Mental Health Memoir

A riveting look behind the mask of an NHL goalie, The Save of My Life offers understanding and hope to anyone living with mental illness By the time he was twenty-two years old, goaltender Corey Hirsch had realized his childhood dream of playing in the NHL, won an Olympic medal and drunk from...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A “piercing account” (The Wall Street Journal) of surviving as a young woman in a society that rewards appearances more than anything and demands perfection at all costs—especially if you’re an Olympic figure skater. “A riveting memoir, which details her...

Naomi Judd's life as a country music superstar has been nonstop success. But offstage, she has battled incredible adversity. Struggling through a childhood of harsh family secrets, the death of a young sibling, and absent emotional support, Naomi found herself reluctantly married and an...

I was you. I was once afraid, anxious, confused and lost. I was crippled with panic attacks, trapped by agoraphobia, and riddled with constant anxiety. I almost lost everything important in my life as my world became smaller and smaller. This is the story of my journey through anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. The good, the bad, and the ugly of panic attacks, anxiety symptoms, irrational and obsessive thoughts, and being afraid to leave my house or be left alone.

Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was born with severe learning disabilities that caused teachers to label her slow, stubborn - or worse. As a child, she read and wrote everything backward, struggled to process concepts in language, continually got lost, and was physically uncoordinated. She could make no sense of an analogue clock. But by relying on her formidable memory and iron will, she made her way to graduate school, where she chanced upon research that inspired her to invent cognitive exercises to “fix” her own brain.

For more than two years, author and psychotherapist Gary Greenberg has embedded himself in the war that broke out over the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) - the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) compendium of mental illnesses and what Greenberg calls "the book of woe". Since its debut in 1952, the book has been frequently revised, and with each revision, the "official" view on which psychological problems constitute mental illness has changed.

An “extraordinary” (Nylon) firsthand account of the creation of a modern cult and the costs paid by its young victims: a group of college roommates “Intense . . . [a tale] of hard-won survival, and creating a life after the unimaginable.”—Salon The inspiration for the Hulu...

Best-selling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost 300 interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end - marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV - Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.

On July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, a man in dark body armor and a gas mask entered a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises with a tactical shotgun, a high-capacity assault rifle, and a sidearm. Soon twelve were dead and fifty-eight were wounded. A Dark Night in Aurora uses the twenty-three hours of unredacted interview transcripts never seen by the public and Reid’s research to bring the listener inside the mind of a mass murderer. The result is chilling, gripping study of abnormal psychology and how a lovely boy named Jimmy became a killer.

In this unforgettable memoir, first-time author Julie Kraft takes listeners on an intimate journey through her struggles and triumphs with bipolar disorder. No stone is left unturned. In baring her skeletons and soul, Julie offers a rare glimpse into a world that affects millions but is often misrepresented, feared, or hidden. It is Julie's greatest hope that in sharing her story she will open minds, shatter stigma, and offer help to those walking a similar path.

From “national treasure” (Steve Harvey) Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, the ultimate playbook of inspiring personal stories, winning strategies, and the motivation required to help us “elevate and dominate” in all aspects of our lives. A natural-born leader, Deion Sanders demands and...

Baby Steps is the true account of one man’s journey through a storm of relentless anxiety, panic, and discomfort—and how he faced it, one quiet, gritty step at a time. After a sudden panic attack on New Year’s Day 2022, Nathan Cruz Santiago entered the darkest six months of his life. He lost his sense of self, his routines, and even the joy in everyday life. What followed wasn’t a breakthrough—but a slow, difficult shift. A choice. A method. A mindset.

In 2017, I fell into a dark spell of depression and anxiety. Over the past three years, I found learning about mental health helped my own journey in understanding my mind. In our fast-paced and modern world today, many of us are struggling with our mental health. These people may be your family, your neighbors, your friend, your coworker, or the person sitting beside you on the bus. The stigma that comes with mental illness is still powerful, as it affects the general view of society with mental health issues.

In Behind the Facade: A Mental Health Memoir, Lauren pulls back the curtain, giving a glimpse into the memories that she buried deep inside, never to see the light of day. By sharing the stories that are helping her heal, Lauren hopes to do her part in breaking the stigma around mental health and to inspire others to feel less alone in their journey.

Looking at myth foundations as well as archetypal themes, this illuminating book probes universal questions like: Who am I? What is my journey? Where is home? With excerpts from beloved memoirs, practical advice, and writing prompts, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the rich scope of the memoir genre. And in turn, they’ll come out with a better grasp on their own life trajectory and their place within the rich tapestry of the human experience.

"Bracing, brilliant, and fury-inducing.... a survival story like no other. With positively outstanding storytelling, this is a book that cannot be put down." —Booklist, starred review AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER One of Booklist’s Best Memoirs of 2024 One of Booklist...

Sunny Days is the fascinating record of the growth of India's greatest batsman, one whose astonishing feats on the cricket field have had innumerable records rewritten and yet more difficult targets set. How did Sunil Manohar Gavaskar begin, and what were the early days like? It is not merely out of curiosity that one may ask the question; the knowledge of the shaping up of the process of greatness is essential for a true understanding of the greatness. Before we can ask the Little Master to tell us about the dizzying heights of his career, we need to know the beginning. And Sunny Days is all about it.

Stacy Pershall grew up as an overly intelligent, depressed, deeply strange girl in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, population 1,000. From her days as a 13-year-old Jesus freak through her eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, this spirited memoir chronicles Pershall's journey through hell and her struggle with the mental health care system.

A groundbreaking tour of the human mind that illuminates the biological nature of our inner worlds and emotions, through gripping, moving—and, at times, harrowing—clinical stories “[A] scintillating and moving analysis of the human brain and emotions.”—Nature “Beautifully connects...

A rare work of narrative non-fiction that illuminates a world most of us try not to see: the daily lives of the severely mentally ill, who are medicated, marginalized, locked away and shunned. Susan Doherty's groundbreaking book brings us a population of lost souls, ill-served by society, feared...