Memoirs of My Nervous Illness

The Dark Side of Innocence: Growing Up Bipolar

Terri Cheney

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Kay Redfield Jamison · 223 pages

From Kay Redfield Jamison - an international authority on manic-depressive illness, and one of the few women who are full professors of medicine at American universities - a remarkable personal testimony: the revelation of her own struggle since adolescence with manic-depression, and how it has shaped her life. Vividly, directly, with candor, wit, and simplicity, she takes us into the fascinating

Running: The Autobiography

Ronnie O'Sullivan

The Reason: How I Discovered a Life Worth Living

Lacey Sturm · 205 pages

The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity

Mark Vonnegut · 257 pages

"The Eden Express describes from the inside Mark Vonnegut's experience in the late '60s and early '70s - a recent college grad; in love; living communally on a farm, with a famous and doting father, cherished dog, and prized jalopy - and then the nervous breakdowns in all their slow-motion intimacy, the taste of mortality and opportunity for humor they provided, and the grim despair they afforded

Changing My Mind

Margaret Trudeau · 382 pages

"In this deeply moving memoir, Margaret Trudeau speaks with candour and insight about the illness that silently shaped her life -- a life lived often in turbulence and in the public's fascination. Plagued since childhood by extreme moods, Margaret was ill-prepared for the high-profile role into which she was cast at age twenty-two, as Canada's youngest first lady. Captivated by her high spirits, y

Coming Back to Me

Marcus Trescothick · 418 pages

A true-life sporting memoir of one of the best batsman in the game who stunned the cricket world when he prematurely ended his own England career. Trescothick's brave and soul-baring account of his mental frailties opens the way to a better understanding of the unique pressures experienced by modern-day professional sportsmen.At 29, Marcus Trescothick was widely regarded as one of the batting grea

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Marya Hornbacher · 301 pages

Why would a talented young girl go through the looking glass and step into a netherworld where up is down and food is greed, where death is honor and flesh is weak? Why enter into a love affair with hunger, drugs, sex, and death? Marya Hornbacher sustains both anorexia and bulimia through five lengthy hospitalizations, endless therapy, and the loss of family, friends, jobs, and ultimately, any sen

My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward

Mark Lukach · 320 pages

"A heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, memoir of a young marriage that is redefined by mental illness and affirms the power of love. Mark and Giulia's life together began as a storybook romance. The fell in love at eighteen, married at twenty-four, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was twenty-seven, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in

The Half of It: A Memoir

Madison Beer · 176 pages

Hi, Anxiety: Life with a Bad Case of Nerves

Kat Kinsman · 221 pages

An analysis of the role of anxiety in the life of the editor-in-chief of the Tasting Table website expands on her high-profile CNN article to explore her adolescent diagnosis with depression and her daily struggles with making choices and pursuing treatment.

Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Surface

Martha Manning · 200 pages

Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself By Becoming an EMT

Jane Stern · 234 pages

The author describes how she survived severe depression by becoming an EMT, describing her training under an ex-Marine, the confusion of her first calls, and her new vocation's ability to reveal the secrets of human nature.

Open Heart, Open Mind

Clara Hughes · 240 pages

From one of Canada's most decorated Olympians comes a raw but life-affirming story of one woman's struggle with depression. In a world where winning meant everything, her biggest competitor was herself. In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

Allie Brosh · 384 pages

Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices. Touching, absurd, and darkly comic, Allie Brosh’s highly anticipated book Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations. This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features mor

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

Jenny Lawson · 318 pages

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it. In the irreverent Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson’s long-suffering husban

Wishful Drinking

Carrie Fisher · 163 pages

Fisher comes clean (well, sort of) with the crazy truth that is her life, in her first-ever memoir.

Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl

Stacy Pershall · 232 pages

Stacy Pershall grew up depressed and too smart for her own good, a deeply strange girl in Prairie Grove, Arkansas (population 1,000), where the prevailing wisdom was that Jesus healed all. From her days as a thirteen-year-old Jesus freak, through a battle with anorexia and bulimia, her first manic episode at eighteen, and the eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disord

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

John Elder Robison · 304 pages

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits--an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)--had earned him the label "social deviant." No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father

Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression

Sally Brampton · 336 pages

A successful magazine editor and prize-winning journalist, Sally Brampton launched Elle magazine in the UK in 1985. But behind the successful, glamorous career was a story that many of her friends and colleagues knew nothing about--her ongoing struggle with severe depression and alcoholism. Brampton's is a candid, honest telling of how she was finally able to "address the elephant in the room," an

I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir

Brian Wilson, Ben Greenman · 312 pages

"The memoirs of the legendary co-founder of the Beach Boys offer insights into his difficult relationship with his father, the women in his life, his parenting experiences, and the events that inspired his music,"--NoveList.

Perfect: Anorexia and Me

Emily Halban · 333 pages

A remarkable memoir of a girl's journey through anorexia.Emily Halban developed anorexia in her final year at school. She went on to university at Oxford where her disease took on a powerful dimension. By her final year she was so debilitated that she had to sit her exams in a separate room where she could be fed continuously. With heartbreaking candour and poignant intimacy, Emily vividly chronic

Paris: A Memoir for Young Women in the Age of Influencers

Paris Hilton · 336 pages

Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression

Brooke Shields · 226 pages

When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into the world, a crippling depression followed. In DOWN CAME THE RAIN, Brooke writes about the tribulations, depression, and, ultimately, the triumphs that happened before and after the birth. With a knowledgeable voice and a self-deprecating sense of humor, Brooke discusses her battle with postpartum depression, a disorder that ha