Reasons to Stay Alive

Matt Haig is a British author originally from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He’s gained international renown as both a novelist and a mental health mentor who’s been open about his experience with depression, anxiety, and more recently an adult diagnosis of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Haig’s work includes children’s fiction, adult speculative or nonrealist literary fiction, and nonfiction. Reasons to Stay Alive is his most famous work of nonfiction and is largely credited with launching his global career; it is followed by two unofficial sequels: Notes on a Nervous Planet and The Comfort Book. He wrote all three with the aim of helping others through experiences with mental illness, anxiety, and the unique challenges of 21st-century social structure; Reasons to Stay Alive draws specifically on his own lived experience and is his most personal book.

Although Haig didn’t understand his mental illness until his mid-twenties, his experience began in childhood. He details some of these experiences in Reasons to Stay Alive. As a highly sensitive teenager, Haig struggled to fit in with his peers. These insecurities fed into his growing anxiety and sense of alienation. When he saw his own two children facing similar struggles at their public school in York, he and his partner, fellow author Andrea Semple, introduced them to homeschooling. After the publication of Reasons to Stay Alive, Haig found himself fielding mental health questions and confessions that he was not medically qualified for, but nonetheless tried to become a voice of support and courage for those who needed it.

Haig’s fiction also explores mental health. After a few early novels that found moderate success, Haig became a global name with the publication of his speculative novel The Midnight Library. This novel follows a protagonist who, like Haig, prepares to die by suicide. Her journey throughout the book is one of uncovering things to live for and a renewed hope in the possibilities of living. Haig later wrote The Truth Pixie for young readers, which conveys a similar message. Through these works, Haig has come to be known as a spokesperson for mental health.

In 2020, Haig was diagnosed with dual autism and ADHD. He was characteristically vocal about his diagnosis, encouraging communication and self-knowledge as tools in the fight against mental illness. Autism has been linked to a higher likelihood of having illnesses like depression and anxiety—studies like those conducted by the charity Autistica estimate that seven out of 10 people with autism will have a mental illness (“Autism and mental health.” Mental Health Foundation, 2022).

Despite his feeling that social media can exacerbate mental health challenges, Haig frequently uses Instagram and Twitter to connect with readers and those dealing with mental illness. His brand of encouragement has incited some controversy, with detractors calling his platitudes “tea towel wisdom”; in response, his publisher released a limited-edition tea towel with a quotation from The Comfort Book (Moss, Stephen. “Matt Haig: ‘I have never written a book that will be more spoofed or hated.’” The Guardian, 1 July 2021). In both his literature and personal life, Haig attempts to maintain a balance between optimistic hope and honesty about living with mental illness.