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.

The Kindest Lieby Nancy Johnson

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Drug abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Gang violence
  • Lynching
  • Police brutality
  • Poverty
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A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray

A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray

The fate of the multiverse rests in Marguerite Caine’s hands. Marguerite has been at the centre of a cross-dimensional feud since she first travelled to another universe using her parents’ invention, the Firebird. Only now has she learned the true plans of the evil Triad Corporation—and that those plans could spell doom for dozens or hundreds of universes, each facing total annihilation. Paul Markov has always been at Marguerite’s side, but Triad’s last attack has left him a changed man—angry and shadowed by tragedy. He struggles to overcome the damage done… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drugging
  • Substance addiction
  • Teen pregnancy from rape by coercion mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Hospitalisation
  • Medical treatment & procedures
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a daughter
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Strangulation
  • Car accident
  • Hostage situation
  • Loss of autonomy*
  • Blackmail
  • War & rebellion themes

* Context : The use of futuristic technology to ‘take over’ people’s bodies without consent. Sexual conduct in this situation is not consented to by the host.

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The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous. One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence
  • Graphic alcohol consumption & abuse (on-age, theme)
  • Alcoholism & recovery discussed (protagonist & secondary character)
  • Recreational drug use mentioned (off-page)
  • Self-sacrifice (on-page)
  • Minor injury & illness, including emesis & fainting spells
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder by drowning & near-drowning incidents (on-page)
  • Death of a husband by accidental drowning discussed
  • Death of a wife from suicide by throwing herself down a set of stars discussed (disguised as an accidental death)
  • Poisoning
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Home invasion & stalking
  • Disappearance of a friend & missing person cases discussed (on-page)
  • Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)

Context: The protagonist is an alcoholic and her love interest is in recovery for alcoholism after losing his wife. The protagonist drugs her husband and dumps him in the lake to drown after she discovers he’s a serial killer. The protagonist’s neighbour is attempting to kill his wife by poisoning (and she almost drowns due to muscle weakness caused by the poison). The protagonist witnesses the wife punch the husband after a fight.

Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden

Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden

Nearly a thousand years removed from Earth, the remnants of humanity cling to existence inside giant, space-faring creatures known as the Zenzee. Abused and exploited by humans for generations, these majestic animals nearly went extinct, but under the command of its newly minted ruler, Doka Kaleigh, life in the Parados I has flourished. Thanks to careful oversight and sacrifice by all of its crew, they are now on the brink of utopia, and yet Doka’s rivals feel threatened by that success.  The Senate allowed Doka to lead their people believing he’d fail spectacularly—a disaster that would cement the legitimacy of their long … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Cheating
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attack
  • Abortion
  • Body horror
  • Genocide
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If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser

If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser

In the Frederick Douglass Project where DeShawn lives, daily life is ruled by drugs and gang violence. Many teenagers drop out of school and join gangs, and every kid knows someone who died. Gunshots ring out on a regular basis. DeShawn is smart enough to know he should stay in school and keep away from the gangs. But while his friends have drug money to buy fancy sneakers and big-screen TVs, DeShawn’s family can barely afford food for the month. How can he stick to his principles when his family is hungry?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Death of a child from fall
  • Death of a pregnant woman from gun violence
  • Murder
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Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg

It’s official: Zoey Marks is the cursed bridesmaid that no engagement can survive. Ten years, three empire waist dresses, and ZERO brides have walked down the aisle. After strike three, Zoey is left wondering if her own ambivalence towards marriage has rubbed off on those she loves. And when her building distrust of matrimony culminates in turning down a proposal from her perfect All-American boyfriend, Rylan Harper III, she and Rylan are both left heartbroken, leaving Zoey to wonder: what is it exactly about tying the knot that makes her want to run in the opposite direction? Enter Hannah Green: Zoey’s best friend, who announces that… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Cheating
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Infertility

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard

High in a snowy mountain range, a monastery that holds more than just faith clings to the side of a cliff. Below, thwarted by a lake, a bloodthirsty horde of raiders await the coming of winter and the frozen path to destroy the sanctuary and its secrets. The Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop the destruction. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Nightmares
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Graphic physical injuries & illness
  • Emesis
  • Death of a baby, on-page
  • Death of a wife & daughter mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Mass murder & massacres, on-page
  • Torture mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Fire
  • Explosions, on-page
  • Decapitation
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Kidnapping
  • Disappearance of a friend
  • Imprisonment mentioned
  • War & military violence (theme)

The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco

The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco

After a treacherous journey and a life-shattering meeting with a twin neither knew they had, Haidee and Odessa expected to emerge from the Great Abyss to a world set right. But though the planet is turning once again, the creatures of the abyss will not rest until they have tasted another goddess’s sacrifice. To break the cycle, Haidee and Odessa need answers that lie beyond the seven gates of the underworld, within the Cruel Kingdom itself. The shadows of the underworld may hunger to tear them apart, but these two sisters are determined to heal their world—together.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Self harm
  • Blood depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Fighting for Everything by Laura Kaye

Fighting for Everything by Laura Kaye

Home from the Marines, Noah Cortez has a secret he doesn’t want his oldest friend, Kristina Moore, to know. It kills him to push her away, especially when he’s noticing just how sexy and confident she’s become in his absence. But, angry and full of fight, he’s not the same man anymore either. Which is why Warrior Fight Club sounds so good. Kristina loves teaching, but she wants more out of life. She wants Noah—the boy she’s crushed on and waited for. Except Noah is all man now—in ways both oh so good and troubling, too. Still, she wants who he’s become—every war-hard… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Depression
  • Suicide

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her a longer sentence on the debtor ship where she’s been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide. Amaya wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception—and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Indentured servitude of children, discussed in-depth
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Child abuse
  • Forced arranged marriage
  • Gambling addiction recovery & relapse (theme)
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse, recounted & discussed
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction,
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Needles
  • Terminal illness (plague-like), recounted & on-page
  • Depiction of starvation
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of children, on-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Torture recounted
  • Whipping recounted
  • Hanging mentioned
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Blackmail
  • Death by a fall recounted
  • Near-drowning incident
  • War themes discussed
  • Poverty themes & debt collection (theme)