Wide Awake

by Vanessa Pelz-Sharpe

Published 20 March 2021
Why does mental health remain somewhat of a question mark in our contemporary age? Society encourages us to believe that we've progressed radically from the days where we lacked the language to articulate various disorders, yet mental health issues remain largely misunderstood, while access to help continues to be out of reach for millions of people.

Wide Awake refutes the idea that mental health crises come down to genetics alone, interrogating the ways in which class, gender, race and disability affect our mental health and how we are treated. Exploring prevalent mental disorders in young people, ostracisation within communities, media representations, government cuts to services, and myth-busting around the 'wellness' industry, the book uncovers the role society plays in fostering poor mental health.

Reflecting on what a more radical 'self-care' could look like beyond the individual level and extended to our communities, Pelz-Sharpe transforms our understanding of mental health as sufferers and allies in the fight.