[Don't] Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health by

2.5 stars. I was expecting this to be more of a discussion of mental health and how people with mental illnesses are treated in our society, but many of the essays were more of a detailed description of the authors' mental illness - many of which I found to be really triggering. I honestly skimmed through a lot of this because I was finding it so difficult to read, and I typically don't get triggered by reading things like this. While some did describe their mental illness, thus giving more exposure & background to whatever it was, and then talked about finding help and good resources and how beneficial it was, multiple essays just gave a detailed description of what living with a mental illness is like and that was it. Some stories resonated with me, a lot did not.
I think this is great in the sense that we should all be more comfortable in talking about mental health, but it was definitely not an enjoyable reading experience for me.

As someone who struggles with her own mental health, I've appreciated the recent uptick in representation in the YA book world—as it's so necessary and I think it can do so much good, especially for young readers coming to terms with their own mental health—but there are two things I've found sorely lacking: nonfiction presented in an interesting and approachable manner from authors that readers already know and love, and representation that reflects even the more marginalized segments of the mental illness community.

With this in mind, you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I learned that (Don't) Call Me Crazy would fill both of those needs.

“Crazy” is not a singular—or definitive—experience.—Kelly Jensen

I have significance, for I am a human being, entire.—S. Jae-Jones

autism

They did not know the extent of my talent for smiling when I was a tornado inside.—Amy Reed

not

the general theme is that we do what we need to do in order to survive and pursue peace in life.

Nothing is as powerful as a woman who embraces herself, without apology.—MILCK

please practice self-care while reading this collection

People do not tend to know when I am pretty freakin' unwell. For a lot of reasons. I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable or burdened or—often, I just don't want to talk about it.—Emery Lord

Ashley Holstrom's

never

S. Jae-Jones'

Heidi Heilig's

lot

Amy Reed's

Jessica Tremaine's

MILCK's

Emery Lord's

seen.

Victoria Schwab's

doing

Representations—listed by author, in order of appearance:
Ashley Holstrom: trichotillomania, dermatillomania
Dior Vargas: imposter syndrome, borderline personality disorder (BPD)
Sarah Hannah Gomez: OCD, bipolar II
Stephanie Kuehn: misophonia/4S
Mike Jung: autism
Christine Heppermann: phobias, abuse
S. Jae-Jones: bipolar
Monique Bedard (Aura): erasure of MI in Native communities
Heidi Heilig: bipolar
Emily Mayberry: PTSD
Amy Reed: addictions, abuse
Jessica Tremaine: anorexia, bulimia
Reid Ewing: body dysmorphia
Susan Juby: alcoholism
MILCK: anorexia, depression
Libba Bray: OCD, anxiety
Emery Lord: depression, suicidal ideation
Gemma Correll: anxiety (multiple comics)
Clint Van Winkle: PTSD/PTS
Esme Weijun Wang: anxiety
Victoria/V. E. Schwab: obsessive thoughts
Kristen Bell: depression
Mary Isabel: PTSD, abuse
Lisa Jakub: anxiety
Meredith Russo: depression, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, body dysmorphia, experiencing transphobia
Yumi Sakugawa: self harm (comic)
Kelly Jensen: depression, anxiety
Adam Silvera: depression, suicidal ideation
Hannah Bae: paranoia
S. Zainab Williams: depression (comic)
Nancy Kerrigan: disordered eating
s. e. smith: depression, misdiagnosed BPD, “craziness”

NOTE: I took notes while reading, but apologize if I missed anything represented in any specific stories. I opted not to include the authors' races or sexual/gender identities in most of these because I wasn't familiar with all of the authors and did not want to make any assumptions or out anyone without their consent.