13 Audiobooks About Mental Health
Whether it's through characters in fiction, or real experience in non-fiction, audiobooks about mental health can help everyone understand the affect mental illness has on daily life.
Mental health issues are common in the UK. Research has shown that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem each year in England (for the source, please click here). Yet, many mental illnesses and their symptoms are still stigmatized.
Whether you want to find a book to help someone understand mental health, or just to feel less alone, these audiobooks might help.
Cheer Up, Love - Susan Calman
Susan Calman's describes her depression as the 'Crab of Hate'. She says this is because it 'climbs up my back, pinches both of my earlobes and whispers gently to me.' These whispered things are similar to thoughts many people with depression have experienced: 'Why do you even bother? Everyone laughs at you when you leave the room. You’re useless. And you smell.' This memoir is both touching and hilarious. It deals with some of the harder aspects of daily living with a mental illness, but intersperses these with lots of fun stories about Susan's four cats - Oscar, Pickle, Daisy Fay Harper, and DCI Jane Tennison.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
Matt Haig has written several non-fiction books about his own mental health issues, and his new novel also considers this. Nora feels hopeless. But then she discovers a library between life and death where she is able to visit other lives she could have lived if she had made different choices. But, would any of those lives be truly better? A novel all about finding hope where you are.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
Am I Normal Yet? - Holly Bourne
All Evie wants is to be normal. She struggles with OCD and anxiety, but she's now off her medication and at a new school, where no one knows her. This book is both hysterically funny (think Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging) and also heart-breakingly sad at moments, and the depictions of OCD rituals have received praise for being very realistic.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
Looking After Your Mental Health - Alice James & Louie Stowell
This is a really accessible book that introduces the topic of mental health to children. It contains lots of practical advice and information about emotions and why they change and goes over topics like friendships, social media, relationships and eating disorders. If you’re looking for a way to start a conversation with young people about mental health issues, then this is a great way to do it.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
Love for Imperfect Things - Haemin Sumin
Everyone has imperfections but accepting these when negative thoughts take over can be difficult. But we don’t need to be perfect to be deserving of love. Korean monk Haemin Sunim shows how to begin to let go of worries about ourselves and how that can lead to treating ourselves with compassion. This manages to be a very peaceful and comforting book that will hopefully help with accepting yourself.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
The Heartland - Nathan Filer
Also known as This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health, this book considers and debunks lots of the myths about schizophrenia. Nathan Filer worked as a mental health nurse and writes about his experience working on psychiatric wards he once worked on – as well as the link between poverty, trauma and mental health. Although it is about schizophrenia, this is also great book for increasing awareness and understanding mental illness in general.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams
Candice Carty-Williams portrays a mental illness and post-relationship breakdown in Queenie. She makes unhealthy decisions and struggles with the feelings of her family about going to therapy. It is a compelling story about self-discovery and the work it takes to get back to a healthy relationship with yourself and others.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the book page for this book.
The Man He Used To Be - Robyn Hollingworth
This short audiobook is nonetheless devasting in many ways. After her dad was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, Robyn left her London life to return to her childhood home to care for him. Despite some of the most poignantly difficult passages to listen to, this audiobook also has some absolutely hilarious moments. Robyn narrates the audiobook herself, which gives it a personal touch. The Man He Used To Be deals with caring, grief, depression, and more. A wonderful audiobook.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the bookpage for this book.
Challenger Deep - Neal Shusterman
Neil Shusterman's ambitious novel is set out as two dual narratives, one following Caden as he is hospitalised, and the other from Caden's perspective as his schizoaffective disorder causes him to have delusions and difficulty regulating his emotions, as well as frightening episodes of paranoia. Slowly, the narratives start to bleed together. This is one of the audiobooks about mental health that aims to demonstrate the experience of living with psychosis and mood symptoms, based on Shusterman's personal experiences.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the book page for this book.
Your Mind Matters: Beating Stress and Anxiety - Honor Head
At some point everyone will feel stressed or anxious. But sometimes it is difficult to understand the difference between temporary feelings and what happens when they build up. This is a great book for children to help put names to emotions containing lots of hints and tips on coping.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the book page for this book.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman
At first, this may not seem like a book about mental illness, but by about halfway through it becomes obvious. Eleanor lives according to a strict routine, but when an unexpected event upends this completely it also reveals serious challenges. Her life has been shaped by trauma, but Eleanor is considered with warmth by author Gail Honeyman, and her issues are portrayed without judgement. A really endearing audiobook.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the book page for this book.
A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled - Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax's A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled is a practical, accessible and funny guide to mindfulness. She describes her own experiences with mental illness to show how mindfulness can be useful, and makes many other references to a clearly extensive level of research. While it is quite easy to think of mindfulness as a practice that involves sitting cross-legged on a hill listening to a single wind chime, Ruby Wax shows how it is more about the ability to pay attention and learning not to be afraid of thoughts and feelings. A great listen.
Click here or on the bookcover to visit the book page for the book.
What audiobooks about mental health would you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
Listening Books members have access to all these audiobooks and more! To borrow these titles from our collection, please click here.
You may also enjoy our posts: Robyn Hollingworth Interview (to read, please click here) and How Audiobooks Changed My Life (to read, please click here): a guest blog from a member describing how audiobooks helped her anxiety.
Author: Abigail Jaggers
