Leading up to the crime and all that followed (trial,
family moving forward, etc.).
Location:
Get Me Out of Here
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Author: Rachel Reiland
Category: Mental Illness (borderline personality disorder), Non-Fiction
o Rachel Reiland is a mother of two who has always had emotional outbursts, but she
never knew why. One day, she took things too far, which caused her to end up in the
hospital, and after a closer evaluation, she was given the diagnosis of Borderline
Personality Disorder. This is her story.
Location:
The Gift of Fear
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Author: Gavin de Becker
Category: Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Non-Fiction
o How does our intuition protect us against harm? Gavin de Becker tells us….
Location:
She’s Come Undone
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Author: Wally Lamb
Category: Mental Illness, Fiction
o Dolores Price’s family life has never been great, and she has never been the most
confident/secure person in the world. Anxiety, anger, and depression don’t help this,
especially when they guide her physique to nearly 260 pounds. Family and personal
tragedy are common in her life, but she perseveres.
Location:
Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita
Serial Killer
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Author: John Douglas
Category: Forensic Psychology, Criminology, Non-Fiction
o From start to finish, John Douglas paints a very detailed picture of the hunt for the
serial killer who terrorized Wichita for more than 30 years.
Location:
Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict
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Author: Joshua Lyon
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o Josh Lyon is a drug addict of the worst variety. He’ll do most any drug, but his
favorite is prescription painkillers. This is his story about a tough childhood, years of
addiction, and his attempt to salvage his life through the recovery process.
Location:
Columbine
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Author: Dave Cullen
Category: Mental Illness, Non-Fiction
o An in-depth account of the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colorado, in April of 1999. Dave Cullen (author) has been on the story since the day
it happened, and has been relentless in his research; this book is proof as much. You
will find no better source for information on the Columbine High School massacre.
Location:
As Nature Made Him
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Author: John Colapinto
Category: Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, Non-Fiction
o Bruce Reimer suffered a terrible accident when he was being circumcised at less than
one year old. As a result, he was raised as a girl, and his youth was far, far from
normal. This is the tragic story of Bruce’s journey to being a girl and back.
Location:
In His Sights
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Author: Kate Brennan
Category: Obsession/Stalking, Non-Fiction
o Kate Brennan loved Paul for years before they parted ways. When they did, he
vowed she’d never forget him. He was right.
Location:
The Lost Years
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Authors: Kristina Wandzilak and Constance Curry
o Kristina appears to have a very bright future as long as she stays on track. The
problem is that she fails to stay on track, and veers very, very far off track. This is
her story of addiction and recovery.
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
Location:
Stay Close
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Author: Libby Cataldi
o Libby comes from a strong tradition of a family-oriented home life. This story tells
how she thought she lost her son to drug addiction, only to find hope in rehabilitation.
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
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The Enabler: When Helping Hurts the Ones You Love
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Author: Angelyn Miller
o The author of this story has been around enabling her whole life. She tells a
captivating story of how “helping” in this sense is very harmful to the people an
enabler is trying to assist.
Category: Mental Illness/Developmental Psychology, Self-Help
Location:
Easy
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Author: Kerry Cohen Hoffman
o At age 14, Jessica has discovered that getting the attention she wants is easy. It’s not
the attention of her friends and family, which getting has become almost impossible.
Boys—and men—are a different matter altogether.
Category: Developmental Psychology, Non-Fiction
Location:
Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery
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Author: Bill Clegg
o Following in the story of “Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man”, Bill Clegg resumes
where he left off: rehab, halfway houses, and sober living facilities, all in an attempt
to reach his 90 days.
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
Location:
No Easy Answers: The Truth behind Death at Columbine
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Authors: Brooks Brown and Dave Merritt
o Similar to “Columbine” by Dave Cullen, but told from the perspective of Brooks
Brown, a long-time friend of the shooters, “No Easy Answers” sheds some light on
different reasons as to why the massacre happened. Additionally, the law
enforcement of Jefferson County, Colorado, comes under greater scrutiny in Brown’s
version of events.
Category: Mental Illness, Non-Fiction
Location:
The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare
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Author: Don Davis
o Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer who terrorized the American psyche for years.
This is his story of mental illness, crime, and eventually, justice.
Category: Forensic Psychology, Non-Fiction
Location:
Deadly Innocence
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Author: Scott Burnside
o Karla and Paul seemed like the picture-perfect newlyweds, but were really a pair of
vicious killers who abducted, sexually tortured and murdered innocent schoolgirls,
videotaping their evil acts in suburban Niagara Falls. Billed as the crime of the
century in Canada, this case has received a great deal of media coverage on both
sides of the border.
Category: Forensic Psychology, Non-Fiction
Location:
Nineteen Minutes
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Author: Jodi Picoult
o Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the
day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. Josie Cormier, the daughter of
the judge sitting on the case, should be the state's best witness, but she can't
remember what happened before her very own eyes--or can she?
Category: Mental Illness, Developmental Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Fiction
Location:
The Pact
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Author: Jodi Picoult
Category: Forensic Psychology, Fiction
o Until the phone calls came at three o'clock on a November morning, the Golds and
their neighbors, the Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone when
their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship
was moving beyond that of lifelong friends. But now seventeen-year-old Emily is
dead—shot with a gun her beloved and devoted Chris pilfered from his father's
cabinet as part of an apparent suicide pact—leaving two devastated families stranded
in the dark and dense predawn, desperate for answers about an unthinkable act and
the children they never really knew.
Location:
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth
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Author: Alexandria Robbins
Category: Social Psychology, Non-Fiction
o High school can be a wonderful experience for many kids, but there are many on the
fringe who cannot wait to get out. It is these kids whose strengths end up being
celebrating and, as a result, have much more fruitful lives.
Location:
Fear Less
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Author: Gavin de Becker
Category: Forensic Psychology, Non-Fiction
o Why are we so worried about every tiny threat portrayed in the media? Better yet,
why should we not be? Gavin de Becker tells us why.
Location:
House Rules
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Author: Jodi Picoult
Category: Forensic Psychology/Neuropsychological Disorders, Fiction
o Jacob loves criminal science, so much so that he shows up at crime scenes to “help”
law enforcement investigate. But because of a disorder, he does not communicate
well and misses social cues. Does this mean that just because he refuses to look into
the eyes of police when questioned about a heinous crime, that he committed
murder?
Location:
Blackout Girl
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Author: Jennifer Storm
Category: Addiction, Non-Fiction
o Early childhood trauma kick-started years of alcohol and drug abuse for Jennifer
Storm. This is her story.
Location:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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Author: Ken Kesey
Category: Mental Health, Fiction
o A story about the antics of a group of men in a mental hospital, the story picks up
when the new guy shows up and vows to show everyone how
tough/wild/crazy/daring/manipulative/fun he is.
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