Tag Archives: Mental Illness

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of mental illness.

See also Anxiety, Panic attacks, Suicide, Self-harm, Phobias, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Addiction.

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

When artistic and sensitive Santi arrives at his new high school, everyone in the wildly talented marching band welcomes him with open arms. Everyone except for the prickly, proud musical prodigy Suwa, who doesn’t think Santi has what it takes to be in the band.But Santi and Suwa share painful pasts, and when they open up to each other, a tentative friendship begins. And soon, that friendship turns into something more… Will their fresh start rip at the seams as Suwa seeks out a solo spotlight, and both boys come to terms with what it’ll take, and what they’ll have to let go, to realize their dreams?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & transphobia. including deadnaming (off-page) & forced outing recounted
  • Physical & emotional child abuse & abandonment
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Gender dysphoria & body dysmorphia discussed (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Deth of a parent recounted
  • Near-drowning incident recounted
  • Bullying

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Magic doesn’t exist in the broken city of Lkossa anymore, especially for girls like sixteen-year-old Koffi. Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and magical creatures to pay off her family’s debts and secure their eventual freedom. But the night her loved ones’ own safety is threatened by the Zoo’s cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn’t fully understand—and the consequences are dire. As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six—an elite warrior—and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Indentured servitude
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Drugging & drug use (on-page)
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder mentioned
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Poisoning
  • Fire
  • Animal death & abuse

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was. That tornado was the first of many strange events that seem to follow Weylyn from town to town, although he doesn’t like to take credit. As amazing as these powers may appear, they tend to manifest themselves at inopportune times and places. From freak storms to trees that appear to grow over night… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death & hunting
  • Animal attack
  • Bullying

Bad Girls with Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten

When Sasha’s best friend Xavier gets back together with his cheating ex, Ivy, Sasha knows she needs to protect him. So she poses as a guy online to lure Ivy away. But Sasha’s plan goes sickeningly wrong. And she soon learns to be careful of who you pretend to be because you might be surprised by who you become…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Prescription pill abuse (secondary character self-medicating for depression)
  • Murder

Bad Deal by Annabeth Albert

I’m a bodyguard and far from ideal boyfriend material, but agreeing to this fake dating scheme might be the best bad deal I’ve ever made… I’m a fixer. As a SEAL chief, I succeeded in impossible no-win situations. Now I’m retired and determined to improve the lives of my former military teammates through our Hollywood security firm. Plus, I get to guard intriguing people like Ambrose Sterling, creator of one of my favorite TV shows. Of course, I want to keep Ambrose safe. When he’s attacked, I leap into action to save him and his scrappy little therapy dog. But my good… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Attempted mugging
  • Naval service

End of Days by Susan Ee

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all. When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language (on-page)
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Slavery
  • Parent with paranoid schizophrenia
  • Self-sacrifice
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction, including dead bodies, body horror, involuntary body modifications, medical experimentations, plague, eyeball trauma & loss of vision, and cannibalism
  • Torture & psychological torture (on-page), including mentions of being eaten & skinned alive
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Gun & sword violence
  • Explosion
  • Whipping
  • Imprisonment, kidnapping & captivity
  • Building collapse recounted
  • Rebellion themes
  • Cults

Love and War by Melissa de la Cruz

1780. Albany, New York. As the war for American Independence carries on, two newlyweds are settling into their new adventure: marriage. But the honeymoon’s over, and Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler are learning firsthand just how tricky wedded life can be. Alex is still General George Washington’s right-hand man and his attention these days is nothing if not divided–much like the colonies’ interests as the end of the Revolution draws near. Alex & Eliza’s relationship is tested further by lingering jealousies and family drama.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse mentioned
  • Alcoholism, implied (secondary character)
  • War themes, including mentions of battles and gun & axe violence

Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher

As a child, April Sinclair dreamt of escaping her quiet island life to become a world-famous actress. Now fully grown and with her once-flourishing career at an all-time low, what better way to figure out where it all went wrong than to go back to the beginning? April has her sights set on a new challenge, and that is saving her family’s distillery on the idyllic Scottish Isle of Skye. What she doesn’t expect to find is Malcolm Macabe, short-tempered and exceedingly attractive, living in the home she has just inherited. He may be a million miles away from the shy teenager she knew growing up, but one thing is for certain: he doesn’t… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety (on-page)
  • Parent with Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Death of a grandparent from cancer complications
  • Cyberbullying, specifically sexual harassment & body-shaming

Whidbey by T. Kira Madden

Birdie Chang didn’t know anything about Whidbey Island when she chose it, only that it was about as far away as she could get from her own life. She’s a woman on the run, desperate for an escape from the headlines back home and the look of concern in her girlfriend’s eyes—and from Calvin Boyer, the man who abused her as a child and who’s now resurfaced. On her way, she has an unnerving encounter with a stranger on the ferry who offers her a proposition, a sinister solution, a plan for revenge…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & racism
  • Paedophilia, grooming, sexual assault & sexual harassment
  • Incest mentioned
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & trichotillomania
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Murder
  • Car accident (hit-and-run)
  • Stalking mentioned

We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall

Two years ago Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that incident: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but. When billionaire-turned-TV-host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college—but when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • On-going medical condition from gunshot wound sustained in a mass shooting discussed (protagonist)
  • Murder & mass shooting discussed & recounted
  • Kidnapping & stalking