Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health by Kelly Jensen

7 reviews

lmjones's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

I really love that this book exists. I thought almost every story in here was quite good. There’s only one that I remember rubbing me the wrong way. What’s great about this book is that it’s hope-filled. You read these stories about all these different people and their different diagnoses and circumstances and each delivers beautiful and often hard-won wisdom…except the one that just came off dogmatic and still angry. 

One thought I had though while reading this was that it might be a bit of a heavy read for teens even though it’s YA. Some stories were well suited for that audience, while I thought a few would have freaked my depressed teen self way out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

luna_bear's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Addiction, and Transphobia

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

“And that when we say “It Gets Better,” it doesn’t mean “Everything Gets Solved.” It means you will still carry the weight from when things weren’t good, but you will be stronger for it the next time you’re unhappy—and that time will come.” 

➽ [Don't] Call Me Crazy is a fantastic anthology filled with stories about mental health! It's so important to have a YA nonfiction about this topic and I liked the variety of the stories. Each contributor has a different experience with mental health and their specific diagnosis, so we get to see different perspectives. I liked how intersectionality was discussed as well, especially in connection with disability, the LGBTQ community and people of color. Having another marginalization affects people's experience with mental illness and that was discussed here as well. I also liked different takes on coping styles and medication, as not every contributor deals with their illness in the same way. There are simply so many important discussions to be had, be it about discrimination at work or judgement from society for being a 'bad' mentally ill person. I definitely have to do a reread!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Racism

mandi4886's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racism, Deadnaming, Addiction, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Minor: Grief, Death of parent, and Death

maple_dove's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health is a book that delves into the topic of mental health, both the ugly, beautiful, and neither. It encourages mental health discussions.

What I liked:

• The discussions about mental health (topics)
• The stories were real experiences
• There were pages on how to find more research further into certain mental health topics and how to find neurodivergent, and authors with mental illnesses

What I Didn't Like

• As much as I liked this book . . . I just wasn't very engaged

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

Minor: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Anxiety (graphic), Misgendering (graphic), Deadnaming (graphic), Assault (minor)

teo_rodas's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

Well thank g-d that’s done. I had it on my tbr for ages and finally made myself read it. Despite including two of my all time favorite authors, I enjoyed only two or three of the 33 pieces included, neither of which were theirs. The last essay is definitely worth reading and I found a lot of the graphic essays/visual media compelling. But this book is distinctly stigmatizing and ableist(or disablist to borrow a word from my favorite contribution that I will most certainly be adding to my vocabulary). It centers on the more palatable versions of mental illness and shies away from critique at nearly every opportunity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Vomit

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

This was an excellent read! Very informative and heartfelt.

I loved the formatting of this anthology, and the incorporation of essays, illustrations, and book/film recommendations for stories that further discuss mental health. I also appreciated the inclusion of different online resources and hotlines for readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness