Doctors will be able to prescribe novels such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time to teenagers with mental-health issues thanks to a new scheme, which launches today.

Delivered by charity The Reading Agency and the Society of Chief Librarians, the Reading Well for Young People campaign is aimed at 13- to 18-year-olds, and provides them with a recommended reading list covering mental health issues from depression to eating disorders, and from anxiety to self-harm, bullying and exam pressure. Chosen by mental health experts and young people, the books, a mix of self-help, memoir and fiction, can be recommended by GPs, counsellors and school nurses, and the list of titles will also be available to borrow from public libraries.

The scheme follows the launch of a similar reading programme for common mental health conditions in adults, set up in 2013, and one aimed at people with dementia and their carers, established in 2015. The Reading Agency said the books had reached almost half a million people in its first two years, and that borrowing of titles on the adult list had increased by 97%, while those on the dementia list had increased by 346%.

The 35 books on the scheme for young adults include fiction for the first time. Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower deals with anxiety, as well as sexuality, child abuse and suicide, while Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident is about a teenager with Asperger syndrome.

“I think fiction, if anything, works better for young people – a lot of young adult books deal with things young people go through, and through relation to the characters, it can be a way of getting advice without being told [what to do],” said Gaby Clement, one of six young people who helped put the list together. “We were looking for books which had relatable characters in fiction, and ones with a positive resolutions.”

The list also features Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel Face, about a boy whose face is disfigured after a car accident, as well as transgender young adult author Juno Dawson’s Mind Your Head, a non-fiction title covering topics including anxiety, depression. addiction, self-harm and personality disorders.

“The reason I’m so delighted to be included is that it means the book will find its way into more hands,” said Dawson. “Books can be a safe space – it’s so much easier to talk about the characters in, say, The Perks of Being A Wallflower than to say ‘I’m depressed’. I know that from the letters I get.”

The Reading Agency said that one in 10 young people have a diagnosable mental health issue today, and that the proportion of 15- to 16-year-olds reporting they frequently feel anxious or depressed has doubled in the last 30 years. It said that 10-13% of 15- and 16-year-olds have self-harmed, but that only a fraction are seen in hospital settings, and that nearly 300,000 young people in Britain have an anxiety disorders, pointing to the estimate that mental health problems are costing England £105bn annually.

“There is enormous need for quality assured mental health information and advice for young people,” said the charity. “Contemporary pressures, such as widespread family breakdown, school exam stress, 24-hour social networking and an increase in bullying, have serious implications for the mental health of young people.”

“Everyone has to admit that provision for mental health just isn’t good enough,” said Dawson. “There can be a six-month wait for eating disorder appointments … In the meantime, hopefully these books can provide some support.”

Clement agreed. “The list can be recommended by GPs but also you can explore it at your own pace, which I think is really good because if more people educate themselves and have better understanding of mental health generally, it will make a difference.”

The Reading Agency worked in partnership with the Society of Chief Librarians and the Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians on the campaign, which is funded by Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust.

For mental health problems in the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or visit Mind’s website.
In the US, if you are in crisis or need someone to talk to, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.
Hotlines in other countries can be found here