9 Teen Books about Depression and Anxiety

Taylor’s nonfiction book provides a clear and easy-to-understand overview of anxiety and depression, directed specifically at teenagers. The introductory chapters provide clinical definitions of anxiety (and anxiety-related disorders) and depression with detailed descriptions of symptoms and stories of teenagers who struggle with them. She explains common misconceptions about these disorders, particularly as they relate to teenagers, and then in the second half of the book, she shares practical strategies based in cognitive-behavioral therapy that can help teenagers begin to address their struggles with anxiety and depression.

Throughout the book, Taylor emphasizes the importance of seeing a mental health professional rather than self-diagnosing (and some of the strategies aren’t detailed enough to be fully implemented independently), but this is a great starting point in understanding these disorders and beginning to manage symptoms.

Taylor’s book isn’t perfect—there are issues with organization, and some of the less common disorders aren’t fully fleshed out—but we like that it’s written to teens, and it’s an accurate overview of issues that increasing numbers of teens are struggling with.

Thank you NetGalley and Sharon Robertson for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Ariel’s life is determined by rules. Sure, there are the infuriating societal rules about what, exactly, it means to be a girl that she, a tall young woman who wears size 12 sneakers, isn’t really sure she wants to follow. But there are also the rules she’s made for herself to protect everyone she knows from harm.

Because Ariel believes she’s a monster. Her mind is constantly filled with horrifying thoughts: What if she grabs the knives from the kitchen and kills her parents? What if she pushes an old lady in front of an oncoming bus? What if she lets the train ride at the summer carnival where she works fly off the tracks, killing all the children onboard?

When she’s not Googling serial killers to make sure she’s not like them, she’s walking six miles to work because she can’t drive or take the bus. She’s walking 64 laps around her room to quiet the “crocodile” in her mind (an apt metaphor) and keep her father safe. She’s counting, praying, and reciting mantras to avoid asking her sister and her best friend for reassurance: hasn’t she burdened them enough?

When Ariel’s sister learns about OCD and intrusive thoughts, she urges Ariel to seek help, but their religious father refuses to send her to therapy, believing prayer is sufficient. Her sister and friends, however, refuse to give up on her, and they patiently show her that, just maybe, she’s not the monster she fears herself to be.

We are beyond thrilled that this book exists. Cole is a talented writer (we loved Dear Medusa), and her gorgeous novel-in-verse perfectly captures the experience of struggling with OCD, particularly Harm OCD, an often overlooked subtype. She captures the terror, the irrationality, the doubt and uncertainty, the self-reinforcing cycle, and the immense burden of shame and isolation, but she also accurately explains the language of recovery, particularly exposure therapy, that powerfully changes the lives of those who struggle. Her exploration of religion and gender identity add additional layers to the portrayal.

The novel does include profanity, something to keep in mind as you’re considering its appropriateness for your own classroom.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Labyrinth Road for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

We’ve long been fans of Stone’s Dear Martin, so when we heard she had a new novel dealing with mental health, we definitely wanted to check it out!

Shelbi is living with bipolar III disorder, and after a humiliating incident at her old school, she just wants to get through senior year: she has no interest in making friends.

Despite his reputation as a standout student (he’s on track to be salutatorian, after all), Andy Criddle is wrestling with alcoholism: between buried grief and family conflict, there are days when he just can’t cope without it.

When Andy sends a text to the wrong number, he and Shelbi unexpectedly find a safe space in each other, someone to talk to about the heavy struggles they don’t share with anyone else. Their friendship grows, but as Andy’s family issues get pushed to the surface and both of them find themselves in danger of violating Friendship Agreement Rule #6—Don’t fall in love—they have to decide whether they can stay together while still taking care of their mental health.

This is a sweet story of friendship turned romance, and Stone portrays the characters’ mental health struggles with compassion (with several important notes to the reader in key places). Her intent is to remove the stigma attached to mental health disorders and remind all readers, those with mental health disorders and those without, that having a mental health disorder in no way decreases your worth and value as a beautiful human. She shows readers what it’s like to struggle, what it’s like to truly take care of yourself, and the complicated ways our experiences intertwine with our brain and body chemistry.

The novel is probably best suited for high school students, given that it presents a character with alcoholism and deals with an abortion in one of the character’s pasts (and includes a bit of mild profanity), but because the point of the novel is to address alcoholism as a mental health disorder, we’d be comfortable recommending it to a wider range of readers than we might otherwise.

This essay collection is a great resource that will have broad appeal for students, whether they’re learning to empathize with those who face mental health struggles or finding community within its pages.

The 33 essays are written by authors, musicians, and actors (though, for the most part, not ones who are particularly well-known—we only recognized a couple) who wrestle with a wide variety of mental health disorders: anxiety, depression, trichotillomania, bipolar disorder, OCD, addiction, and more. The essays are engaging and frank, describing what it’s like to struggle with these disorders, what it’s like to recover from them, and offering hope and encouragement to those who struggle similarly.

As the title suggests, the goal of the collection is to destigmatize mental health concerns by bringing them out into the open as a topic of conversation, and the essays certainly do that. As in any collection, students will relate to some more than others, but the wide variety ensures there is something there for everyone. Steph’s favorite was the conversation between the writer, her OCD, and her anxiety while on a plane ride—it was so recognizable she laughed out loud multiple times.

There is profanity in some of the essays, and given the nature of the topic, there are some instances of mature content (particularly examples of substance abuse), but given the context, we’d feel comfortable recommending this one to a wide range of students, especially at the high school level.

Lee’s gorgeous artwork brings to life the struggle with belonging and depression described in their (author’s preferred pronoun) graphic memoir.

Deb is Korean and has spent much of their life trying to blend into life in America: they want double eyelid surgery to look more like everyone else, their Korean name Jung-Jin is frequently mispronounced, they’re constantly misidentified as Chinese, and they have very few friends aside from Kate.

Home is no better: Deb’s mom is harsh and abusive, constantly criticizing and belittling Deb for every perceived failure, even hitting Deb when she gets really angry. Deb’s father tries to provide comfort but is unwilling to truly stand up to Deb’s mother.

When Deb transitions to high school, things become even more difficult. School is harder, Kate gets a new boyfriend (which means she has less time for Deb), and Deb loses interest in playing violin, which means losing the community they’ve found in orchestra.

When Deb makes a new friend, Quinn, it seems that things are turning around, but when there’s conflict in their friendship, it’s too much on top of everything else, and Deb attempts to commit suicide.

While Deb’s process of healing is incomplete by the end of the memoir, therapy and art classes become resources that start to pull Deb out of the depths of their depression and set them on a path toward healing, individually and as part of a family.

The beautiful graphic memoir, while frank about tough topics like abuse and suicide, offers insight into a variety of struggles for those of us who don’t understand and a reminder to readers who do share Deb’s struggles that there is hope and they are not alone.

Britz’s memoir details her experience with sudden-onset OCD that completely unravels her life within a couple of months. Britz is a top student in her sophomore year of high school. She runs cross-country and dreams of going to an elite college. She’s exhausted from staying up all night studying for a chemistry exam and desperately needs to catch up on Lord of the Flies for English class.

But that night, Allison has a nightmare in which she is diagnosed with brain cancer. When she wakes up, she believes the nightmare is a message warning her that she does, in fact, have brain cancer, and when, later that day, she recalls the old children’s rhyme, Step on a crack, break your mother’s back, her brain latches onto it, telling her with certainty that cracks in the sidewalk cause brain cancer.

As she begins tiptoeing and leaping around campus to avoid stepping on cracks, the voice inside her brain starts to tell her that avoiding all kinds of other things—food, blow drying her hair, storing her books in her locker, the color green, brushing her teeth, all writing implements except for one pencil, her computer, the list goes on—will prevent her from getting cancer.

As Allison follows these new rules, her grades plummet, her relationships deteriorate, she becomes the “weird girl” on campus who counts her steps out loud, and she stops taking care of her personal hygiene.

After a disastrous final exam week, her parents take her to the doctor, where she’s referred to a therapist who diagnoses her with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and begins treatment. As Allison begins the hard work of Exposure and Response Prevention (the most common treatment for OCD), she starts to heal and put her life back together, beginning the slow road to recovery.

Britz’s memoir, appropriate for a wide range of students, is compelling and provides insight into what it’s like to struggle with a mental disorder, particularly the pain of knowing that you’re destroying your life and there’s something irrational about your behavior but being completely unable to stop it. We particularly loved seeing the beginnings of Allison’s treatment: it shows the enormous amount of effort and courage it takes to begin treatment as well as the enormous amount of hope, relief, and pride that comes with beginning that process. 

This nonfiction book is a fantastic resource for classrooms and school libraries. It’s written directly to students in clear and easy-to-understand language, and it’s full of illustrations that are not only inviting but aptly illustrate what it “feels” like to wrestle with a wide variety of mental health conditions.

The book is divided into four parts: the first provides descriptions of a wide range of anxiety and mood disorders (as well as a description of psychosis); the second provides advice and even scripts to help students initiate a conversation with adults (parents, guardians, teachers, or counselors) about mental health concerns; the third gives students an overview of what to expect when they reach out for professional help; and the fourth provides exercises and strategies students can use to take care of their mental health, especially if they are unable to seek professional help.

The book provides accurate information from Mental Health America without going into overwhelming detail. It’s a starting point for any student who is struggling and doesn’t quite know what to do next or how to get the help they need, and this makes it unbelievably valuable for our middle and high school classrooms. The book also includes a list of resources, including frequent references to crisis lines and hotlines as well as websites and apps where students can take initial steps toward getting help.

We adored this super-sweet rom-com in the context of a wilderness survival reality show. Natalie Hart had a rough freshman year of college—she started struggling with anxiety disorder, which affected her grades, friendships, and self-esteem, and now her scholarship has been revoked and she’s not sure how she’ll pay for the next school year. So, she decides to sign up for a season of Wild Adventures, where a group of college students compete in survival challenges on the Appalachian Trail for a chance at a scholarship.

Natalie doesn’t have much outdoor experience, but she’s armed with her trusty skin care routine and determined to win people over with her charming personality. When she’s paired with Finn Markum, who pretty much just growls at her and is clearly disappointed to be paired with such an inexperienced hiker, she’s disappointed, a feeling that only gets worse as the increasingly difficult challenges bring out her anxiety.

Natalie’s anxiety is portrayed realistically and with compassion, the reality show setting is lots of fun, and (in what comes as no real surprise to anyone) the enemies-to-lovers romance between Finn and Natalie made us feel all melty inside. As an added bonus, the novel doesn’t move beyond steamy makeout sessions, so we’d feel comfortable recommending it to our romance-lovers (though do be mindful of some profanity).

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Romance for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Three months ago, Lily found her sister Alice on the bathroom floor after attempting suicide, and after a bipolar diagnosis and an inpatient treatment program, Alice is coming home. Lily knows it’s up to her to be the “easy” daughter, the one who keeps their dad from worrying, keeps Alice safe, and gets into UC Berkeley to make her dad proud (preferably with a scholarship since Alice’s treatment was expensive). But beneath the surface, she’s racked with constant obsessions about all the things that could go wrong, obsessions that are only quieted by compulsive skin-picking.

When Lily is paired with Micah for a school project, she’s frustrated: Micah was at the treatment center with Alice, and he’s a new transfer to their school with a reputation for having a breakdown and attacking another student. Her friends won’t stop making fun of her for being paired with him, and she’s worried that Micah won’t take their project seriously. But over time, Lily finds herself telling Micah things she won’t tell anyone else, and the pair grow closer and closer.

But Lily’s still afraid to share too much about her obsessive worries and skin-picking, afraid she’s going to end up like her sister, and when Alice’s mental health starts to deteriorate again, school pressures build up, and she faces mocking for spending so much time with Micah, Lily spins out into a mental health crisis of her own.

Yes, there’s a budding romance in this one that many students will enjoy (we did), but mental health is very much the focus of the story, providing a clear picture of what it’s like to struggle with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. It highlights the value of speaking up, getting treatment, and building strong support networks, and there’s a lot here that is helpful and important for students to read. 

While there is some profanity, the novel is appropriate for a fairly wide range of students; however, multiple suicide attempts are depicted along with instances of self-harm, which you’ll want to be mindful of in making recommendations to students.