Non-Fiction Books on Stress & Mental Health
Good non-fiction books that are the right length and content level for your teen collection are always hard to find. With this in mind I wanted to share 5 of the best non-fiction books on mental health and stress that are in my YA Collection. For a list of YA fiction books that deal with issues of mental health and psychological disorders, check out this list on TSU.
Heads Up Psychology is a guidebook to the general field of Psychology, Marcus Weeks’ user-friendly “heads Up” non-fiction series are great, visually appealing non-fiction books. Perfect for a YA collection due to their unusual format combined with high school and college level content, the Heads Up series, especially the Psychology book, is a must-have for every school and public librarian’s collection.
Mental Health Information for Teens, Fourth Edition is the most updated version of the Omnigraphics series of “Health Information for Teens” books on Mental Health, this is another must-have for every YA collection. These books are veritable libraries in themselves, with an encyclopedic scope on mental health topics. If there is one book you can buy about mental health for your teen collection, this should be it.
Beyond the Blues: A Workbook to Help Teens Overcome Depression is one of many workbooks for teens to use to inderstand and cope with a variety of mental health issues, the Beyond the Blues depression workbook is a great practical guide for youth with depression. It features many interactive activities and prompts to help the reader understand themselves and their issues, combined with a wealth of information and also some coping strategies. Due to the “fill-in-the-blank” style of most of the activities is might not be the perfect format of book for every library, but I think it’s worth having despite the risk of getting the book returned filled with notes and scribbles.
Chill: Stress-Reducing Techniques for a More Balanced, Peaceful You has a very practical format in which each chapter introduces and explains an issue, such as organization and saying no, then gives techniques for understanding how that issues affects you, and finally strategies for coping with that issue to improve your well-being. This book features a casual tone and easy-to-read style that teens can relate to and find interesting.
Freaking Out: Real Life Stories About Anxiety, is relatable, interesting, and very real. Each story ends with concluding remarks about that person’s issue – whether the issue was resolved, they lived happily ever after, or are still coping with their issue, the reader still gets the end of the story, and there is always hope. With its appealing cover and format that lends itself to readers just flipping it open to a random story, this book could help a lot of teens and young adults feel better about their anxiety.
Eden Grey is the Young Adult Programming Librarian at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Public Library system, the busiest branch library in the state of Kentucky. Eden is a contributor to Teen Services Underground, and reviews books for YABC and School Library Journal. When she is not herding cats -ahem, teens- at the library, Eden can be found reading, knitting, sewing, cosplaying, and playing Pokemon. You can always find her on Twitter (@edyngrey), and Blogging Between the Lines.