Top Ten Tuesday: YA Characters Who Battle Mental Health Issues
2. Adam in The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Totem (2013)---Adam struggles with OCD yet he can help others members of his support group as he fights for equilibrium in his life.
3. Darius Kellner in Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (2018)--- Darius has clinical depression and he is becoming more and more isolated. When his family makes a trip to their homeland, Iran, he finds acceptance and friendship and comes to embrace himself.
4. Aza in Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (2017)---Aza struggles with OCD and obsessive thoughts. She finally gets help for herself and acknowledges that this is something she will work on for her whole life.
5. Vivi in When We Collided by Emery Lord (2017)---Vivi spirals into a manic phase of her bipolar disorder. Jonah, a new love interest who is struggling with depression himself, notices and gets the adults activated to get her help.
6. Henry Denton in We Are the Ants (2016)---Henry thinks he has been abducted by aliens and the survival of the world is in his hands. He is never quite sure about reality (nor is the reader) but he is certainly dealing with deep depression over the suicide of his dear friend. Eventually he gets to help he needs to stay firmly in reality.
7. Vicky Cruz in The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork (2016)---Vicky attempts suicide and survives but she has a lot fo work ahead of her and she finds help in a small group run by a doctor. She is not only able to find helrself but helps others to find themselves.
8. Violet Marsh in All the Bright Places by Jennifer Nevin (2015)--- Violet meets Theodore when they were both on the school tower and it is not clear who saved whose life but the two seem to have a good impact on the other, that is until Theodore doesn't make it. Violet is able to reach out for help this time.
9. Caden Bosch in Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (2015)--- Caden's life seems to be split in half---half regular life, and half life on the ship traveling to the lowest point on the planet under the ocean. He eventually gets help for this schizophrenia. Shusterman wrote in consult with his son who is a diagnosed schizophrenic.
10. Lia by Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (2009)---Lia has an eating disorder that completely dominates her life. After the death of a friend, she spirals down until her family is finally able to get through to her and get her the help she needs to start taking steps toward health.
-Anne
