The Warsaw High School Times

Graphic by Milena Targańska

Problems with mental health can affect us all, both the people who struggle with it and the people who have to see their suffering. It used to be a taboo subject, but thankfully, we’re starting to learn how to cope with them and how to help others cope with them.

Those struggling can find some understanding in books. There are more and more characters in movies, series, and books who suffer from mental health issues. We can see how hard life can be when waking up feels like torture, when food is your worst enemy, or when you feel like you don’t have control over anything that’s going on in your life. And we can relate to those characters.

Alice Oseman (she/they) is an English author, illustrator/comic artist, and screenwriter. They created the well-known series of comic books called Heartstopper and many other books in that universe. The characters written by Alice are relatable, realistic, and they struggle with the same things we do.

Christmas is coming very quickly, so my recommendation for this part of the year is her book, “This Winter” Charlie Spring, one of the main characters in the Heartstopper, struggles at dinner. As we know, Christmas dinner is full of different dishes. It can be very overwhelming for someone with an eating disorder.

“Meaning of birds” by Jaye Robin Brown is a book about grief and dealing with the loss of a lover. Jessica, the main character, has been struggling with anger issues since her father died. When she met Vivi (a cute and hot dork who knows everything about birds), she found a goal. She wanted to get better for Vivi. She wanted to live a life with Vivi. She wanted to be an artist BECAUSE of Vivi. But suddenly everything is going down. Vivi dies unexpectedly. She’s not there anymore to help Jess, who’s left even more broken than she had been. She can’t do art anymore. As the blurb beautifully says, “… because art is Vivi and Vivi is gone.”

The book is written from two perspectives: then and now. “Now” is after Vivi died. “Then” is their beautiful story, heartmelting and heartbreaking at the same time. It shows that death is a horrible thing. When you lose someone you love, it’s like you’ve lost a part of yourself. But there are ways to heal. It’s not always quick; sometimes it takes time, but you have to learn how to be friends with grief, be fine with it.

The next two books talk about OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder). According to Wikipedia, it’s “a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to relieve the distress caused by the obsession”. Obviously, it’s not the only definition; like with every other disorder, it can look different for different people. In “Am I normal yet?” by Holly Bourne and “Turtles all the way down” by John Green, we can find portraits of people struggling with OCD. Their everyday lives, how “normal” teenager stuff can be difficult, and how love is a bit more complicated. “Am I normal yet?” is more rough; it shows a darker side of the disorder, while “Turtles all the way down” shows it from a different perspective.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE CAREFUL WITH THE TRIGGERING TOPICS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU’RE READY TO READ ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS.

But if you are ready and sure you will be fine reading something, then I think it’s worth trying. Maybe you’ll find new ways to cope, or maybe you’ll just find yourself in these books. You will know that you’re not alone.