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This is a common phrase used throughout the mental health community. It basically address the blame that many put on people with mental illness. It's not someone a person can choose not to have, just like a person can not simply choose not to have cancer.

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This is a good piece on what it's like having bipolar illness, and focuses on the fact that people have it and are not it.

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She has Bipolar.

She isn't Bipolar.

She likes to think that people are just misinformed to use her mental illness as an adjective to describe the weather or women who have PMS.

Of course, people do describe others as "cancer" so it is quite possibly just a very insensitive and cruel world.

Bipolar is a disease of the brain. She can't get rid of it. A 10-day steroid pack, orange juice and some rest will not cure this. She didn't "catch" it from someone's germs on a door handle.

This is her battle, every day, for the rest of her life.

Medication helps lessen her symptoms, but it never disappears. There is no magic wand for this one, folks.

Her life fluctuates between a normal phase, mania and depression that we can't possibly understand. We can't understand any of it. Her brain is hard-wired to be passionate about all things.

Books, movies, people...she loves or she doesn't.

Mania is lack of impulse control....driving 100 mph on a 65 mph road...to just feel the rush. The numbness she normally lives with is gone. She is self-destructive by nature. She can breathe deeply and do some yoga, but when your mind is controlling you, with your heart as a cheerleader, she has no way to escape.

Rose colored glasses make a wonderful accessory to witness the opposite of any man she would ever love. In this state, however, he is the one. This is the stage where her most self-destructive side emerges. She feels this amazing connection with him that she has never felt before in her life.

Ask a therapist and they will tell you that if you put a Narcissist and someone with Bipolar in a room, they will gravitate towards each other. She always, without a doubt, drags one of them home. Cruel, abusive, mind games....exactly what she needs in her life.

The glasses come off and she sees him, not the man of her dreams, but the man of her nightmares. This ending varies, but normally he hurts her more by calling her "crazy", which was already common during their brief courtship.

Hello depression, my dear friend, can I come over for a visit? Depression lives in a dark house with no windows. She sleeps and sleeps. She mentally abuses herself for what she just did.

Why would anyone love her?

Plot twist here...people do.

She loves passionately and that is amazing.

She gobbles up any information about friends who are in pain because she lives it. She knows how it feels to be at your darkest, but knowing you have to survive. Amazing listener.

She remembers things that everyone else has forgotten like the time you dyed your hair red without even thinking about it after trying on a red wig at the mall.

Remember that time we played pool at your house and listened to the Pointer Sisters?

How about when we were little, we wanted to live together in a house made out of cheese?

She remembers all of it. Her brain is flawed, but her long-term memory is on point.

This girl is worth loving.

You just need to learn her. Read her like a textbook.

Read her until the pages are coffee stained and crinkled.

She is worth it.

You have to be special, though.

It is work.

If you are weak, step aside.

Keeping her safe from herself isn't a battle.

It's a war.

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She has Bipolar. She isn't Bipolar. She likes to think that people are just misinformed to use her mental illness as an adjective to describe the weather or women who have PMS. Of course, people do describe others as "cancer" so it is quite possibly just a very insensitive and cruel world.

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From the NIMH, here are some statistics on mental illness. this link is nice, because it breaks it down into different mental illness categories and gives a look at the numbers surrounding mental illness.

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Research shows that mental illnesses are common in the United States, affecting tens of millions of people each year. Estimates suggest that only half of people with mental illnesses receive treatment. The information on these pages includes currently available statistics on the prevalence and treatment of mental illnesses among the U.S. population. In addition, information is provided about possible consequences of mental illnesses, such as suicide and disability.

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Research shows that mental illnesses are common in the United States, affecting tens of millions of people each year. Estimates suggest that only half of people with mental illnesses receive treatment. The information on these pages includes currently available statistics on the prevalence and treatment of mental illnesses among the U.S.

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This picture is important, because some might think that there is a simple solution to having a mental illness, but like the quote says it takes a lot.

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This link is a great way to explore MANY articles from the nytimes that talk about mental illness.

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A free collection of articles about mental health and disorders published in The New York Times.

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From Book riot, this is a list of 50 must read books that deal with mental illness. Reading can be an excellent tool for educating and feeling connected to others.

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Mental health is crucial to our overall health. It's impossible to separate the two, and yet, it happens all the time. But with the rise in diagnoses of mental health challenges-in part because of a better understanding of how these illnesses can work-comes the crucial need to talk about mental health in a bigger way. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, one out of every five teenagers has a mental health disorder. This number is staggering. But helping teens better understand their mental life, as well as better fostering the language to communicate about it, are YA books about mental illness.

Over the last decade, the growth in YA books about mental illness is hard to overlook. It's always been there, in part because writing about adolescents in any capacity means exploring a social group that is a cocktail of hormones that causes them tremendous physical, emotional, intellectual, and mental changes in a short time frame. But talking openly about mental health in YA books has seen an increase as the category of books has grown, too.

Find below a list of 50 (er, 55!) must-read YA books about mental health. These books traverse all aspects of mental health and mental illness, and they're both fiction and nonfiction. There are books about addiction, eating disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and more, as experienced by the teen main characters. Also included are books where the teen main character lives with or is close to someone who struggles with their mental health. This, too, is a reality of teen life today.

What's important to know with these books is that for some readers, they may be triggering and/or they may feel inauthentic to their own experiences. But mental illnesses, even those understood fairly well by the mental health community, don't play out in nice, conventional, and easily-understood ways. There is no single way to "do it right" when it comes to depicting mental health or mental illness. It's a spectrum, and by reading about a wide variety of mental health experiences, we better see that mental illness can take a range of symptoms, treatments, and more.

Worth noting: finding YA books about mental illness that feature characters of color at the forefront is still lagging. This list is comprised of roughly one-third POC characters; this is not representative of the larger landscape of teens of color who live with mental challenges. It is promising, however, to see this number increase in the last few years. We can only hope this continues to trend upward and we see more and more depictions of teens of color grappling with and better understanding their mental health in YA books.

If you or someone you know struggles with their mental health, please seek professional help. These books are not tools for diagnosis, but a means of fostering understanding, compassion, and a language with which to speak about mental health and illness.

Descriptions pulled from Goodreads.

YA Books About Mental Illness

In Makersville, Indiana, people know all about Ronney-he's from that mixed-race family with the dad who tried to kill himself, the pill-popping mom, and the genius kid sister. If having a family like that wasn't bad enough, the local eccentric at the edge of town decided one night to open up all the cages of his exotic zoo-lions, cheetahs, tigers-and then shoot himself dead. Go figure. Even more proof that you can't trust adults to do the right thing.

Overnight, news crews, gun control supporters, and gun rights advocates descend on Makersville, bringing around-the-clock news coverage, rallies, and anti-rallies with them. With his parents checked out, Ronney is left tending to his sister's mounting fears of roaming lions, stopping his best friend from going on a suburban safari, and shaking loose a lonely boy who follows Ronney wherever he goes. Can Ronney figure out a way to hold it together as all his worlds fall apart?

Matt hasn't eaten in days. His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal, but Matt won't give in. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp-and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he's going to find out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away.

Matt's hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have... powers. The ability to see things he shouldn't be able to see. The knack of tuning in to thoughts right out of people's heads. Maybe even the authority to bend time and space.

So what is lunch, really, compared to the secrets of the universe?

Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq's life, then use his powers to uncover what happened to Maya. All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay. No problem. But Matt doesn't realize there are many kinds of hunger...and he isn't in control of all of them.

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between reality and magic, past and present, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a luminous debut novel about finding oneself through family history, art, bravery, and love.

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas, in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. And when a crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

When Imogen, a sixteen-year-old black belt in Tae Kwon Do, freezes during a holdup at a local diner, the gunman is shot and killed by the police, and she blames herself for his death. Before the shooting, she believed that her black belt made her stronger than everyone else-more responsible, more capable. But now that her sense of self has been challenged, she must rebuild her life, a process that includes redefining her relationship with her family and navigating first love with the boy who was at the diner with her during the shoot-out. With action, romance, and a complex heroine, Bruised introduces a vibrant new voice to the young adult world―full of dark humor and hard truths.

Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.
Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.
Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images.
Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.
Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.
Caden Bosch is torn.

Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.

He's part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.

He's part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.

Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.

Before the sun rises, he'll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths-that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.

Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit-fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner's jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftops to rooftop.

But acting like a superhero doesn't make you bulletproof...

After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she's chasing Corey's killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly's just running wild-and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crisis. But can you hold on too tight? Too long?

In this intense novel, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend...and how many ways to be lost.

Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They're addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don't want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers. But they'll all have to deal with themselves-and one another-if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there's nowhere to go but down, down, down.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming-especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understand that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush-the original Persian version of his name-and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

Macy's school officially classifies her as "disturbed," but Macy isn't interested in how others define her. She's got more pressing problems: her mom can't move off the couch, her dad's in prison, her brother's been kidnapped by Child Protective Services, and now her best friend isn't speaking to her. Writing in a dictionary format, Macy explains the world in her own terms-complete with gritty characters and outrageous endeavors. With an honesty that's both hilarious and fearsome, slowly Macy reveals why she acts out, why she can't tell her incarcerated father that her mom's cheating on him, and why her best friend needs protection...the kind of protection that involves Macy's machete.
Who's Crazy?
What does it mean to be crazy? Is using the word crazy offensive? What happens when such a label gets attached to your everyday experiences?

In order to understand mental health, we need to talk openly about it. Because there's no single definition of crazy, there's no single experience that embodies it, and the word itself means different things-wild? extreme? disturbed? passionate?-to different people.

(Don't) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to better understanding how our mental health affects us every day. Thirty-three writers, athletes, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and do not talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person's brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.

If you've ever struggled with your mental health, or know someone who has, come on in, turn the pages, and let's get talking.

Seventeen-year-old Elena is vanishing. Every day means renewed determination, so every day means fewer calories. This is the story of a girl whose armor against anxiety becomes artillery against herself as she battles on both sides of a lose-lose war in a struggle with anorexia.

Told entirely from Elena's perspective over a five-year period and co-written with her mother, award-winning author Clare B. Dunkle, Elena's memoir is a fascinating and intimate look at a deadly disease, and a must read for anyone who knows someone suffering from an eating disorder.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I'm allergic to the world. I don't leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black-black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can't predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It's almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Willa Parker, 646th and least-popular resident of What Cheer, Iowa, is headed east to start a new life. Did she choose this life? No, because that would be too easy-and nothing in Willa's life is easy. It's her famous genius mother's idea to send her to ultra-expensive, ultra-exclusive Pembroke Prep, and Willa has no intention of fitting in. But when she meets peculiar, glittering Remy Taft, the richest, most mysterious girl on campus, she starts to see a foothold in this foreign world-a place where she could maybe, possibly, sort of fit in. When Willa looks at Remy, she sees a girl who has everything. But for Remy, having everything comes at a price. And as she spirals out of control, Willa can feel Remy spinning right out of her grasp.

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he's suddenly replaced-by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.

At first, Nazarenko's eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman's approval. Soon Laila is hiking through the Catskills during a thunderstorm in March and discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity-but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive.

Audrey can't leave the house. she can't even take off her dark glasses inside the house.

Then her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again-well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable.

Sixteen-year-old Maguire knows the universe is against her. No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when she's around. Like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or the time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash-and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.

Despite what her therapist tells her, Maguire thinks it's best to hide out in her room, far away from anyone she might accidentally hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star who wants to help her break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for him is to stay away, but it turns out staying away might be harder than she thought.

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she's already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she's learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don't have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.

Every new scar hardens Charlie's heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.

Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn't left the house in three years, which is fine by him.

Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she's being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in?

Enter Lisa.

Determined to "fix" Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they've built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

When Griffin's first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he's been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin's downward spiral continues. He's losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he's been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.
dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can't.
Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful...in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend's suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn't die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid's descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid-and Caitlin herself.

Evie Thomas is not who she used to be. Once she had a best friend, a happy home and a loving grandmother living nearby. Once her name was Toswiah.

Now, everything is different. Her family has been forced to move to a new place and change their identities. But that's not all that has changed. Her once lively father has become depressed and quiet. Her mother leaves teaching behind and clings to a new-found religion. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave.

And Evie, struggling to find her way in a new city where kids aren't friendly and the terrain is as unfamiliar as her name, wonders who she is.

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role.

Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

But it's not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister's story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act-suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade.

Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills.

And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle, the gun-and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life-but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life-which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything"-at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store.

This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.

Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

Zach is eighteen. He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive-well, what's up with that?
I have it in my head that when we're born, God writes things down on our hearts. See, on some people's hearts he writes Happy and on some people's hearts he writes Sad and on some people's hearts he writes Crazy on some people's hearts he writes Genius and on some people's hearts he writes Angry and on some people's hearts he writes Winner and on some people's hearts he writes Loser. It's all like a game to him. Him. God. And it's all pretty much random. He takes out his pen and starts writing on our blank hearts. When it came to my turn, he wrote Sad. I don't like God very much. Apparently he doesn't like me very much either.
Have you ever felt like you just couldn't get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every single day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says "you're not good enough," "not good-looking enough," "not thin enough," or "not smart enough?" Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is "just so" on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them every day?

You're not alone. Millions of people are going through similar things. And many of them are people you know-you know them because they write the books that you're reading.

Life Inside My Mind is an anthology of true-life events from writers of this generation, for this generation. It takes aim at ending the shame of mental illness.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She's pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She's not prepared for normal.

16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital's mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery - and perhaps rescue some others along the way.

When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn't be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she's never had.

But Vicky's newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn't know.

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There's only one problem: she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution: a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman) who's haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner.

Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he's her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can't stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic...and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she's obsessed.

Bea tells herself she's got it all under control. But this isn't a choice, it's a compulsion. The truth is, she's breaking down...and she might end up breaking her own heart.

Sixteen-year-old Grace is in a race against time-and in a race for her life-even if she doesn't realize it yet...

She is smart, responsible, and contending with more than what most teens ever have to. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia for years until, one day, she simply disappeared-fleeing in fear that she was going to hurt herself or those she cared about. Ever since, Grace's father has worked as a recruiter at one of the leading labs dedicated to studying the disease, trying to lure the world's top scientists to the faculty to find a cure, hoping against hope it can happen in time to help his wife if she is ever found. But this makes him distant. Consumed.

Grace, in turn, does her part, interning at the lab in the gene sequencing department in hopes that one day they might make a breakthrough...and one day they do. Grace stumbles upon a string of code that could be the key. But something inside of Grace has started to unravel. Could her discovery just be a cruel side effect of the schizophrenia finally taking hold? Can she even tell the difference between what is real and what isn't?

Theo is better now.

She's eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction-and his abductor.

Donovan isn't talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn't do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she's been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.

What if you aren't the Chosen One?

The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions...

Seventh-grader Serena Shaw is trying to keep up at school while rehearsing for the lead role in the spring musical and dealing with a father so "blue" he is nearly catatonic. With the aid of a not-so-secret admirer as well as a growing sense of self-confidence, she faces the challenges of caring for herself and her ball-of-charm younger brother, all while attempting to lead the life of a normal pre-teen. Readers will be drawn into this convincing portrait of a vivacious young person who is on a path to discovering that taking on responsibility sometimes means finding the best way to ask for help.

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price-and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction-if they don't kill each other first.

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother's stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he's haunted by nightmares of his best friend's death. It's not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he's had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis's dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story-that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it's not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight...but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did-and didn't-happen that day.

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up...

SUTTER KEELY. HE'S the guy you want at your party. He'll get everyone dancing. He' ll get everyone in your parents' pool. Okay, so he's not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men's shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram's V.O., life's pretty fabuloso, actually.

Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee's clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it's up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee's not like other girls, and before long he's in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else's life-or ruin it forever.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she's thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn't quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn't get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

It's the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won't stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she's failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she's forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group's fate is determined less and less by what's happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life- and death-inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm's length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium.

As the walls of Mel's compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst-that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she's been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to find out?

Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they're getting confusing at school. He's losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he's a mess. Then there's a voice in his head. A friend, who's trying to help him get control again. More than that-the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that's holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there's a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

Tweak by Nic Sheff

Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge into the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It's a harrowing portrait-but not one without hope.

Kira's Twelve Steps To A Normal Life

1. Accept Grams is gone.
2. Learn to forgive Dad.
3. Steal back ex-boyfriend from best friend...

And somewhere between 1 and 12, realize that when your parent's an alcoholic, there's no such thing as "normal."
When Kira's father enters rehab, she's forced to leave everything behind-her home, her best friends, her boyfriend...everything she loves. Now her father's sober (again) and Kira is returning home, determined to get her life back to normal...exactly as it was before she was sent away.

But is that what Kira really wants?

At seventeen, Norah has accepted that the four walls of her house delineate her life. She knows that fearing everything from inland tsunamis to odd numbers is irrational, but her mind insists the world outside is too big, too dangerous. So she stays safe inside, watching others' lives through her windows and social media feed.

But when Luke arrives on her doorstep, he doesn't see a girl defined by medical terms and mental health. Instead, he sees a girl who is funny, smart, and brave. And Norah likes what he sees.

Their friendship turns deeper, but Norah knows Luke deserves a normal girl. One who can walk beneath the open sky. One who is unafraid of kissing. One who isn't so screwed up. Can she let him go for his own good-or can Norah learn to see herself through Luke's eyes?

Morgan didn't mean to do anything wrong that day. Actually, she meant to do something right. But her kind act inadvertently played a role in a deadly tragedy. In order to move on, Morgan must learn to forgive-first someone who did something that might be unforgivable, and then herself.

But Morgan can't move on. She can't even move beyond the front door of the apartment she shares with her mother and little brother. Morgan feels like she's underwater, unable to surface. Unable to see her friends. Unable to go to school.

When it seems Morgan can't hold her breath any longer, a new boy moves in next door. Evan reminds her of the salty ocean air and the rush she used to get from swimming. He might be just what she needs to help her reconnect with the world outside.

The instant Adam Spencer Ross meets Robyn Plummer in his Young Adult OCD Support Group, he is hopelessly, desperately drawn to her. Robyn has an hypnotic voice, blue eyes the shade of an angry sky, and ravishing beauty that makes Adam's insides ache. She's also just been released from a residential psychiatric program-the kind for the worst, most difficult-to-cure cases; the kind that Adam and his fellow support group members will do anything to avoid joining.

Adam immediately knows that he has to save Robyn, must save Robyn, or die trying. But is it really Robyn who needs rescuing? And is it possible to have a normal relationship when your life is anything but?

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.

Only he isn't sure he wants to.

After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend's suicide last year.

Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.

But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it...or let the world-and his pain-be destroyed forever.

A Goth girl with an attitude problem, Elizabeth Davis must learn to control her anger before it destroys her. Emily Delgado appears to be a smart, sweet girl, with a normal life, but as depression clutches at her, she struggles to feel normal. Both girls are in Ms. Diaz's English class, where they connect to the words of Emily Dickinson. Both are hovering on the edge of an emotional precipice. One of them will attempt suicide. And with Dickinson's poetry as their guide, both girls must conquer their personal demons to ever be happy.

In an emotionally taut novel with a richly diverse cast of characters, readers will relish in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and be completely swept up in the turmoil of two girls grappling with demons beyond their control.

We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know...

Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along.

Vivi didn't know Jonah would light up her world.

Neither of them expected a summer like this...a summer that would rewrite their futures.

In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever.
Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:
1. You will remember to water the azaleas.
2. You will take detailed, accurate messages.
3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands.
5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.
Things that actually happen:
1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister.
2. He says he has her stuff.
3. What stuff? Her stuff.
4. You tell him your parents won't be able to-
5. Sukey died five years ago; can't he-
6. You pick up a pen.
7. You scribble down the address.
8. You get on your bike and go.
9. Things...get a little crazy after that.*
*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.

Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T. Smith's debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music, madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.
"Dead girl walking," the boys say in the halls.
"Tell us your secret," the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.
Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit.

Seventeen-year-old Bo has always had delusions that he can travel through time. When he was ten, Bo claimed to have witnessed the Titanic hit an iceberg, and at fifteen, he found himself on a Civil War battlefield, horrified by the bodies surrounding him. So when his worried parents send him to a school for troubled youth, Bo assumes he knows the truth: that he's actually attending Berkshire Academy, a school for kids who, like Bo, have "superpowers."

At Berkshire, Bo falls in love with Sofía, a quiet girl with a tragic past and the superpower of invisibility. Sofía helps Bo open up in a way he never has before. In turn, Bo provides comfort to Sofía, who lost her mother and two sisters at a very young age.

But even the strength of their love isn't enough to help Sofía escape her deep depression. After she commits suicide, Bo is convinced that she's not actually dead. He believes that she's stuck somewhere in time-that he somehow left her in the past, and that now it's his job to save her. And as Bo becomes more and more determined to save Sofía, he must decide whether to face his demons head-on or succumb to a psychosis that will let him be with the girl he loves.
Want more great YA books about mental illness? Try these teen books about depression, YA books about social anxiety, and these 100 must-read books about mental illness (many of which are great for teen YA readers, as well as adult YA readers).

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YA Books About Mental Illness and Mental Health | Book Riot

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Mental health is crucial to our overall health. It's impossible to separate the two, and yet, it happens all the time. But with the rise in diagnoses of mental health challenges-in part because of a better understanding of how these illnesses can work-comes the crucial need to talk about mental health in a bigger way.

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I believe understanding that stigmas regarding mental illness is important, and knowing that others feel them too is just as important.

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This website from Bridges to Recovery does a good job at explaining what mental illness is. It's purpose is to inform on mental illness and then outlines what to do with the knowledge of what mental illness is.

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Mental illnesses are complex and difficult to understand. Because they often contain so many unique and intertwined symptoms, it's tough to grasp what's actually happening below the surface and how it translates into a person's daily activities and interactions. Even more difficult is explaining mental illness to others. Whether you suffer from a mental illness or you have a loved one who has been diagnosed, telling friends and family members can be difficult and trying.

Understanding Mental Illnesses

Before you can attempt to explain mental illness to family and friends, you must be able to grasp the concept yourself. This doesn't mean studying medical textbooks and reviewing research papers, but it does require some deciphering.

So, what is a mental illness? Well, it can be any combination of factors that impair normal cognitive, behavioral, or emotional functioning. These factors may be biochemical, psychological, genetic, or social in nature. The difficulty is determining which factors are the root causes and how they are impairing normal functioning.

Every mental illness is different and unique. Disorders can be related to mood, depression, anxiety, personality, substance abuse, addictions, and more. While doctors may be able to diagnose a particular mental illness, they are rarely identical between two people.

4 Tips for Explaining Mental Illness

Going into discussions with this in mind allows you to better approach each situation. Here are a few tips for explaining mental illness to family and friends:

All Ages are Different. Public speakers are often told the number one key to delivering an effective speech is knowing who your audience is. This piece of advice should also be heeded when explaining mental illness. You're going to explain it differently to children than you would adults. One pre-canned explanation won't do the trick. Children need simple, big picture statements, while adults will want answers and details.

Analogies Can Help. For anyone, but especially children, analogies can be very useful. Take /treatment-specialties/bipolar-disorders/ for example. As one of the most difficult to understand mental illnesses, it's nearly impossible to appropriately explain to people who are unfamiliar with it. Using the analogy of a stove can help. Explain that most people have low, medium, and high settings, while those with bipolar only have low and high programming.

Education is Important. If friends and loved ones are truly confused but interested in learning more, suggest some books and educational material. Many books have been published by therapists and doctors and do a much better job of explaining the symptoms, causes, and outlook of certain mental illnesses.

Prepare for Questions. Most friends and family will have questions and you have to be prepared to encourage and answer them. This is the best way to let people in on what's truly going on and how they should react.

Getting Help

Mental illnesses can be difficult to explain and deal with. If you or a loved one need help treating a mental illness, Bridges to Recovery offers effective, internationally renowned, and licensed residential treatment programs for patients of all types. For more information, please contact us today.

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Explaining Mental Illness to Family and Friends

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Mental illnesses are complex and difficult to understand. Because they often contain so many unique and intertwined symptoms, it's tough to grasp what's actually happening below the surface and how it translates into a person's daily activities and interactions. Even more difficult is explaining mental illness to others.

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This is the first paragraph from the novel, "It's Kind of a Funny Story". It touches on how it feels to be suicidal.

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This award winning short film shows the struggle of living with an eating disorder.

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Empty - Award Winning Short Eating Disorder/Mental Illness Drama Film

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Much like how books can help educate and make a person feel connected, movies can do just the same. I liked this article, because not only did it give a list of movies that deal with mental illness, but the author also gave her reflection on each film, and what she took from them.

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Movies have always made me feel less alone in the world. They make me feel like there is always someone out there who understands. Who has gone through the same things as me. Who fights the same wars I do. Who just gets it.

When I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I watched all the movies about mental illness I could get my hands on. They genuinely helped me. They gave me characters I could identify with and situations I related to. They taught me a lot about what it means to live with a mental illness and how to overcome some of the struggles that come with having a disorder. They also taught me how to help someone else who is struggling with a disorder and how I could be there for them. They taught me what to do and what not to do and ultimately gave me hope for the future.

So here are 10 movies about mental illness that have helped me in one way or another along the way. Not all of them have happy endings, but there is still something to learn from each of them. Most are about bipolar disorder because that's what I can relate to, but there are some other disorders mentioned too. Warning - some movies may be triggering.

Plot: Two sisters find their already-strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Mental Illness: Depression .
What It Taught Me: It showed me how debilitating depression can be and how much it affects not only the individual with the illness, but their family too.

Plot: A bipolar woman and a grief-stricken man struggle to forge a simple life.
Mental Illness: Bipolar disorder.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that the people who truly love me will stay and will try to understand what I'm going through. It also taught me to stay on my medication.

Plot: Laney Brooks does bad things. Married with kids, she takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, disappears when she wants. Now, with the destruction of her family looming, and temptation everywhere, Laney makes one last desperate attempt at redemption.
Mental Illness: Bipolar disorder and substance abuse.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that recovery is hard but you need to keep trying. It also taught me to stay on my medication.

Plot: A committed dancer wins the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" only to find herself struggling to maintain her sanity.
Mental Illness: Schizophrenia .
What It Taught Me: It taught me not to strive for perfection because it's unhealthy and impossible to achieve.

Plot: Based on writer Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s.
Mental Illness: Multiple but focuses on borderline personality disorder (BPD).
What It Taught Me: It taught me that it's OK to ask for help and there's nothing to be ashamed of.

Plot: A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s.
Mental Illness: Depression.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that mental illness is not always obvious from an outsider's perceptive.

Plot: After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
Mental Illness: Bipolar disorder.
What It Taught Me: It taught me recovery and love are possible.

Plot: A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
Mental Illness: Depression but could be mental illness in general.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that mental illness never really goes away but it is manageable and can be controlled.

Plot: Two bipolar patients meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition.
Mental Illness: Bipolar disorder.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that some people are unhealthy for my mental health and that toxic relationships need to be cut immediately.

Plot: An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world.
Mental Illness: Depression.
What It Taught Me: It taught me that friends and family are important to recovery. It also taught me that in order to recover I need to be honest with myself and face the truth.
Editor's note: Please see a doctor before starting or stopping a medication. We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here.
Image via Magnolia Pictures. Photo © Christian Geisnaes.

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10 Movies About Mental Illness and What They Taught Me

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Movies have always made me feel less alone in the world. They make me feel like there is always someone out there who understands. Who has gone through the same things as me. Who fights the same wars I do. Who just gets it.

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This is a look at what Mental Health America says about what mental illness is. This website dives into the subject to help example all the aspects of mental illness.

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Most people believe that mental disorders are rare and "happen to someone else." In fact, mental disorders are common and widespread. An estimated 54 million Americans suffer from some form of mental disorder in a given year.

Most families are not prepared to cope with learning their loved one has a mental illness. It can be physically and emotionally trying, and can make us feel vulnerable to the opinions and judgments of others.

If you think you or someone you know may have a mental or emotional problem, it is important to remember there is hope and help.
What is mental illness?
A mental illness is a disease that causes mild to severe disturbances in thought and/or behavior, resulting in an inability to cope with life's ordinary demands and routines.

There are more than 200 classified forms of mental illness. Some of the more common disorders are depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. Symptoms may include changes in mood, personality, personal habits and/or social withdrawal.

Mental health problems may be related to excessive stress due to a particular situation or series of events. As with cancer, diabetes and heart disease, mental illnesses are often physical as well as emotional and psychological. Mental illnesses may be caused by a reaction to environmental stresses, genetic factors, biochemical imbalances, or a combination of these. With proper care and treatment many individuals learn to cope or recover from a mental illness or emotional disorder.

To hear personal descriptions of mental illness visit http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/feelslike

Warning Signs and Symptoms

To learn more about symptoms that are specific to a particular mental illness, search under Mental Health Information or refer to the Mental Health America brochure on that illness. The following are signs that your loved one may want to speak to a medical or mental health professional.

It is especially important to pay attention to sudden changes in thoughts and behaviors. Also keep in mind that the onset of several of the symptoms below, and not just any one change, indicates a problem that should be assessed. The symptoms below should not be due to recent substance use or another medical condition.

If you or someone you know is in crisis now, seek help immediately. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24 hour crisis center or dial 911 for immediate assistance.
In Adults, Young Adults and Adolescents:

Prolonged depression (sadness or irritability)

Feelings of extreme highs and lows

Excessive fears, worries and anxieties

Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits

Strange thoughts (delusions)

Seeing or hearing things that aren't there (hallucinations)

Growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities

Numerous unexplained physical ailments

In Older Children and Pre-Adolescents:

Inability to cope with problems and daily activities

Changes in sleeping and/or eating habits

Excessive complaints of physical ailments

Changes in ability to manage responsibilities - at home and/or at school

Defiance of authority, truancy, theft, and/or vandalism

Prolonged negative mood, often accompanied by poor appetite or thoughts of death

Frequent outbursts of anger

In Younger Children:

Changes in school performance

Poor grades despite strong efforts

Changes in sleeping and/or eating habits

Excessive worry or anxiety (i.e. refusing to go to bed or school)

Persistent disobedience or aggression

How to cope day-to-day
Accept your feelings
Despite the different symptoms and types of mental illnesses, many families who have a loved one with mental illness, share similar experiences. You may find yourself denying the warning signs, worrying what other people will think because of the stigma, or wondering what caused your loved one to become ill. Accept that these feelings are normal and common among families going through similar situations. Find out all you can about your loved one's illness by reading and talking with mental health professionals. Share what you have learned with others.
Handling unusual behavior
The outward signs of a mental illness are often behavioral. A person may be extremely quiet or withdrawn. Conversely, he or she may burst into tears, have great anxiety or have outbursts of anger.

Even after treatment has started, some individuals with a mental illness can exhibit anti-social behaviors. When in public, these behaviors can be disruptive and difficult to accept. The next time you and your family member visit your doctor or mental health professional, discuss these behaviors and develop a strategy for coping.

Your family member's behavior may be as dismaying to them as it is to you. Ask questions, listen with an open mind and be there to support them.
Establishing a support network
Whenever possible, seek support from friends and family members. If you feel you cannot discuss your situation with friends or other family members, find a self-help or support group. These groups provide an opportunity for you to talk to other people who are experiencing the same type of problems. They can listen and offer valuable advice.
Seeking counseling
Therapy can be beneficial for both the individual with mental illness and other family members. A mental health professional can suggest ways to cope and better understand your loved one's illness.

When looking for a therapist, be patient and talk to a few professionals so you can choose the person that is right for you and your family. It may take time until you are comfortable, but in the long run you will be glad you sought help.
Taking time out
It is common for the person with the mental illness to become the focus of family life. When this happens, other members of the family may feel ignored or resentful. Some may find it difficult to pursue their own interests.

If you are the caregiver, you need some time for yourself. Schedule time away to prevent becoming frustrated or angry. If you schedule time for yourself it will help you to keep things in perspective and you may have more patience and compassion for coping or helping your loved one. Being physically and emotionally healthy helps you to help others.
"Many families who have a loved one with mental illness share similar experiences"
It is important to remember that there is hope for recovery and that with treatment many people with mental illness return to a productive and fulfilling life.

Other Resources

Mental Illness in the Family: Part 1 Recognizing the Warning Signs & How to Cope is one in a series of pamphlets on helping family members with mental illness. Other Mental Health America titles include:

Mental Health America offers additional pamphlets on a variety of mental health topics. For more information or to order multiple copies of pamphlets, please contact Mental Health America

External Resources

Find a Local MHA Affiliate

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administraton (SAMHSA)
Phone 800-789-2647

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Information Resources and Inquiries Branch
Phone 301-443-4513

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Mental Illness and the Family: Recognizing Warning Signs and How to Cope

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Most people believe that mental disorders are rare and "happen to someone else." In fact, mental disorders are common and widespread. An estimated 54 million Americans suffer from some form of mental disorder in a given year. Most families are not prepared to cope with learning their loved one has a mental illness.

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This articles outlines 3 truths about living with mental illness: 1. It's ok to get help. 2. There's no reason to be ashamed. 3. It's something we should be talking about.

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Shame. Fear. Uncertainty. Hopelessness. These are emotions we all feel from time to time. For me, this is a battle I fight every day. I sit here with trembling hands as I type this message now: I have an anxiety disorder. More specifically, I have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

So why on Earth am I divulging this? For a couple reasons. First, it pains me when I see people struggling with mental illness who think they're alone. I assure you, you're not. Second, these struggles should not be a secret. Why is it acceptable to discuss every other part of the body that experiences difficulty except the brain? Why do we feel no shame in telling others we have the flu, a broken arm or even a more serious condition like diabetes, yet cases of mental illness are typically not shared with many? Why is there such a negative stigma around mental illness? It does not mean you are crazy. It does not mean you are weird. It does not mean you are inadequate. If you're struggling, it's OK. You are not alone.

While living with a mental illness certainly is exhausting, it's made me into the person I am today. A person who has been through a battle. A person who has faced many fears. A person I am proud of.

Here are a few things I've learned along the way.

1. It's OK to get help.

I'm a huge advocate of using modern day medicine when appropriate. I know some people believe anxiety isn't "serious" enough to medicate. They probably don't understand how bad it can really get. While there are lifestyle changes that can certainly help reduce symptoms, it's OK to also need medication to live a happy, full life.

Imagine you have to walk on a tight rope across two cliffs over a lake of ravenous sharks. Would you be scared? Of course! Now imagine if someone told you that your fear of walking on that rope was fake. I'm sure you would not appreciate the comment. For those who suffer with anxiety disorder, medicine makes these extreme fears more manageable. Medicine certainly isn't a fix-all solution, but it can certainly improve the quality of life for those who suffer.

2. There's no reason to be ashamed.

In recent years, I've come to find that just about everyone knows someone with a mental illness. But we still don't talk about it, and the stigma remains. So we all assume no one could possibly understand and opt to suffer silently. Generally, people are surprised when they find out I struggle with OCD, but really there are tons of people out there who we perceive as "normal" who are struggling, too.

3. It's something we should be talking about.

Over time, I've become more open about my challenges with anxiety, but this wasn't always the case. But I speak up because with increased openness, I think the perception of mental disorders can be changed for the good.

We are all facing our own battles. Whether it's mental or physical, challenges come in all shapes and forms. The best way to overcome them is to cast out shame and embrace who we are. Seek help from those you trust and find your own way to happiness. Most of all, be patient. It's a journey. After all, pressure makes diamonds and diamonds shine. Just you wait.
This story was published on The Mighty, a platform for people facing health challenges to share their stories and connect.

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3 Important Truths About Living With Mental Illness

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Shame. Fear. Uncertainty. Hopelessness. These are emotions we all feel from time to time. For me, this is a battle I fight every day. I sit here with trembling hands as I type this message now: I have an anxiety disorder. More specifically, I have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

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This poem is a beautiful and touching look at someone who lives with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It addresses the strain it can put on relationships, and illustrates a desire to just be loved.

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Among other famous celebrities, Carrie Fisher spoke openly about having Bipolar Disorder. She wrote about it in books like "Wishful Drinking". She also talked openly about her addictions. This open communication is helping open minds and breaking down stigmas.

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Article on Mental Health Awareness Month

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Article on Mental Health Awareness Month

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This article speaks on mental health awareness month, and the argument that is should be longer than a month. It addresses some important aspects of mental illness.

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It's interesting-I never knew there was a month to honor 'mental health awareness.' Don't get me wrong, I think it's great - awareness is so, so important, but I just never knew that May was dedicated to mental health. Maybe it's because unfortunately mental health is something that is rarely, if ever talked about in a positive way. Maybe it's because for me and so many other people mental health is something that we have to think about every, single day - not just during the month of May.

To be honest, I cannot really remember the first time I had my first "wave" of anxiety. I know was young. I know was in elementary school. I know I worried about things that my friends and my fellow 8-9 year old classmates didn't worry about. For a while I was so scared that I was going to be kidnapped out of my bedroom window that I couldn't fall asleep at night. And, when that went away-a new phobia would arise. Airplanes. Going to school. Getting cancer. You name it. I worried about it. And now, I am 25 years old, so you can say that I have been dealing with anxiety for about 17 years. I don't say this to make you feel sorry for me or make you feel bad for me, I say this because the reality of the situation is that for me and for too many other people every month is mental health awareness month. Everyday is mental health awareness day.

1 out of 5 people experience a mental illness. I am sure you have seen this statistic a lot this month. But, what that means is that these are your mothers, your fathers, your sisters, your brothers, your friends, your coworkers, your acquaintances, the woman or the man on the street that's trying to smile and so many other people. And, mental illness doesn't discriminate. Mental illnesses occur across gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation. The list goes on. Unfortunately, resources for mental illness - like many other things - do discriminate. So many people go undiagnosed and untreated because they cannot afford the (ridiculously) expensive resources to get the help that they need. This is such a shame, and something - that I wholeheartedly think needs to change. And, although I do not have a solution for this problem (at the moment) I do have a temporary solution in response to May being "mental health awareness month."

What can we do to help those with a mental illness? It really is simple. Two words. Be kinder. Get to know people. Understand that everyone has a story. Everyone is going through something, whether that 'something' is a mental illness or not. Don't call people "bipolar" or "OCD" or "crazy" or "mentally insane" because there are people who have bipolar disorder, diagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder and people who feel crazy and mentally insane each and everyday, when they aren't. And, don't just do this in May. Do this always. And, if you are struggling with a mental illness, don't be scared to ask for help. I know it's easier said than done with all the stigmas and the negative associations to mental illness, but try your hardest to not feel ashamed or weak or lesser than - because your mental illness is a part of you and makes you the strong individual that you are. Granted, I am still trying to practice what I preach, but what I am trying to say is that no one is alone in this. Find your support system and lean on them, even if it is hard to. Your mental illness doesn't define you; it is only apart of you. And, happy mental awareness month, everyone!

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Why Mental Health Awareness Month Should be Longer Than One Month

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It's interesting-I never knew there was a month to honor 'mental health awareness.' Don't get me wrong, I think it's great - awareness is so, so important, but I just never knew that May was dedicated to mental health. Maybe it's because unfortunately mental health is something that is rarely, if ever talked about in a positive way.

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The reason I picked this quote, other than Sylvia Plath being a leading writer to have wrote about mental illness, but it addresses the word "Terrified". There are moments when having a mental illness can be terrifying. Some could argue that its the worst part, being afraid of yourself.

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The American Psychiatric Association 's website that outlines their definition of mental illness. It provides links to various categories.

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I included this because this scene and movie is a good example of a film that centers around a person with a mental disorder.

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Lars and the Real Girl (5/12) Movie CLIP - Touch Therapy (2007) HD

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This is a scene from the film "A Beautiful Mind", and it shows an example of schizophrenia.

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This article argues that Mental Health First Aid courses should be implicated in schools. The more education that is taught, the less stigmas, and better treatment will be provided.

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It's 2017 and there is still such a strong stigma surrounding mental health. Don't believe me? Upon recently attending a Mental Health First Aid workshop, I learned how common it is for us to call former cancer patients "survivors" while also calling those with a mental illness that had a failed suicide attempt "suicidal". That sort of label sticks around and demonizes those with a mental illness. Treating mental illnesses as seriously as we do other illnesses is one step towards ending the stigma. At this workshop, a lot of stigmas surrounding mental health were brought up. One stigma mentioned was that we don't call those with a flu or cold "pneumonic", we just say that the person has pneumonia. But, we do call those with schizophrenia "schizophrenic", instead of a person with schizophrenia. Such a label is powerful, and it causes a person to feel more like their illness than themselves.

Because of this, we don't see the person as a human being, suffering emotionally, psychologically, and physically, but rather, as just their illness and only their illness.

Due to negative stigmas like these, only 41% of those with a mental health disorder seek professional help, according to the accredited textbook, "Mental Health First Aid USA". That is 59% that do not seek help, therefore they suffer in silence without help, or without even knowing why they are suffering.

As someone who is suffering from anxiety, I can relate to these stigmas, especially the one that is engrained into our brains that seeking professional help is a major sign of weakness.

There are also portions of this workshop that cover the rise of mental illness among the LGBT+ community and how their internalized repression by being closeted from their family and friends causes large levels of stress and fear of being found out, ultimately leading to the development of anxiety and depression. They have three times the risk of developing an anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder. These people will desperately do anything to avoid letting anyone discover their sexuality, and they fear getting labeled and judged by others, thus developing a mental disorder involving paranoia.

Programs and workshops, like those given by Mental Health First Aid, should be implemented in schools so that students can become educated and destigmatize the negative connotations to mental health. Doing so can allow peers to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness in their peers or even themselves, which can lead to more of an acceptance to intervention and seeking appropriate professional help. These workshops can also teach students how to respond to certain situations, especially if they find themselves talking to someone with suicidal thoughts.

Living with a mental disorder is not what solely defines those affected, even though a lot of people think it does. It is something constant that has no "cure", but does have recovery. Those affected by their mental illness are real human beings and should not be only looked at through the lens of their disorder. It is a constant battle within the mind that affect's daily activities, work, and personal relationships until a person is left with only their horrific thoughts. By educating society, even slowly, we can help make a difference and end this pessimistic stigma.

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How Mental Health First Aid Courses Can End Stigma

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It's 2017 and there is still such a strong stigma surrounding mental health. Don't believe me? Upon recently attending a Mental Health First Aid workshop, I learned how common it is for us to call former cancer patients "survivors" while also calling those with a mental illness that had a failed suicide attempt "suicidal".