We are always looking for great books about mental illness. Check out the following list of our favorites at your local library, or click on the title for a link to Amazon.com for ordering information.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
More than a decade after its initial publication, this book remains high on the list of books to read about bipolar disorder as the author was one of the first to describe the disease from the perspective of the ill person. Its continued popularity indicts the interest in understanding the world of bipolar disorder by both the people afflicted with the disease and those who love them.
Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father’s Story of Love and Madness (Vintage)
Michael Greenberg details his daughter’s struggle with bipolar disorder and his efforts to help her.
Reversible Skirt recounts the heartrending decade after one young mother’s suicide, as seen through the eyes of her youngest child, Laura, who was a toddler at the time of the tragedy. It also reveals what Laura and her sisters discovered that led them out of darkness and into productive adult lives.
Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival
Christopher Lukas analyzes his family history, looking for answers that would point to his brother’s suicide.
The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order
Also a post-suicide search for answers, this memoir uses an innovative structure by creating an index of subjects related to her father’s suicide and writes about them in order of narrative interest.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction
This book also depicts the parent-child relationship in dealing with mental illness – this time caused by addiction.
The author shares the story of her lifelong battle with mental illness, finally diagnosed as rapid cycling type 1 bipolar disorder.
Families of the Mentally Ill 
(I just tried submitting a comment and my computer froze, so I restarted and am trying it again) Hi Michelle and Denise, I just discovered your site. My sisters and I lost our mother to suicide when we were two, three and four years old. I was the two year old. I wrote a memoir, Reversible Skirt, about growing up in the decade after her suicide. It’s written from my point of view as a child and won a silver medal in the 2011 Readers Favorite book awards. I think it would interest you. I’ve generated a coupon code — AR42Q — so you can download it for free at smashwords.com for free until April 22, 2012. (The electronic version is usually $4.99; paperback is $14, and it’s available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, etc.) I’d love to hear back from you. All the best, Laura McHale Holland