We have a huge range of quality books to help with mental health. Don't just rely on information you find online. Speak to our qualified librarians to select books to suit your needs. We have also made a handy Dewey number guide for mental health issues so you can go to the shelves at any library and browse by subject.
Reading the stories of others who have overcome mental health struggles can be comforting and enlightening. We have found some memoirs and stories about depression, anxiety, substance abuse and addiction, and mental illness and personality disorders. Click each title for a more detailed description and to place a reservation.
If you need immediate mental health support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can speak to your general practitioner (doctor) about further support.
Books about depression and anxiety
Search our catalogue for Subject: e.g. Anxiety or find books at these Dewey numbers in the non-fiction collection:
Anxiety: 152.46, 158.1, 616.8522
Depression: 616.8527
Bipolar: 616.895
Recommended reading:
- Back, after the break by Osher Günsberg
- Dear friend, from my life I write to you in your life by Yiyun Li
- First, we make the beast beautiful : a new story about anxiety* by Sarah Wilson
- Furiously happy: a funny book about horrible things by Jenny Lawson
- The happy brain: the science of where happiness comes from, and why by Dean Burnett
- Happy never after: why the happiness fairytale is driving us mad by Jill Stark
- Life in L plates: mental wellness, one day at a time by Kayla Bauer
- Lost connections: uncovering the real causes of depression by Johann Hari
- Monkey mind: a memoir of anxiety by Daniel Smith
- My age of anxiety: fear, hope, dread and the search for peace of mind by Scott Stossel
- The noonday demon: an anatomy of depression by Andrew Solomon
- Notes on a nervous planet by Matt Haig
- On edge a journey through anxiety by Andrea Petersen
- Unparalleled sorrow: finding my way back from depression by Barry Dickins
Books about substance abuse and addiction
Search our catalogue for Subject: e.g. Anxiety or find books at these Dewey numbers in the non-fiction collection:
Addiction: 362.29, 616.86
Recommended reading:
- Beautiful boy: a father's journey through his son's meth addiction by David Sheff
- Blackout : remembering the things I drank to forget by Sarah Hepola
- Everything is horrible and wonderful : a tragicomic memoir of genius, heroin, love, and loss by Stephanie Wittels Wachs
- Dopesick: dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America by Beth Macy
- High price: drugs, neuroscience and discovering myself by Carl Hart
- How to murder your life: a memoir by Cat Marnell
- Lit: a memoir by Mary Karr
- Memoirs of an addicted brain: a neuroscientist examines his former life on drugs* by Marc Lewis.
- The night of the gun: a reporter investigates the darkest story of his life, his own by David Carr
- Portrait of an addict as a young man: Ninety days by Bill Clegg
- Recovery: freedom from our addictions* by Russell Brand
- Sex, drugs and meditation: a memoir by Mary-Louise Stephens
- The sober diaries : how one woman stopped drinking and started living by Clare Pooley
- Woman of substances : a journey into addiction and treatment by Jenny Valentish
Books about mental illness and personality disorders
Search our catalogue for Subject: e.g. Anxiety or find books at these Dewey numbers in the non-fiction collection:
Mental illness: 616.86
Personality disorders: 616.85854
Recommended reading:
- An angel at my table by author, Janet Frame
- A beautiful mind by Sylvia Nasar
- Brain on fire: my month of madness by Susannah Cahalan
- Flying with paper wings: reflections on living with madness by Sandy Jeffs
- Hurry down sunshine: a father's memoir of love and madness by Michael Greenberg
- Madness: a bipolar life by Marya Hornbacher
- Madness: a memoir by Kate Richards
- Manic: a memoir by Terri Cheney
- The neuroscientist who lost her mind: a memoir of madness and recovery by Barbara K. Lipska
- The rapids: ways of looking at mania by Sam Twyford-Moore
- Running like China: a memoir by Sophie Hardcastle
- Running with scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- Wishful drinking by Carrie Fisher
More recommended reading
To view booklists on a variety of subjects, visit our booklists page.