Strangers to Ourselves

I loved this book because it addressed what I think is at the heart of much of our mental health crisis – that the stories that we tell ourselves can shape our mental health.

As a therapist, I know intuitively that how we think about our distress can shape the course that our illness takes. Does the story promote resilience and flexibility? Or does it fragilize us and lead to worse mental health?

Aviv tells compelling stories from a number of cultures that helped me explore these important questions further. 

Before I’d finished the prologue to Rachel Aviv’s book, I’d already begun recommending it to other people. Her incisive and curious approach to questions of what constitutes mental illness, who gets to decide, and the personal impact of diagnostic labels and treatments—ranging from intensive psychoanalysis to medication—is exactly what our culture needs right now.

The book is structured as a series of case studies but reads more like a collection of interlinked short stories, full of vivid prose and fully realized human characters. Aviv is compassionate toward her subjects without ever condescending; she is critical of our mental health and… show more.

I was deeply captivated by the intensity of the stories of traumatized individuals and the level of intimacy that Ms. Aviv was able to achieve for each one of them. Having access to the journals of most of the characters in the book is not something you come across often.

I felt invited to use compassion and understanding as I kept reading. I was profoundly moved by the struggles recounted and the way they helped me accept that some trauma cases can't be effectively treated without medication.