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 Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

Chaos. Fury. Destruction. The Great Change is upon us… Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds. With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & misogyny
  • Incest
  • Substance addiction & drug abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • War themes
  • Animal death

Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

All newly minted pediatrician Jamie Malek wants is to borrow a roasting pan for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, that requires her to interact with Marc—her best friend’s troublemaking brother, who’s now a tech billionaire. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Outside, a howling blizzard. Inside, a crackling fire. Suddenly, being snowbound with the man she never expected to see again might not be such a bad way to spend a winter’s night.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Panic attack (on-page)
  • Death of a child mentioned

Merit by Devney Perry

The world loves Maverick Houston. Me? I’ve hated him since we were ten. It’s not exactly easy to escape your childhood nemesis when your parents are best friends who live on the same block. Through countless vacations, parties and holidays, Maverick and I have spent the past decade trading insults. Until that family dinner when his mother tells us she’s dying. When she asks us to forget the past and start fresh. That’s how I found myself on a date with the Treasure State Wildcats football star. The campus playboy. The boy I kissed when I was three. The man who is the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent from cancer

The Intruder by Freida McFadden

Casey’s cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she’s a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window. She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood. The girl won’t explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse. The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Emotional & physical domestic abuse
  • Hoarding Disorder
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life. Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & dieting discussed
  • Parental divorce recounted
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Nightmare
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
  • Protagonist with a congenital heart condition (aortic valve stenosis & aortic coarctation), which requires open heart surgery
  • Mild physical illness (heatstroke) & mentions of a grandparent recovering from emergency hip replacement surgery
  • Death of a parent in a car accident
  • Death of a grandfather recounted
  • Death of a best friend recounted

Flip by Ngozi Ukazu

Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi’s private video proposal to go to senior prom. But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi―shy nerd and scholarship student―switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6’1” and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi’s life―that is, k-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school. With… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & classism
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcoholism & alcohol consumption
  • Incarceration

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand & Tara Anand

All Nitasha’s parents want is for her to be the perfect Indian daughter—something she is decidedly not. Everything she does seems to disappoint them, especially her mom. They just don’t get that she’ll never be like her doctor older brother. To make matters worse, she’s never quite felt like she belongs at school either, and lately, her best friend, Ava, and her crush, Henry, seem to be more interested in the rich new girl than in her. Alcohol takes the edge off, but when that doesn’t work, Nitasha turns to cutting. She can’t stop asking herself: Will she ever be enough for her friends or her family? Or even for herself?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse (protagonist)
  • Self-harm & attempted suicide (on-page, protagonist)
  • Cyberbullying

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

After burning out last year, Angelica is ready to get her life back together. Thankfully she has amazing friends to support her, including Peri the Bear, the mascot of her town’s local theatre. At her lowest moments, Angelica found comfort in private messaging Peri’s social media account, and well, she might have a bit of a crush. Now, Angelica is interning at the local theatre in the hopes of finding the person behind the account and thanking them. Who was this mysterious stranger and why did they help her out? Was it just caring for a stranger…or did they feel the same connection that Angelica felt?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity (on-page)
  • Depression
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandparent (off-page)

Age 16 by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Sixteen-year-old Roz is preoccupied with normal teenage navigating high school friendships, worrying about college, and figuring out what to wear to prom. When her estranged Por Por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, the already delicate relationship between Roz and her mother is upended. With three generations under one roof, conflicts inevitably arise and long suppressed family secrets rise to the surface. Told in alternating perspectives, Age 16 shifts seamlessly between time and place, exploring how this pivotal year in adolescence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism & racism
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Eating disorder (anorexia) & disordered eating. including starvation & binge-eating
  • Teen pregnancy

Halfway There by Christine Mari

Christine has always felt she is just Half American, half Japanese. As a biracial Japanese American who was born in Tokyo but raised in the US, she knows all too well what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds but never feeling as though you belong to either. Now on the brink of adulthood, Christine decides it’s time to return to the place she once called home. So she sets forth on a year abroad in Tokyo, believing that this is where she truly belongs. After years of feeling like an outsider, now she will finally be complete. Except…Tokyo isn’t the answer she thought it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Depression (protagonist) & panic attacks
  • Suicidal ideation &attempted suicide
  • Self-harm