This book by Jenny Lawson is amazing, hilarious, and authentic! Jenny opens up her life and shows the day to day struggle of living with mental illness. She paints it all with a tongue in cheek humor that lifts the spirit. If you feel like you might be alone in your struggles and pain, this an excellent book to remind you that there are people out there experiencing the same things.

Purchase the Book Here

Derrick Jensen, known best as an eco-philosopher, explores trauma and its cultural context in an achingly personal manner. Through personal stories and narratives, he discusses how trauma has touched and shaped his life. And, most interestingly to me, takes a comprehensive look at how our entire civilization truly is a culture of abuse. This book was a foundational tool for me (Autumn) in understanding how to find a way to live the life I wanted to live in a culture where sickness and atrocity is not only the norm, but the ideal.

**Disclaimer** Personal stories of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are shared throughout the book.

Purchase the Book Here

Borderline Personality Disorder is among the most difficult psychiatric conditions to diagnose and treat, and it can have a destructive impact on the lives of everyone it touches. In her memoir, Rachel Reiland provides a brutally honest perspective on the extreme highs-and-lows that someone with BPD experiences, how maddening it is to live with, and the havoc it wreaks on the lives of those around them. This book chronicles her years in recovery, from the breakdown that led to her diagnosis, through multiple stays in a mental hospital and the years of outpatient therapy with her doctor, and ultimately to the liberation that comes from healing that is hard-earned.

**Disclaimer** This book contains descriptions of eating disorders and family trauma. Reader discretion is advised.

Purchase the Book Here

This memoir depicts Elizabeth Wurtzel’s journey through the complexities of living with depression in childhood and young adulthood. Her story points out that depression doesn’t need a reason to exist, it can strike at any age, and for those of us who live with it, it can reappear at any time and feel completely outside of our control. The book is also a social commentary on the stigma around depression, as well as our culturally complicated relationship with psychiatric medication.

**Disclaimer** This book includes discussion of depression and suicide. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at (800)273-8255.

Purchase the Book Here

Purchase the Movie Here

Sylvia Plath’s loosely autobiographical novel is a classical for reasons anyone who has ever suffered from depression can understand. Few authors have ever described what it feels like to live under a cloud of clinical depression as lucidly as she did. The numbness. The inability to concentrate. The withdrawal from everyone and everything. The lack of self-preservation and suicidal ideation. The social awkwardness. The insomnia. The loss of appetite. She illustrates all of these things in unsettling and heartbreaking detail; but the finale also offers a ray of hope that your depression doesn’t have to define you, and that there are brighter days ahead if you just hold on. Ivy especially recommends The Bell Jar to anyone that is struggling to understand a loved one who experiences chronic depression.

**Disclaimer** This book contains descriptions of suicide, reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at (800)273-8255.

Purchase the Book Here

This memoir is a coming-of-age story like nothing you’ve ever read before. Augusten Burroughs recounts the disorienting, sometimes humorous but often disturbing tale of his childhood, surrounded by and experiencing mental illness. When his own deeply dysfunctional family breaks apart, he is sent to live with his mother’s psychiatrist, thrusting him into a world even more bizarre, unstable, and deranged than the home he shared with his family. It is ultimately a story of what it means to grow up as the most sane person in a madhouse; the toll it can take on your development; and the complicated task of healing from the trauma in early adulthood. Though some of the specific details may seem outlandish this story is still relatable for anyone who spent their childhood looking at the people closest to them and thinking “What is wrong with you people?!”

**Disclaimer** This book contains discussion of mental illness, suicide, abuse, neglect, sexual assault, and other adult themes. It may also be triggering for anyone whose discovery of their sexual orientation coincided with sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at (800)273-8255.

Purchase the Book Here

Purchase the Movie Here

This older children’s fiction resonated very close to home for Autumn. Told from the perspective of the middle child, who is trying to raise the younger sister and help her older brother when their mother abandons them. It was one of the few children’s books I came across when I was a child that actually spoke to how it felt and was to be an adult when only a child.

**Disclaimer** This book depicts a story of extreme parental neglect and personal loss.

Purchase the Book Here

This book is the cathartic, deeply painful and hauntingly beautiful story of a pre-teen girl whose mother is imprisoned for murder, thrusting her into the foster care system. Her journey through the foster system is a confusing and complicated mix of experiences and emotions ranging from deeply loving to dangerously abusive. It is a story of heartbreak and trauma, but also of the resilience and strength it takes to choose a better life when the odds are stacked against you and happiness seems almost impossible.

**Disclaimer** This book includes discussion of murder, suicide, child abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at (800)273-8255.

Purchase the Book Here

Purchase the Film Here

This book by Robert A. Heinlein will have you questioning your perspective on everything. It is the story of Lazarus Long, the oldest man alive, who has lived for more than 2,000 years. The anecdotes about his life and the discussions he has with the people around him challenge many of our common beliefs about the nature of life, love, morality, technology, government, science, and of time itself. While its genre is technically sci-fi it ventures deeply into the realms of philosophy and psychology. Lazarus Long, through his paradoxically sentimental and cynical perspective, will cause you to question if your priorities, your sense of morality, and your concept of reality might change if the length of your life were seemingly endless.

**Disclaimer** This book contains sexual themes and discussion of incest.

Purchase the Book Here

Throughout history, mythology has existed in every culture for a reason; and Charles de Lint’s contemporary spin on these ancient stories will touch your heart, fill your life with magic, and make you realize that the myths of our ancestors are as relevant today as they have ever been. Each story in this anthology is a relatable and whimsical lesson about the nature of life, love, grief, spirituality, and what it is to be human.

**Disclaimer** This book contains discussion of abuse.

Purchase the Book Here

A funny and relatable 90s television series about being an outsider in high school. While not about trauma, it does focus on being different in a world where everyone else is the same.

Purchase Episodes/Series Here

Being autistic, a loner, and raised in a world drastically different then everyone else’s, a huge part of Autumn always aches to belong. To honestly, truly belong in a group. This television series is that ideal for her. Every person uniquely themselves, living the story they choose to live, but accepted for that and part of a whole.

Purchase Episodes/Series Here

Autumn loves this series for the same reasons she loves Firefly. Stories about extremely unique individuals who find a place to belong always touch her heart and make her feel a little less alone.

Watch Series Here

This story focuses on the residents of an apartment building who secretly possess inherited magical powers. Isolated and often imprisoned by their powerful families who depend upon their magical abilities but also fear them, this group of misfits is given the opportunity to live fully as themselves within the walls of this building. While they function as apparently normal people to the outside world they come to rely on one another for protection, support, and emotional healing. It is also a love story between two of these deeply wounded characters, Ririchiyo and Miketsukami, who by learning to love each other begin to see their own worth, as well.

Watch Series Here

This movie is a poignant and deeply touching exploration into what it means to really love someone. The story focuses on Joel and Clementine, a couple whose relationship has deteriorated to a point where they no longer understand or like each other. Tired of the constant fighting and misery, Clementine undergoes a procedure to have all memory of Joel wiped from her mind. Upon discovering this, Joel is heartbroken and in retaliation and desperation decides that he will also have the procedure done. But as the memories fade and he interacts with the version of Clementine in his mind, he realizes how precious she is to him, the mistakes he made, and where it all went wrong. Regretting his decision, he begins struggling to hold break free from the procedure before all his memories are gone.

This movie asks the questions: If you could erase all the painful memories you have of a loved one, would it be worth it? If you had a second chance, knowing what the possible outcome could be, would you take it?

Purchase the Film Here

Amelie is the story of a shy young woman who keeps to herself, enjoys simple pleasures, and curiously observes the world around her. When she finds a small box of decades-old mementos hidden in her apartment she becomes determined to return the box to its rightful owner. This experience inspires her to perform anonymous acts of kindness for anyone she finds who need happiness in their lives. In the process, she begins to form meaningful connections and even falls in love with an eccentric young stranger she has observed on multiple occasions but never spoken to. This film is a story about human connection, love, the power of kindness, and the courage it takes to believe that you are also worthy of happiness.

Purchase the Film Here

This is the story of two deeply wounded people who form an unexpected connection and help one another heal. David is an intelligent but cold, distant young man who is has deep-seated fears of human connection and is convinced that human touch with kill him. When he is committed to a psychiatric hospital he meets Lisa, a girl with split personalities who is only able to speak in rhyme. Fascinated by her, David begins speaking to her in rhyme and over time they develop an inexplicable connection which allows them both a safe space in which to heal.

Purchase the Film Here

Elwood is a friendly but odd man, whose best friend is Harvey, an invisible rabbit more than 6 feet tall. Though most people in his social circle have accepted this peculiarity, Elwood’s sister and niece feel ostracized by the community because of Elwood’s public openness about his tall, invisible rabbit friend. They attempt to guilt and force Elwood to seek psychiatric treatment to cure him and make his imaginary friend go away. Ultimately, they and the medical staff begin to question whether Harvey and Elwood are actually the problem, or if the problem is with themselves and their sense of what is real and what is important.

Purchase the Film Here

Psychiatrist Jack Mickler is called upon to talk down a young man who is threatening to commit suicide. When he arrives, he finds that the man is dressed like Zorro and is claiming to be the fictional character, Don Juan. He is successful in convincing him to come to the hospital and over the next several days Dr. Mickler and Don Juan have multiple therapy sessions. Don Juan tells the story of his childhood in Mexico, a traumatic loss in his family, sexual conquests all over the world, and why he ultimately became suicidal. The stories enthrall Dr. Mickler, whose own life and marriage had become stale over the years leading up to his impending retirement. He begins to feel alive again and to question whether the young man’s beautifully romantic stories could be true, and whether it even matters if they’re just delusions as long as the young Don Juan is not a threat to others and no longer a threat to himself.

Purchase the Film Here

This is the story of teen girl who, upon finding herself pregnant decides to carry the pregnancy to full term and adopt the infant out to a loving couple who are unable to have children. The film follows her life through each trimester and the complications that come with a teen pregnancy. It is a realistic depiction of how complicated relationships can be and how everyone’s life changes when a new life is brought into the world. What is perhaps most touching about this film is how relatable Juno’s average middle-class family is in that they are dysfunctional, but not broken. They love each other, they roll with the punches, they live mostly ordinary lives, and over the course of the pregnancy they grow closer together.

Purchase the Film Here

Most high school comedies focus on the popular kids and their nearly perfect families, but this movie is different. This movie is all about the misfits, the outcasts, and the weirdos; and I mean that in the best of ways. There are plenty of awkward dates, peculiar family dynamics, breakdowns in communication, rites of passage, popularity contests, and normal boring life stuff. What is most relatable is that almost every character is just muddling through the dailiness of life, trying to figure out who they are, where they fit, and what they want their life to be. It a humorous caricature of real life and real people simply existing in their own little town in their own corner of the universe.

Purchase the Film Here

This is a love story, but not in a typical sense. Penelope is an affluent, blue-blooded young woman who has been hidden away from the world because of a family curse that caused her to be born with the nose and ears of a pig. The only way to break the curse is for one of her own kind to fall in love with her. Her mother, embarrassed by her daughter’s appearance and desperate to break the curse tries desperately to find a blue-blooded man to marry her, but each one runs in terror when they see her. All of them except one, but a series of misunderstandings causes Penelope to feel rejected. Heartbroken and tired of all the rejections she runs away from home, allowing her to make friends and explore who she is for the first time. This story is about romantic love, but more importantly it’s about learning to love yourself when all you’ve heard your entire life is that there’s something about you that makes you unworthy of love.

Purchase the Film Here

Romy and Michelle are lifelong best friends living as roommates in California when they receive invitations to their 10-year high school reunion. Having been bullied social outcasts in high school they concoct a plan to pose as successful “career women” in order to impress and get back at their old high school bullies, but that’s proves not to be quite as simple as it seemed at first blush. This story is about friendship; how our past can come back to haunt us; the insecurities we feel when we don’t fit society’s standards for success; and why it doesn’t matter what other people think of you as long as you’re happy with your life.

Purchase the Film Here

This is the story of three sisters and their complicated relationship with their aging father with dementia. One sister is a powerful executive and celebrity. One is an actress. And one is an event planner with a family, who also takes on the sole responsibility of seeing to their father’s care. The portrayal of their current family dynamics is punctuated throughout with memories that give context to their complicated relationships with each other and their father. This movie is hilariously funny while still tugging at your heart strings. It is also painfully relatable for anyone who comes from a complicated family with a lot of secrets, resentment, trauma, and old wounds.

Purchase the Film Here

This is the story of a young woman’s complicated relationship with her family, particularly her mother. Bliss is a teenage girl, growing up in a small Texas town. She has a best friend and a job, but no other real directions or interest in her life. Her mother, a former pageant beauty queen pushes Bliss into pageants. While she has no interest in pageants, she is also doesn’t want to hurt her mother by rejecting something she cares about so deeply. When Bliss sneaks away with her best friend to see a roller derby game she is transfixed and becomes determined to try out for a derby team. She makes it onto the team and begins to thrive, finally finding something she loves. But life is also complicated and through a series of mistakes, lies, and misplaced priorities Bliss learns some hard lessons about the importance of honesty, loyalty, communication, authenticity, and love.

Purchase the Film Here