Why Book Bans Are Bad for Mental Health

More books have been challenged in recent years than ever before. According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), challenges of unique titles surged 65% in 2023 as compared to the previous year, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA. What’s more, the ALA found that nearly half of demands were made by parents, patrons, or political/religious groups.

The OIF observed that pressure groups focused on public libraries and school libraries, and that often dozens, sometimes hundreds, of titles were challenged by a single entity at a time. Almost half (47%) of the titles challenged represent the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals. This includes Black history, stories with a protagonist of color, and stories that discuss topics like puberty and teen pregnancy (Haupt, A., 2022).

Research supports that book bans are bad for mental health, especially impacting:

1. Marginalized individuals whose stories are contained in the majority of challenged books. Research shows that people of color are at a higher risk of facing mental health issues, and have increased barriers to accessing mental health treatment, due to institutional and interpersonal discrimination, stigma, and socioeconomic barriers (Williams DR., 2018). LGBTQIA+ individuals are nearly three times more likely to develop a mental health disorder, like depression or anxiety, and some studies indicate that nearly 45% of LGBTQIA+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the last year (The Trevor Project, 2022). Banning books about the lived experiences and histories of marginalized groups of people only serve to increase feelings of exclusion and invisibility, and intensify their risk of mental health issues (Pickering, G., 2023).
2. Children and teens suffer when books are banned in their schools and public libraries for many reasons. As young people are in a developmental period of identity formation with a strong focus on peer relationships, banning diverse books robs them of the opportunity to have an open dialogue and engage in critical thinking in a safe, supportive environment (Pfeifer JH, Berkman ET., 2018). Youth are likely to seek information elsewhere, from unmonitored, unsafe sources, without the support of trusted adults.
3. Librarians and school staff experience added stress and anxiety due to the atmosphere of censorship that book banning creates. In fact, research shows that library staff are experiencing an increase in mental health issues in recent years (Shahzad, K., 2024). Many libraries are hiring support staff, like social workers and security, to respond to the rise of confrontational patrons who become aggressive toward librarians, often in response to books or events that they believe should be banned.
4. Authors make their livelihood selling books, and book bans not only impact some authors’ income, but might leave them feeling excluded and marginalized as well. With fewer invitations to share their story at schools and libraries, authors and readers are missing out on an opportunity to connect, and to understand the value of another person’s perspective. Social media cruelty toward authors whose books are challenged can mirror cyberbullying, which can cause symptoms of anxiety and depression for the victim (Hu, Y., Bai, Y., Pan, Y., & Li, S., 2021).

The reality is that everyone loses when books are banned because it discourages reading, turning our attention toward social media, web surfing, and television, which negatively impacts the brain’s ability to sustain attention, reduces long-term memory formation and retrieval, and discourages analytical thinking (‌Firth J, et al, 2019). Additionally, this kind of censorship increases discrimination as readers get the message that certain groups of people and topics are “bad,” closing our minds to the opportunity to learn, which is really what reading is all about (Vogels, E., et al, 2021).

Most importantly, when books are banned we’re missing out on one of the most valuable benefits of reading – cultivating empathy. In fact, research shows that books about characters who are not like you are the best for building empathy (Kucirkova N., 2019).

While parents have a right to influence their child’s reading, banning books is detrimental to mental health. Perhaps the answer is not in pulling uncomfortable topics off the shelf, but engaging in conversations that matter, learning from one another’s perspectives, and trusting children to make choices guided by their values, regardless of the words on the page.