The School of Life: On Mental Illness is a short but very well-rounded guide on mental illness and achieving emotional wellbeing.
Rather than focusing on specific illnesses it focuses on how and why we become mentally unwell, how we can reframe ourselves and how we think to overcome some of the difficulties we face. There is also a huge emphasis on how we can dismantle stigma of mental health within through its gentle reminders that we are not alone no matter how isolated a mental illness can make us feel.
Despite being a short book, a vast number of topics are touched upon. The book starts with reasons to live and goes on to explore areas such as acceptance, medication, love, community, modernity, and self-compassion to name just a few.
Having read books by The School of Life before and enjoying them and with mental health being an area of interest of mine, I was very excited to read this book and was not disappointed.
As soon as I started reading the book felt a warm and reassuring conversation with a friend. Having had my own struggles with mental illness in the past, I felt like the book understood everything I have felt in the past and some of the theories and ideas it presented highly resonated with me and the way I think and feel about the world. Whilst a lot of the stuff was familiar the reminders were invaluable.
I have seen some people have been disappointed by this book so let me be blunt. This is a guide. If you are looking for a scientific book, with extensive research and case studies then this is not for you. The chapters are punctual and don’t leave much room for exploration. However, if you’re new to the topic of and want to get a brief well-rounded understanding of mental health, or perhaps are struggling, need some gentle reminders or just want to feel less alone in how you are feeling then this book sets out to achieve exactly that.
Overall, this is a fantastic consolidation of why some people struggle with mental health and how we can achieve mental well-being. The School of Life: On Mental Illness is like a conversation with a friend; it completely understands the harsh and isolating realities of mental illness and truly felt like a hug in a book.
Reads Must 