Tag Archives: Depression

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of depression and depressive episodes.

See also Suicide, Self-harm, and Mental illness.

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a Blue-Collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis’s only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates. As if his circumstances couldn’t get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinish… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression & suicidal ideation
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

This Is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi

Rinn Olivera is finally going to tell her longtime crush AJ that she’s in love with him. Daniella Korres writes poetry for her own account, but nobody knows it’s her. Imogen Azar is just trying to make it through the day. When Rinn, Daniella, and Imogen clock into work at Wild Nights Bookstore on the first day of summer, they’re expecting the hours to drift by the way they always do. Instead, they have to deal with the news that the bookstore is closing. Before the day is out, there’ll be shaved heads, a diva author, and a very large shipment of Air Jordans to contend with. And it will… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Suicidal ideation

Breaking His Ice by Klastella

I have one rule: I don’t do relationships. Hookups? Sure. Love? Hell no. Love doesn’t fix anything—it just screws you up. I know. I watched it ruin my family. As captain of the Ridgewater Warriors, my game plan is simple: keep it casual, stay focused, win games. Repeat. And it’s been working just fine—until Samantha Westbrook showed up. My best friend’s pesky little sister. The girl who’s had a crush on me since she was ten. Now she’s a freshman at Ridgewater U, and she’s everywhere I go, cockblocking every girl who so much as breathes near me. I spent years brushing her off, telling her to stay… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Parental infidelity
  • Parent with alcoholism, gambling issues & depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use & smoking
  • Sports injury
  • Death of a parent from cancer (acute myeloid leukemia)
  • Animal death mentioned (pet)

A Risk on Forever by N.S. Perkins

When Matthias Phillips imagined the new caretaker for his mother with ALS, the last thing he had in mind was a gorgeous twenty-something who didn’t look like she had a day of experience in the field. However, his mother has always been stubborn, and despite his objections, she’s insistent: it’s Adelaide Samson she wants him to hire. After losing her job, Adelaide needs a new gig to continue supporting her family, even if that means working for overprotective and rude Matthias. Once she earns his trust, though, she gets to see a whole other side of him—a funny, sweet… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with depression
  • Chronic illness (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS))
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted (on-page)

The Coldest Winter by Brittainy C. Cherry

I met Milo Corti during his self-destructive era, and he met me during mine. That night when we crossed paths at a college party, we only had one goal in mind: to feel good during our personal hell storms. After we parted ways, I’d planned to never see him again. That was until I showed up to my first day as a student-teacher and I found him sitting right there in front of me.⁣ Now I was forced to cross paths with the person who was meant to be nothing more than a fading memory. The more time we spent together, the more drawn I felt… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Depression
  • Grief & loss depiction (theme)

Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby. Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with mischief glinting in his eye. Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
  • Attempted suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use & abuse

The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth

The small suburb of Pleasant Court lives up to its name. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows their neighbours, and children play in the street. Isabelle Heatherington doesn’t fit into this picture of family paradise. Husbandless and childless, she soon catches the attention of three Pleasant Court mothers. But Ange, Fran and Essie have their own secrets to hide. Like the reason behind Ange’s compulsion to control every aspect of her life. Or why Fran won’t let her sweet, gentle husband near her new baby. Or why, three years ago, Essie took her daughter to the park… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Postpartum depression recounted

The Salt in Our Blood by Ava Morgyn

Ten years ago, Cat’s volatile mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother’s house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. Now seventeen, Cat is determined to make her life as different from Mary’s as possible. When Cat’s grandmother dies, she’s forced to move to New Orleans with her mother. There, she discovers a picture of Mary holding a baby that’s not her, leading her to unravel a dark family history and challenge her belief that Mary’s mental health issues are the root of all their problems. But as Cat explores the reasons for her mother’s breakdown, she fears she is experiencing… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault of a minor
  • Attempted suicide
  • Alcoholism
  • Bipolar Disorder & depression
  • Death of a grandmother

A Safe Girl to Love: Stories by Casey Plett

Eleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar in Brooklyn, featuring young trans women stumbling through loss, sex, harassment, and love. These stories, shiny with whiskey and prairie sunsets, rattling subways and neglected cats, show growing up as a trans girl can be charming, funny, frustrating, or sad, but never will it be predictable.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & transphobia
  • Sexual assault
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide recounted & self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption, drug use & smoking

The Sad Ghost Club, Vol. 4 by Lize Meddings

When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, what happens next changes everything. Because that night, they leave the party and start the The Sad Ghost Club – a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don’t belong. Follow the Sad Ghost Club as they navigate the joys and complexities of opening up their community – and their hearts – to new members.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & depression (theme)