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A review by kalypsowolf
Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv
informative
reflective
sad
4.5
Every story told in this book touches on very important aspects of how our modern western understanding of psychiatry and psychology has blind spots or in a lot of cases is deeply flawed (see also: medical racism, sexism and colonialism). This is a much needed book in so many ways. Even though I recognized a lot of flaws in the system already (especially since I've been dealing with it since I was young), there were some things that I just hadn't thought about before and it really made me reflect on some of my own biases about medical treatment that I didn't even really know I had.
While I loved what this book was accomplishing, there were times when it kind of lulled. Mainly in some of the parts where it talks about the history of psychiatrics and psychology it got a little bogged down by just how much information there was to take in. And when you have sections like that in an already very heavy and difficult read it made me struggle to get through certain parts even when I found the main story really compelling and interesting.
Some of these stories are just really heartbreaking, though. Especially the epilogue. I left closing the book sobbing, so if you're like me and are really sensitive, be prepared to cry. This book is very much telling people's stories in what I see as an attempt to foster empathy and conversation, not just being analytical about the situation, so there is a lot of emotion in what is being written. At least in my opinion, anyway.
While I loved what this book was accomplishing, there were times when it kind of lulled. Mainly in some of the parts where it talks about the history of psychiatrics and psychology it got a little bogged down by just how much information there was to take in. And when you have sections like that in an already very heavy and difficult read it made me struggle to get through certain parts even when I found the main story really compelling and interesting.
Some of these stories are just really heartbreaking, though. Especially the epilogue. I left closing the book sobbing, so if you're like me and are really sensitive, be prepared to cry. This book is very much telling people's stories in what I see as an attempt to foster empathy and conversation, not just being analytical about the situation, so there is a lot of emotion in what is being written. At least in my opinion, anyway.