In Strangers to Ourselves, Rachel Aviv presents a series of portraits of mental illness, portraits that call into question a raft of preconceived notions about what it means to be considered insane. Aviv’s collection is one of the most evenhanded arguments for reconsideration of how we treat the mentally ill. It’s not a polemic against Big Pharma. It’s also not a call to ditch psychiatry wholesale. Instead, Aviv shows us that mental illness is just really complicated.

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.