I started this blog post over a year ago. I was reminded of it when a student asked me for reading recommendations yesterday. I’ll post it now, and then add as more fiction and nonfiction books about psychology come across my radar. Most of the books below describe the experiences of persons with mental disorders, some true stories, some based on true stories, some pure fiction (or so the authors claim). I include links to films when they exist.
For more about books and reading, see my blog post My Folk Theory of Fiction.
**Note that I make a commission on items purchased via (most of) the links of this page. Copy-paste the titles into your search bar if you had rather avoid that!
Books I have read and recommend
Nonfiction (for the most part)
Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders is a good book about anorexia and bulimia by an author friend.
(National Eating Disorders Association 1-800-931-2237)
Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men is an informative book about how abusive men (*because most abusers are male) think, and ways to recognize abusive relationships.
(Domestic Abuse Hotline 1-800-799-7233)
A Beautiful Mind is a great book about John Nash, mathematician and Nobel Laureate for Economics (game theory) who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. There is also a decent movie.
Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is a book about judgment and decision-making built on years of research in psychology.
Girl, Interrupted is a memoir by Susanna Kaysen about her experiences with borderline personality disorder. There is also a movie.
The Art of Misdiagnosis: Surviving My Mother’s Suicide is a memoir by Gayle Brandeis.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a fantastic book that takes place in the Central Valley (Fresno).
Fiction (for the most part)
The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical classic by Sylvia Plath that reflects her own descent into depression (bipolar?). Plath committed suicide not long after it was published.
(National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255)
Turtles all the Way Down is a YA novel by John Green about OCD. Really good book and an easy read.
The Hours is a fantastic novel (won the Pulitzer Prize) about Virginia Woolf and her characters that tells the story of three women whose lives are interlinked, and torn by depression and despair. There is also a good movie with Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman.
And then there is Woolf’s famous classic, Mrs. Dalloway.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night is a novel about a boy with autism spectrum disorder.
The Girl on the Train is a thriller that includes gaslighting and substance abuse. It too has been made into a movie.
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic about life in a psychiatric institution. The movie (Jack Nicholson) is great too!
The Naturals (link to book 1) is a YA series that delves into the minds of serial killers. Written by a research psychologist, the books follow a team of teenagers who help profile and track down villains.
The Atlantis Complex is the seventh book in the Artemis Fowl middle grade (I think) series about elves and humans… fantasy, with an increasingly dark twist as the series progresses. Fairies too have a diagnostic manual.
Books on my to-read list
Fiction (for the most part)
The Art of Starving is told by a gay teen suffering from an eating disorder; this purportedly excellent YA novel is on my reading list.
Thirteen Reasons Why also has a Netflix series I want to watch…
Nonfiction (for the most part)
This is your Brain on Food provides interesting information about how diet can affect different mental issues such as PTSD, anxiety, depression…
The Happiness Hypothesis, by psychologist Jon Haidt, combines philosophy and empirical research to address why we are and aren’t happy. It’s been on my list since first published, when i bought a signed copy at a conference…
Another by Jon Haidt (I’ve partially read it) is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion addresses some of the psychology behind political orientation.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of his patients suffering various neurological disorders (the man in the title had visual agnosia). I’ve read some but not all of these fascinating accounts.
Suggested by a student: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk.
Films
As good as it gets (Jack Nicholson, OCD, a classic)
Rainman (Dustin Hoffman, autism, another classic)
Resources
A great list of YA books featuring characters with mental disorders.
If you have any suggestions, please leave them in a comment!! I will add them 🙂
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