Molly Turpin first read John Green s young adult novel, Turtles All the Way Down , in 2018 when she was in an inpatient psych ward for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was an emotional read because of how strongly she related to the novels protagonist, Aza, and her struggles with OCD and anxiety.

[I] was so moved by John Greens portrayal of OCD because it was the most accurate portrayal Ive seen in media, Turpin, now 27, said.

For many fans, like Turpin, Greens novel feels personal. Whether they have a mental illness themselves or love someone with one, Azas story makes them feel seen and understood. This sentiment isnt unique to Turtles All the Way Down. Green is known for writing stories including Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars about young adult characters grappling with a very specific scenario. In Turtles All the Way Down, Aza is searching for a missing billionaire who happens to be the dad of her crush, which ultimately leads to an internal revelation that touches at the very core of what it means to be human and to grow up. The love people have for these coming-of-age stories has resulted in a passionate fan base of readers who see themselves in the grace that Greens books offer.

This is especially true for fans of Turtles All the Way Down, with many pointing to the text as a key event in their mental health journeys. The deep attachment those fans have felt to the book has increased expectations for its new movie adaptation, which is directed by Hannah Marks from a screenplay by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker and stars Isabela Merced as Aza. But can the movie really be as good as the book? Can it do justice to Aza and every reader who has felt like her or loved someone like her?

The overwhelming consensus from fans is yes. The Turtles All the Way Down movie is a moving, accurate portrayal of what it feels like to live with a mental illness.

Shannon Parry was diagnosed with OCD in the second grade. Like Turpin, Parry, now 34, was really struggling when she first read Turtles All the Way Down. In 2017, she was in therapy, and she credits Greens novel with helping her as much as therapy did.

It was a matter of understanding that there were people out there in the world [like me] and [giving] me a language to be able to describe my OCD to the people around me, Parry said.

A large reason for that was the imagery and language that Green uses in the book to describe Azas thought spirals, which are a series of negative thoughts, feelings or actions that can escalate and become overwhelming.

The trademark orange spiral on the cover, the allusion to a Raymond Pettibon painting of a spiral and the descriptions of Azas illogical but inescapable thought patterns all helped Parry.

I was able to describe thought spirals and point to certain imagery in the book and say that is what it feels like when Im going down a thought spiral or I cant get out of a series of thoughts, Parry said.

Patrick McGrath , the chief clinical officer for NOCD , an online platform that Green is partnering with because of its commitment to make exposure and response prevention therapy (the gold standard of OCD treatment) more accessible, said that everyone has intrusive thoughts, images or urges that interrupt their daily lives.

For example, everyone could drive over a bridge and think to themselves, I wonder what would happen if I drove off of it, but the difference between people with and without OCD is that people without OCD can go, Oh, that was weird and move on, and people with OCD can get caught in a thought spiral ... then they do some kind of compulsion to neutralize the intrusive thought or image, McGrath said. He said this compulsion makes people with OCD feel safe, and they think that if they had not done that neutralization, something terrible would have happened.