Books for Mental Health Awareness Week 2019
18 May 2019
Here in the UK, it's Mental Health Awareness Week. The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity working towards good mental health for all, running programmes, campaigns and research and MHAW is a week-long campaign that works to open up the conversation around a specific theme. This year it focuses on body image, after finding that "30% of all adults have felt so stressed about body image and appearance that they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope." So, for this week they've been looking at body image issues and how they affect all ages, highlighting different experiences, sharing the results a UK wide survey, and researching and working towards positive change and practical tools to help improve our relationships with our bodies and our mental health. You can find out more on their website.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, inspired by the lovely Amy on Instagram, I'm sharing some of my favourite books that have discussed and dealt with mental health.
Margaret Atwood's 'Cat's Eye' is one of the only books I've read that discusses mental health in childhood, focusing on our protagonist Elaine's experience with a childhood bully. When Elaine returns to Toronto as an adult, she finds herself remembering her experiences with her childhood friend turned tormentor, Cordelia, and working through her past and learning how to begin letting it go. With Atwood's characteristically absorbing style, Cat's Eye spans childhood and adulthood, reminding us of the impact of our past but also the ways in which we can let it go.
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff shows us the secret sides of a marriage. The book recalls Lotto and Mathilde's relationship through Lotto's perspective, introducing both him and us to Mathilde and shaping our perspectives through his own. Halfway through the novel, Groff flips the perspective, retelling it from Mathilde's point of view, challenging all of the reader's thoughts of their actions and behaviours. Through this Groff demonstrates the constant struggle to maintain our own sense of identity not just as we change, from past experiences and present moments, but also as we are constantly perceived and analysed by others. Fates and Furies shows us both the challenge and the importance of retaining our own sense of self and happiness.
Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh is, first and foremost, a book about food. It encourages us to discover our love for it and forget the confusing and conflicting views that have come to surround it. Instead of a diet or a plan, Tandoh simply shares with us the history of our food, how it connects us with our loved ones, our cultures and our identities. She encourages us to shed the negative connotations we may have, the snobbery around the wellness movement and often guilt-inducing dogmatism of clean eating and instead begins to reshape our relationship with food into something less guilt-driven and more open and enjoyable.
How To Fail by Elizabeth Day was one of my favourite recent reads and I wrote my last blog post on it so I won't go into too much detail on it here. Day discusses the experiences of failure in our lives and the ways we can reshape these experiences into something that we can learn and grow from. Discussing increasingly relevant topics from losing our identity in a relationship, our sense of self-success, our relationships with our bodies and self-image, and experiences with fertility and pregnancy, among others. For me, it's a must-read for anyone feeling confused, unsure, and in need of a gentle reminder that failures are normal and that we can always learn and change.
John Burnside's Ashland And Vine was a slow-burning novel but one that stayed with me long after I finished it. Burnside introduces us to Kate, grieving after the death of her father and struggling with alcoholism when she meets Jean Culver. Jean agrees to help Kate with her film project on personal histories if she will agree to stay sober until they next meet. Kate does and Jean begins to share past full of stories of love and loss. Alongside this, we learn more of Kate's past and current life and though the novel takes us on a journey of small heartbreaks it remains, for me, an immensely uplifting book as Jean begins to help Kate learn to heal and find herself again, just as Kate is able to offer this to Jean. Burnside reminds us more than anything that through our relationships we can always find a way to begin again, becoming both our own saviour and a lifeline for others.
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy was of my favourite books of 2018. It follows Sofia, having recently moved to Spain with her mother, in pursuit of the Gomez clinic and a cure for her mother's long-ailing legs. The novel tracks Sofia's strained relationship with her mother and the toll it has taken on her own mental health and identity. Part of Dr Gomez's advice serves to encourage Sofia to challenge herself and the reduced sense of self she has been left with, learning to unlock new freedom and confidence. As the novel progresses, Sofia learns to trust herself and pursue her own desires, reaffirming her identity once more, in a coming of age novel unlike many others I've read.
I'd love to hear of any books you've read that stayed with you or if you've read any of these. And remember that mental health is a conversation we should always keep having, keep talking about in media and keep discussing with friends and family. If you need support then check out the Mental Health Foundation website here or Mind UK's website and if you know someone who might need support then drop them a message, and get the conversation started.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, inspired by the lovely Amy on Instagram, I'm sharing some of my favourite books that have discussed and dealt with mental health.
Margaret Atwood's 'Cat's Eye' is one of the only books I've read that discusses mental health in childhood, focusing on our protagonist Elaine's experience with a childhood bully. When Elaine returns to Toronto as an adult, she finds herself remembering her experiences with her childhood friend turned tormentor, Cordelia, and working through her past and learning how to begin letting it go. With Atwood's characteristically absorbing style, Cat's Eye spans childhood and adulthood, reminding us of the impact of our past but also the ways in which we can let it go.
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff shows us the secret sides of a marriage. The book recalls Lotto and Mathilde's relationship through Lotto's perspective, introducing both him and us to Mathilde and shaping our perspectives through his own. Halfway through the novel, Groff flips the perspective, retelling it from Mathilde's point of view, challenging all of the reader's thoughts of their actions and behaviours. Through this Groff demonstrates the constant struggle to maintain our own sense of identity not just as we change, from past experiences and present moments, but also as we are constantly perceived and analysed by others. Fates and Furies shows us both the challenge and the importance of retaining our own sense of self and happiness.
Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh is, first and foremost, a book about food. It encourages us to discover our love for it and forget the confusing and conflicting views that have come to surround it. Instead of a diet or a plan, Tandoh simply shares with us the history of our food, how it connects us with our loved ones, our cultures and our identities. She encourages us to shed the negative connotations we may have, the snobbery around the wellness movement and often guilt-inducing dogmatism of clean eating and instead begins to reshape our relationship with food into something less guilt-driven and more open and enjoyable.
How To Fail by Elizabeth Day was one of my favourite recent reads and I wrote my last blog post on it so I won't go into too much detail on it here. Day discusses the experiences of failure in our lives and the ways we can reshape these experiences into something that we can learn and grow from. Discussing increasingly relevant topics from losing our identity in a relationship, our sense of self-success, our relationships with our bodies and self-image, and experiences with fertility and pregnancy, among others. For me, it's a must-read for anyone feeling confused, unsure, and in need of a gentle reminder that failures are normal and that we can always learn and change.
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy was of my favourite books of 2018. It follows Sofia, having recently moved to Spain with her mother, in pursuit of the Gomez clinic and a cure for her mother's long-ailing legs. The novel tracks Sofia's strained relationship with her mother and the toll it has taken on her own mental health and identity. Part of Dr Gomez's advice serves to encourage Sofia to challenge herself and the reduced sense of self she has been left with, learning to unlock new freedom and confidence. As the novel progresses, Sofia learns to trust herself and pursue her own desires, reaffirming her identity once more, in a coming of age novel unlike many others I've read.
I'd love to hear of any books you've read that stayed with you or if you've read any of these. And remember that mental health is a conversation we should always keep having, keep talking about in media and keep discussing with friends and family. If you need support then check out the Mental Health Foundation website here or Mind UK's website and if you know someone who might need support then drop them a message, and get the conversation started.
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