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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and Other Lies): Inspirational People Open Up About Their Mental Health by Scarlett Curtis
13 reviews
leahg22's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Bullying, Eating disorder, Confinement, Drug use, Self harm, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I wanted to read this book because I loved Feminists Don’t Wear Pink. This year my mental health hasn’t been the best and I did make it a goal of mine to work on it and I know it’s not the end of the year, but we are in October, and I can tell you, I haven’t been working on it and it pummelled during the summer and now I'm just at this new level of norm that I've got to understand and work with.
It’s Not OK to Feel Blue and Other Lies is a collection of writing from inspirational people on what mental health means to them. Over sixty people have shared their stories. Some are powerful. Some are funny. Some are moving. This book is for everyone whether you suffer with mental illness or not. This book is here to tell you it’s OK if you aren’t feeling yourself with a few tidbits on how to help you without sounding like a support or self-help book.
Usually, I struggle with non-fiction books, but I think what helped with this book was the sections that it was divided by and how short some of the chapters are - I think there is maybe 3 chapters in each section where they are 12-20 pages long and the rest are 2-6 pages long. This book contains antidotes, poetry and thoughts of the people who have been affected by mental health or know someone who has got anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders and a whole lot more within this book. All of these stories are unique and brutally real. With the discussion of suicide, feeling ashamed and toxic masculinity. This was one of those books that when I finished it, I just needed to take a break and to think and ponder what I've just read.
The only thing that kept it from being five stars is I did struggle to get into this book, I knew there was a lot of people involved in this which meant there was a lot of different writing styles etc. I thought it was more like Scarlett was interviewing everyone and then there was quotes from the people telling the stories, but Scarlett only has like 3 or 4 chapters in this and obviously she edited it or she was involved but I wanted more from her as the named author. She tells her story and gives foreword and final words, but I just wanted more. It's the same with Feminists don’t wear pink. I think I just forgot that she’s got a couple of chapters and edited it.
This book has motivated me to want to have the discussion more, to get my younger brother to read this, to show my nephew that it’s okay if he is struggling that I can be his shoulder or if he or my brother opens up to me about their mental health, I know how to support them. I want to make sure they get their mates to talk and opens up and to hopefully destroy the narrative of “boys don’t cry.”
The only thing that kept it from being five stars is I did struggle to get into this book, I knew there was a lot of people involved in this which meant there was a lot of different writing styles etc. I thought it was more like Scarlett was interviewing everyone and then there was quotes from the people telling the stories, but Scarlett only has like 3 or 4 chapters in this and obviously she edited it or she was involved but I wanted more from her as the named author. She tells her story and gives foreword and final words, but I just wanted more. It's the same with Feminists don’t wear pink. I think I just forgot that she’s got a couple of chapters and edited it.
This book has motivated me to want to have the discussion more, to get my younger brother to read this, to show my nephew that it’s okay if he is struggling that I can be his shoulder or if he or my brother opens up to me about their mental health, I know how to support them. I want to make sure they get their mates to talk and opens up and to hopefully destroy the narrative of “boys don’t cry.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, and Death
Minor: Eating disorder
pau_line's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
ein etwas anderes buch im vergleich zu dem, was ich normalerweise lese, aber ich mochte es total gerne.
Das Buch besteht aus vielen kleinen Beiträgen verschiedener Autoren, die sich alle mit mentaler Gesundheit auseinandersetzen.
Auch wenn ich selbst nicht von den angesprochenen Themen meist nicht betroffen bin, hat mich das Buch sehr nachdenklich und emotional gemacht. Ich fand es super interessant, all die verschiedenen Perspektiven zu hören, von denen jede ihre Berechtigung hat, gehört zu werden. Natprlich muss man auch sagen, dass nicht alle literarisch herausragend waren, trotzdem habe die Geschichten so gut wie alle etwas in mir bewegt. Ich hab nicht nur einmal geschnieft und geheult und die Botschaft des Buchs ist einfach so unglaublich wichtig.
Es war einfach sehr Komfort, es wurde gegendert und sensibel mit Sorache umgegangen, gleichzeitig war es aber auch unbequem und hat mit Tatsachen konfrontiert, die man gerne mal auszuklammern versucht
Ich kann das Buch nur allen ans Herz legen.
ein paar Zitate zum Abschluss (die mich betroffen, berührt, zum Nachdenken gebracht haben. In denen ich mich eils wiedergefunden habe, teils aber auch nicht. )
"Es frustriert mich, dass ich so bin. Es frustriert mich, dass ich nicht weiß, warum ich so bin. Und es frustriert mich, dass ich offensichtlich die einzige bin, der er so geht"
"Das Problem ist, das wir nicht wissen, wie man unglücklich ist"
"Ich weiß inzwischen, dass mein seelisches Wetter ständig umschlägt. Kein Gefühl der Welt hält ewig und manchmal durchlebe ich vier Jahreszeiten an einem Tag"
"Genau deswegen gibt es kein perfekt und kein normal. Weil da immer jemand sein wird, der dich annimmt und liebt, mit allem, was du bist oder eben auch nicht."
"Das Gegenteil von Angst ist eine schöne Sekunde"
"Wenn du keinen Ausweg siehst, kannst du dich manchmal nur noch zu einer Kugel zusammenrollen udn dein Bestes tun, um den Sturm abzuwettern. Irgendwann, ob es nun Stunden, Tage, Wochen, Monate oder Jahre dauert, haben sich die Wolken ausgeregnet und der Sturm hat sich gelegtm Dann spähst du aus deiner kleinen Kugel hinaus und rollst dich langsam auseinander. Es wird eine Weile dauern, die Sturmschäden zu beseitigen, aber du schaffst das."
"Aber wenn ich selbst Schwierigkeiten habe, bin ich wie ein verschlossenes Buch...wenn es auf meine psychische Gesundheit ankommt, tu ich gerne mal so, als würde ich mich wegen eines gestoßenen Zehs krankmelden"
"Jeder Mensch, dem wir begegnen, kämpft einen Kampf, über den wir nichts wissen."
Das Buch besteht aus vielen kleinen Beiträgen verschiedener Autoren, die sich alle mit mentaler Gesundheit auseinandersetzen.
Auch wenn ich selbst nicht von den angesprochenen Themen meist nicht betroffen bin, hat mich das Buch sehr nachdenklich und emotional gemacht. Ich fand es super interessant, all die verschiedenen Perspektiven zu hören, von denen jede ihre Berechtigung hat, gehört zu werden. Natprlich muss man auch sagen, dass nicht alle literarisch herausragend waren, trotzdem habe die Geschichten so gut wie alle etwas in mir bewegt. Ich hab nicht nur einmal geschnieft und geheult und die Botschaft des Buchs ist einfach so unglaublich wichtig.
Es war einfach sehr Komfort, es wurde gegendert und sensibel mit Sorache umgegangen, gleichzeitig war es aber auch unbequem und hat mit Tatsachen konfrontiert, die man gerne mal auszuklammern versucht
Ich kann das Buch nur allen ans Herz legen.
ein paar Zitate zum Abschluss (die mich betroffen, berührt, zum Nachdenken gebracht haben. In denen ich mich eils wiedergefunden habe, teils aber auch nicht. )
"Es frustriert mich, dass ich so bin. Es frustriert mich, dass ich nicht weiß, warum ich so bin. Und es frustriert mich, dass ich offensichtlich die einzige bin, der er so geht"
"Das Problem ist, das wir nicht wissen, wie man unglücklich ist"
"Ich weiß inzwischen, dass mein seelisches Wetter ständig umschlägt. Kein Gefühl der Welt hält ewig und manchmal durchlebe ich vier Jahreszeiten an einem Tag"
"Genau deswegen gibt es kein perfekt und kein normal. Weil da immer jemand sein wird, der dich annimmt und liebt, mit allem, was du bist oder eben auch nicht."
"Das Gegenteil von Angst ist eine schöne Sekunde"
"Wenn du keinen Ausweg siehst, kannst du dich manchmal nur noch zu einer Kugel zusammenrollen udn dein Bestes tun, um den Sturm abzuwettern. Irgendwann, ob es nun Stunden, Tage, Wochen, Monate oder Jahre dauert, haben sich die Wolken ausgeregnet und der Sturm hat sich gelegtm Dann spähst du aus deiner kleinen Kugel hinaus und rollst dich langsam auseinander. Es wird eine Weile dauern, die Sturmschäden zu beseitigen, aber du schaffst das."
"Aber wenn ich selbst Schwierigkeiten habe, bin ich wie ein verschlossenes Buch...wenn es auf meine psychische Gesundheit ankommt, tu ich gerne mal so, als würde ich mich wegen eines gestoßenen Zehs krankmelden"
"Jeder Mensch, dem wir begegnen, kämpft einen Kampf, über den wir nichts wissen."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
lenarthoe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
eviereadsallthetime's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Self harm
starscattered's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
nickoliver's review against another edition
hopeful
fast-paced
3.0
I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately. The book I'd picked up barely interested me, so I went days without reading a single page - which is extremely rare for me. I usually read at least a little bit every day, but I just couldn't engage with a book the way I wanted to. Because of that, I ended up picking up this particular book - since it was simply a collection of essays, I figured it would be easier than a full-length novel. I could read an essay at a time and didn't have to pay attention for too long a time. And it definitely worked!
Now, before I delve into my feelings a bit more, I need to give a little disclaimer: I read the German edition of this book, which was abridged with only about 310 pages instead of the almost 600 pages of the English version - something I didn't realise until I went to mark the book as currently reading. So it's entirely possible that the original would've had some groundbreaking, amazing essays that I now missed out on. But judging by these 310-ish pages, I honestly doubt that.
What I did like about the book was that it was diverse. It didn't just talk about one kind of mental health issue or had authors who experienced their illnesses the same way, nor did the authors all focus on the same thing. Some essays chose to tell the story of the authors' lives with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, bipolar disorder etc. Others found it more important to make it clear that it was okay to have a wide variety of feelings - that anger was okay, that sadness was okay. There were even a few that focused on extrinsic factors that could have an impact on mental health, like homophobia, xenophobia, or even your own culture where talking about such topics wasn't the norm. I really appreciated that diversity, because I think especially teenagers - which at least my library considered to be the target audience - could profit from some of the essays.
And I admit that some essays - or at least some paragraphs of them - did get to me. They made me tear up a little, and for a short, glorious moment, I felt less alone, because I saw my own thoughts and feelings reflected back at me.
However, the essays that truly read personal and meaningful were only few and far between. Unfortunately, the majority of them were very surface-level, so the ones that delved deep kind of drowned in them. It could be argued that the authors attempted to keep it lighthearted, to not trigger the reader and instead make them see their own mental illness - or mental illness in general - as something that didn't have to take over your life and shouldn't be as stigmatised as it is.
But in my opinion, that didn't work that well. Instead, some essays just seemed like their authors put absolutely no thought into them and the message they wanted to convey. For example, Benjamin Maack just mentioned that he didn't meet the deadline and that made him a piece of shit and sorry about that. Some were extremely short - for example, Naomi Campbell's was literally half a page long -, and many superficial sayings could be found within them that were probably already obvious to most mentally ill people. Sometimes, I felt like I'd accidentally picked up some leaflet at a mental health specialist's office. There was a also a lot of repetition from one essay to the next, which obviously tempered my excitement, too.
I do have to say I really liked Scarlett Curtis's essays. She was the editor of the book, and you could see that the book meant a lot to her. And I think the idea behind a book like this is admirable! But overall, this wasn't as impactful as I'd hoped it would be.
Now, before I delve into my feelings a bit more, I need to give a little disclaimer: I read the German edition of this book, which was abridged with only about 310 pages instead of the almost 600 pages of the English version - something I didn't realise until I went to mark the book as currently reading. So it's entirely possible that the original would've had some groundbreaking, amazing essays that I now missed out on. But judging by these 310-ish pages, I honestly doubt that.
What I did like about the book was that it was diverse. It didn't just talk about one kind of mental health issue or had authors who experienced their illnesses the same way, nor did the authors all focus on the same thing. Some essays chose to tell the story of the authors' lives with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, bipolar disorder etc. Others found it more important to make it clear that it was okay to have a wide variety of feelings - that anger was okay, that sadness was okay. There were even a few that focused on extrinsic factors that could have an impact on mental health, like homophobia, xenophobia, or even your own culture where talking about such topics wasn't the norm. I really appreciated that diversity, because I think especially teenagers - which at least my library considered to be the target audience - could profit from some of the essays.
And I admit that some essays - or at least some paragraphs of them - did get to me. They made me tear up a little, and for a short, glorious moment, I felt less alone, because I saw my own thoughts and feelings reflected back at me.
However, the essays that truly read personal and meaningful were only few and far between. Unfortunately, the majority of them were very surface-level, so the ones that delved deep kind of drowned in them. It could be argued that the authors attempted to keep it lighthearted, to not trigger the reader and instead make them see their own mental illness - or mental illness in general - as something that didn't have to take over your life and shouldn't be as stigmatised as it is.
But in my opinion, that didn't work that well. Instead, some essays just seemed like their authors put absolutely no thought into them and the message they wanted to convey. For example, Benjamin Maack just mentioned that he didn't meet the deadline and that made him a piece of shit and sorry about that. Some were extremely short - for example, Naomi Campbell's was literally half a page long -, and many superficial sayings could be found within them that were probably already obvious to most mentally ill people. Sometimes, I felt like I'd accidentally picked up some leaflet at a mental health specialist's office. There was a also a lot of repetition from one essay to the next, which obviously tempered my excitement, too.
I do have to say I really liked Scarlett Curtis's essays. She was the editor of the book, and you could see that the book meant a lot to her. And I think the idea behind a book like this is admirable! But overall, this wasn't as impactful as I'd hoped it would be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Homophobia
Moderate: Self harm
lauren176's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
eleanorareads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
t_higgsreviews's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
4.75
Miranda Hart's piece made my blood boil as it mentioned some harmful information about something that is already so poorly understood both within the general public and medical profession. I didn't let that piece affect the rating too much as one dislike out of over 70 is only a fraction of what this book has to offer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness