Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and Other Lies): Inspirational People Open Up About Their Mental Health by Scarlett Curtis

10 reviews

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.” 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, and Death

Minor: Eating disorder

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

britgirlreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Terminal illness, War, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Self harm

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

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

tinyjude's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

5.0

 I really needed this book right now. It was a bit lenghty and repetitive at some parts because some of the texts were very general, but I can also understand why they are like that. Despite all our efforts, it's still very hard to talk about our own mental health. I am sure this was terrifying and really hard for everyone involved, so I just want to say thank you. I am really grateful for being able to read this book and for reading it now. I found a lot of texts that made me feel a bit better, made me cry or just validated my feelings so much in a time in which I was doubting and again treating myself horribly.

I recommend it if you are going through a rough time or if someone you know is going through some mental health difficulties and you want to understand more/know how to help, since some of the texts deal with those questions and how to approach the topic and be of support to those who might need you but cannot quite put into words their feelings or might not be able to express their need to have someone there now 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

booksandcat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

nbrockbank's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

This collection of inspiring peoples reflections on mental health was validating and reassuring. The selection of people is incredible. Some of the pieces reflected exactly how I sometimes feel with a level of clarity I did not realise was possible. The other pieces, which I did not relate to as closely, all taught me something about mental health that I didn’t know before. This book opened me up to the idea that there are common threads in mental health struggles and that there are also things that are beyond my direct experience. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Medical content

emilymai's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders