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accordingtoemma's review against another edition
5.0
This book.
Beautiful in every single way you could imagine. The authors and artists featured in this interwoven nonfiction work made me feel connected to them and made me feel like I knew them. After reading (almost) every single one of the articles or stories, and after admiring (almost) every single graphic or drawing, I felt moved and I felt like I truly learned something. I felt spoken to. Obviously, some readers will connect more with other works more than others. The reason I put the (almost) in the aforementioned sentence is not because I didn't agree or enjoy some of the works of art I witnessed. I put that there because I merely just did not connect with some as much as I did with others. Even with that being the case, it is impossible to not admire the rawness and the beautifulness of every single work of art featured in this story. It moved me in ways I did not expect, and I feel as if I learned so much about mental illness. I feel as if that was the point of this book being published. I feel like this book did everything it set out to do. It was beautiful and words cannot express how much I appreciated this book being in my brain. That is all.
Beautiful in every single way you could imagine. The authors and artists featured in this interwoven nonfiction work made me feel connected to them and made me feel like I knew them. After reading (almost) every single one of the articles or stories, and after admiring (almost) every single graphic or drawing, I felt moved and I felt like I truly learned something. I felt spoken to. Obviously, some readers will connect more with other works more than others. The reason I put the (almost) in the aforementioned sentence is not because I didn't agree or enjoy some of the works of art I witnessed. I put that there because I merely just did not connect with some as much as I did with others. Even with that being the case, it is impossible to not admire the rawness and the beautifulness of every single work of art featured in this story. It moved me in ways I did not expect, and I feel as if I learned so much about mental illness. I feel as if that was the point of this book being published. I feel like this book did everything it set out to do. It was beautiful and words cannot express how much I appreciated this book being in my brain. That is all.
brisk28's review
5.0
I’m not professionally diagnosed with anxiety or depression or anything like that, but I could relate to the emotions they described and even though my anxiety is not as bad as it used to be, this book still helped me. 4 stars :)
books_plan_create's review against another edition
I didn't read the entire book, just certain essays, or essays by authors I knew
katie_luder's review against another edition
5.0
An important anthology of the different and diverse issues surrounding mental health.
emilyalthea's review against another edition
5.0
This book was difficult. I don't think that had anything to do with the writing in it, but instead the subject matter. This is a beautiful compilation of essays from folks who have suffered from many mental disorders. It was refreshing to read that people have similar and different experiences. I highly recommend this!
hnagle15's review
4.0
Took my time reading this and read a few essays everyday on my lunch break. I really enjoyed hearing from "everyone" - so many voices were heard about the many mental illnesses that exist. It opened my eyes to some of the experiences these people face day to day.
shelfimprovement's review
5.0
I'm a huge advocate for the idea that we need to talk more openly about mental health. People with mental ilness need to know they matter and that they can get better. People without it need to know they can help. In the last year, this idea has become an increasingly important part of both my personal and professional life.
I try not to be a nudge and talk about my job on here, but I work for the children's book imprint of the American Psychological Association, and it's unbelievably rewarding to say that I can connect people to tools that can address mental health concerns. I wish my parents had these resources when I was a kid; maybe it would have saved me a lot of money in therapy bills as an adult.
But I'm also getting braver at telling people about my own mental health issues. I started writing about it here, which remains relatively distinct from my offline life, and talking with other friends I know are in therapy for similar things. But I recently stood up in front of all 600 APA co-workers and talked about it, I've started talking about it on Facebook, and I talk about it more with friends who aren't struggling themselves. It relieves some of the pressure off my own head, and I feel like it relieves some of the pressure off of others who needed permission to start their own conversations.
I hope so, anyway.
These kinds of conversations are going to save lives, so thank you to Kelly Jensen for this collection. You're helping to make it easier to talk about this stuff. Not every essay in the collection worked for me, but it's important that it's out there. It's going to work for someone.
One essay that did get to me so hard was Adam Silvera's piece on hope in the face of suicidal ideation. I recently wrote a review of his latest book that boiled down to "You know how to burrow beneath my skin in a way few others do and it's amazing." But his essay burrowed beneath my skin in a way that I wrote him an email to thank him for it. I've never written a fan letter in my life, but I wrote one about being depressed.
Guys, read this book. Give it to people you love, especially teens. Learn how to talk about this shit and it's going to help someone get better.
I try not to be a nudge and talk about my job on here, but I work for the children's book imprint of the American Psychological Association, and it's unbelievably rewarding to say that I can connect people to tools that can address mental health concerns. I wish my parents had these resources when I was a kid; maybe it would have saved me a lot of money in therapy bills as an adult.
But I'm also getting braver at telling people about my own mental health issues. I started writing about it here, which remains relatively distinct from my offline life, and talking with other friends I know are in therapy for similar things. But I recently stood up in front of all 600 APA co-workers and talked about it, I've started talking about it on Facebook, and I talk about it more with friends who aren't struggling themselves. It relieves some of the pressure off my own head, and I feel like it relieves some of the pressure off of others who needed permission to start their own conversations.
I hope so, anyway.
These kinds of conversations are going to save lives, so thank you to Kelly Jensen for this collection. You're helping to make it easier to talk about this stuff. Not every essay in the collection worked for me, but it's important that it's out there. It's going to work for someone.
One essay that did get to me so hard was Adam Silvera's piece on hope in the face of suicidal ideation. I recently wrote a review of his latest book that boiled down to "You know how to burrow beneath my skin in a way few others do and it's amazing." But his essay burrowed beneath my skin in a way that I wrote him an email to thank him for it. I've never written a fan letter in my life, but I wrote one about being depressed.
Guys, read this book. Give it to people you love, especially teens. Learn how to talk about this shit and it's going to help someone get better.
librarypatronus's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t have the correct words for how I felt about this - but I really appreciate these people sharing these impactful glimpses into their heads.