Books for younger readers that include painful subjects like OCD, bipolar disorder and depression may be painful, but they are also essential
Against a background of exam-related stress, parental anxiety, and under-resourced outside support for troubled teens, mental health issues, perhaps unsurprisingly, have featured in a lot of recent YA fiction. But how much does it help to read about what you suffer? To me, it depends on the writers’ research, how they deploy it, and their attitude to the conditions they describe.
Some big names are involved in this trend. Sophie Kinsella’s YA debut, Finding Audrey, has a teenage heroine, wry, dry, astute – and all-but-housebound, hiding behind dark glasses in a single, safe room at home. Following a traumatic act of bullying, Audrey has left school and cut contact with the outside world, imprisoned by devastating social anxiety. Her home life is made still worse by the drastic measures her Daily Mail-addicted mum takes to keep Audrey’s brother Frank offline, and by Frank’s friend Linus, determined to winkle Audrey out of her seclusion. The book offers a transporting, sensitive insight into an invisible but debilitating disorder. At times deeply uncomfortable to read, it refuses an easy “straight graph of progress” and a nice neat happy-ever-after. Instead, it reminds the reader that jagged lines are inevitable; every life has its share of pain and loss, whether there’s a mental health diagnosis involved or not. But with luck, support and time, Audrey can flourish again, despite her anxiety; and feel proud of herself for doing so.
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