This was a great read. I liked that is was all about mental health but in short story format, This way when it was too serious I could take a quick break and always come back, Finished in just a couple days,

STRANGERS TO OURSELVES is a look at mental illness and how it is viewed, talked about, and treated. The book is told through the stories of individuals, and makes it an enthralling read not a static text. Rachel Aviv does an excellent job.

The book looks at race and poverty and how mental illness is diagnosed. How some are over/under medicated. How women are expected to go off meds if pregnant and the damage that can do to one’s sense of self. How devout religion and mental illness mingles. This book is enlightening.

I found Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv so interesting! I listened to the audiobook narrated by Andi Arndt and it was great to listen to! This book focused on the stories of four individuals and their specific experiences of mental illness. The author also shares her own story of mental illness of an eating disorder when she was a child. I liked how we traveled to different times and places meeting each person. This is a great debut! Excellent writing here!

An interesting perspective on mental illness and how it is defined by sufferers themselves versus the people around them. I enjoyed the way Aviv used case studies to explore the topic.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unlike many early readers of this book, I hadn't heard of Rachel Aviv, who is a writer for The New Yorker. This book is her first, and it traces her own experiences as, at that time, the youngest child to ever be diagnosed with anorexia (she was six). From this she moves on to the stories of a variety of other patients who are dealing with mental illnesses - from different backgrounds, in different parts of the world, and with different issues - and describes their experiences and all the information she can glean about their treatment, including what helped and what didn't. It is, in essence, a collection of small biographies told through the lens of mental illness.

I'll talk about the things that worked about this book first. I liked that the author did a lot of research about each of the people whose stories she presents, and that she uses their own words to describe particularly poignant observations and insights into their illnesses and experiences. I liked that she looked at people whose circumstances differ - a wealthy and successful white man who goes to a private clinic; a Black woman who is bounced out of hospital quickly several times due to lack of insurance coverage, only to suffer a psychotic break; a woman in India who is by turns shunned and revered as having divine inspiration; and a high-achieving woman and Harvard alum who has been suffering from bipolar disorder her entire adult life, and who has taken more than nineteen different medications with varying results. She also includes her memories of her time in an eating disorder ward in hospital at the age of six, which was a hard account to read.

She also shrewdly ties in larger contexts to both mental illness and treatment - the time of treatment and medical thinking at that time, how people from different racial backgrounds take different views of mental illness diagnoses (for white people a diagnosis of, say, bipolar disorder may be a relief as it then alleviates self-blame, whereas such a diagnosis for a Black patient may serve only to push blame away from the larger societal issues that often contribute to or cause their mental health problems in the first place), cultural beliefs and practices and how support from a community can impact outcomes. I liked the questions she raised with these pieces of information and the intersectionality that is acknowledged by looking at concurrent pressures.

I had a bit of a hard time connecting to this book, however. While I liked the research and how she wove in the patients' own words, it did sometimes feel like it didn't flow as well because of it, and read a bit more like a research paper than a cohesive narrative work. There's nothing wrong with that, but it did make it harder for me to feel any sense of emotional tie to the patients. Some were more sympathetic than others, but even the more sympathetic ones I felt removed from, and the stories lacked a sense of immediacy - perhaps trying to work in so many quotes both from patients and experts made it harder to focus on making sure the stories were engaging and emotionally impactful. It's hard for me to figure out how to put this, because it should have worked, and I'm not entirely sure why it didn't quite land for me.

I also felt that, while the book is looking at mental health issues, it lacked any other cohesive element to draw these particular stories together. They're dealing with different mental health issues, in different parts of the world, in different time periods and different circumstances. I wanted more of a structure surrounding the stories to really pull them together - maybe sections that had more, shorter stories that gave insight into one overarching theme (like a section on the origins of medication for mental health issues, another on how mental health issues are viewed and treated in a few different parts of the world, a section on race and mental health, and another on maternal mental health, etc.). Because there wasn't a solid unifying theme, it felt a bit fragmentary, as it would jump from one patient to another without much in the way of a transition or connection. I kept asking: why these stories? Why these experiences? Why this one after the last one? Am I missing something that draws these stories into one book?

I didn't think this book was perfect, but the issues I had were largely structural and to do with the style of writing. I think this might come down to my personal preferences, and the fact that when I'm reading non-fiction books that are about topics like this one, I look for an emotional connection, and I just didn't really find one here. That said, there have been a lot of rave reviews about this book, and a lot of people found it to be a brilliant portrayal and examination of mental illness. So I think it's all about what you're looking for when you go into it, and what you need to get out of it.

Despite the aspects that didn't work for me, I do think there is a lot of value in this book. The discussion of the complexities of mental health issues is such an important topic in helping to remove stigma from those suffering from mental illness. I think it will also be an incredibly valuable reading experience for both those suffering from any of the mental health issues discussed herein, or those in their lives who are seeking to understand their diagnosis better. It doesn't romanticize mental illness, but neither does it demonize it. It accurately shows that the causes of a particular mental health issue are not singular, and often require a particular confluence of factors to materialize. It shows how people with mental illness can manage their condition and life a full life - even if it is one they will have to deal with permanently. So for these things, I commend Aviv for her efforts in creating this book, and I think it's a very important addition to the topic. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is seeking information on the topic, and, of course, any fans of Aviv's work.

This is the best book I've read about mental illness in quite a while. The author herself was the youngest patient to be diagnosed with anorexia and she tells how her life was effected by this diagnosis. She uses actual people, cases that showcase how the treatment of mental illness has changed through the years. From talk therapy to medication and how once medication was thought to solve all problems, many mental health facilities closed, leaving those for whom medication didn't work, floundering.

She also shows through her cases that the one diagnosis for all, doesn't in fact fit all. The story of the young wife and mother in India, who wanted to leave her family and marry, dedicate her life to Krishna, had after much struggle, a happy ending. The case of the young black mother from Chicago, raised in the Robert Taylor homes, was horrific. They show that how we treat mental illness often fails. More medication is piled on but the personality, genetics, background, to life struggles in general often has a role to play in when and how the illness manifests. This is not taken into consideration, in essence, the whole person needs to be treated, not patched up like a bandaged knee.

Very interesting book and thought provoking book. The narration by Andi Amdt was excellent.

ARC from Netgalley

An incredibly insightful book drawn from personal experience and journalistic research, about the issues we face with mental health diagnoses and the stories we tell ourselves and others about them. Naomi’s story in particular moved me; the book is deeply sympathetic and thoroughly researched. Learning about how India treats mental illness is fascinating, and Avis’s own struggles with child anorexia was illuminating. Our American psychiatric system leaves much to be desired, but my take away from the book is that the stories we are told (and tell ourselves) about our mental illnesses can often effect our trajectory.

Strangers to Ourselves Book Review


What I really appreciated about Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories that Make us by Rachel Aviv was the storytelling across place and time. While most books I’ve read on mental illness tend to be Eurocentric this book told the stories of people struggling with mental illness in various places and cultures.

This book is a collection of stories about people struggling with mental illness. From the man with depression in the 1960’s when psychiatry was in its infancy to the woman in India with schizophrenia who believed she communicated with the gods, we see the full spectrum of treatment and experience. What really comes through is the nuanced experience of mental illness. There is no “one size fits all”, while mental illnesses may have similarities the human experience of it can be quite different from person to person.

I would have liked it if this book were longer and included even more diverse stories. When I reached the end I had the feeling, is this it? There's no more? I felt like a few more stories were needed to round out the picture of mental illness.

My one criticism of the book's message is that it came across as anti-medicine. While she tried to provide a balanced picture, it still came off like she was saying “medicine won’t help you, it will just take away your personality.” As someone who feels like an anti-depressant saved my life, I cannot agree with this. I feel that she should have included a story like mine, where medicine DID make a difference and that was the main message.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in mental health/illness/psychology. This book should be added to any complete mental health library.

Rating: 4/5
Genre: Psychology/Mental Health

Written by the youngest person to be diagnosed with anorexia, Rachel has an intimate knowledge of how institutionalization and diagnoses can be both liberation and entrapment. Even when the doctors and support systems are well-meaning, the may not listen carefully to the story the patient is trying to tell. We see what happens with no medicine, too much medicine, and the wrong medicine. We see how religious devotion can label you a saint or an inconvenience, how valid fears can be interpreted as paranoia, and how "unreliable narrators" can muddle the diagnosing process. A careful examination of how biology, culture, and societal expectations are interwoven.

Genuinely one of the most thought-provoking works on mental health I've ever come across. The varied stories in this book really highlight the complexity of unsettled minds, as the book calls them. Meeting people's needs absolutely requires seeing them both as individuals and as part of the social forces putting pressure on them. The stories are moving, fascinating, heartbreaking, and necessary.

Strangers to Ourselves was a book offered to me for review by the publisher, FS&G, and then they graciously sent me a widget for the audiobook as well. (Thanks friends at Macmillan Audio!) This is one of my favorite books on mental illness I've read in awhile. As an added bonus, it's narrated by one of my favorite audiobook narrators--Andi Arndt! I usually associate her voice with romance books, so this was a cool change of pace.

The author, Rachel Aviv, has the strange claim to fame--in 1988, she was the youngest child diagnosed with anorexia (although over the years she's questioned whether the diagnosis was accurate). This experience and how things played out after her six-week hospitalization led to her life-long interest in mental illness and the ways we talk about and treat it.

She dives into four different stories about four incredibly different people, the shared element being that each person suffered from a severe mental illness. A woman in India, celebrated as a saint. A man, wronged by his doctors, set on revenge. An incarcerated mother grappling with the fallout from one terrible decision. An affluent, suicidal, overmedicated young woman. Their treatments were as varied as their backgrounds, and their outcomes were different as well. But the common thread throughout is that mental illness can't be separated from the rest of our story--it both informs our lives and is informed by our personal experiences. Aviv's examination of these difficult subjects is compassionate and thorough, tender and nuanced. She diligently attempts to reserve all judgment as she wrestles with incredibly complicated issues.

This is a book I will zealously recommend to anyone interested in mental illness. As a sufferer of depression and anxiety, with a hefty side of body dysmorphia, I know firsthand the tremendous benefits of both pharmaceutical help (taking medicines to alleviate my conditions) and therapeutic services. I could relate on so many levels to the people Aviv writes about, seeing glimpses of myself in their individual journeys. Aviv's book is an empathetic examination of unsettled minds.

There are obvious a lot of heavy topics discussed in this book, so read with care. Content warnings: suicide, suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, depression, hospitalization, forced hospitalization, death, ableism, death of a child, manslaughter, addiction, child abandonment, schizophrenia, gaslighting, anorexia, bulimia, disordered eating, et al.

I’m so grateful that I got to read this text. I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to making some videos for my TIkTok and other social media channels to recommend it to my friends and followers. It was an excellent read! 5/5 stars. I’m going to write a longer and more detailed review on my Goodreads and TikTok and I will link back once I’ve posted.

Strangers to Ourselves was a fascinating look into mental illnesses told through a series of anecdotes. We take a look into various illnesses, the racial biases in diagnoses and treatment, and even the writer's own experiences with her anorexia nervosa hospitalization when she was six and her use of Lexapro (an antidepressant) as an adult.

I really enjoyed each section and would have been happy with an even deeper dive. The interviews were especially enlightening, and the book gave me a ton to think about by the time I finished. This is definitely an interesting, page-turning nonfiction choice!

This was much more interesting in the beginning when she is writing about her own struggles--once she gets into others' it becomes voyeuristic and felt uncomfortable to read.

i really loved the author's exploration of various people involved in the mental health field, from their diagnoses, treatment, and experiences in facilities. I also appreciated her discussing her own journey.