@Red fox, interesting question, I talked it over with my lady since she's read more memoirs and such that I had.
She suggested two Until tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan, , the memoir of an Iraq war veteran who comes back to the states missing a leg and with PTSD, then recovers thanks to Tuesday, a therapy dog.
She also suggested Catching an angel by Robert Russel, the story of a blind theology professor, which is apparently neither too heavy going nor overly preachy in terms of theology.
Most of what I tend to read myself tends to have fantasy or sf overtones even when touching on real subjects or historical periods, though the healer's war by Elizabeth Anne Scarborough is extremely good yet only very minimally fantasy and does a great job of showing conditions during the Vietnam war for both the Americans and Vietnamese, find My review of it here
I'd also suggest Taken on Trust by Terry Weight the memoir of a man who was held by Iranian terrorists in the early nineties for five years.
Its pretty grim for obvious reasons, and a slightly strange book given he wrote most of it in his head whilst he was chained to a wall, but if your up to something a little darker and not fictional it might be one to try.
Lastly, there's A child called It by Dave Pelzer, the story of a man went through really horrific child abuse from his mother. Its a pretty short book, and is also of course bloody depressing (really his mother was a psychopath), however it is very well known so likely a lot of people will have already written on it.
Also, I confess I wasn't as much a fan of Pelzer himself, since aside from what he went through which was horrendous, I did find him a little too self congratulatory for my liking, but maybe that's just me.
Hth.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)