By: Taylor
Let’s talk about mental health! Mental health is so, so important. Representation of mental health and how to deal with it is also so, so important. We’re slowly getting out of the era where different medias are not using stereotypical mental health characteristics anymore, instead they are getting more and more real and relatable, which can be so helpful. Like, I did not know I had OCD until I read a book and related so hard to the main character who had OCD. I had been so caught up in the stereotypical characteristics that movies and shows portrayed for years (like OCD just means you want everything to be clean or that you’re just a really anal retentive person) that I didn’t think my obsessive thoughts and actions could possibly be OCD. Less than a year after reading that book, I was diagnosed with OCD. Real representation of mental illnesses in movies, tv, and books are so important to help us through our own struggles and to make us not feel so alone. And today we’re going to explore my top 5 YA books that represent mental illness super, super well. Let’s go!
