What Was It Like Writing Strangers to Ourselves

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Mental health is often framed as an epidemic of mental illness, but it's actually just all these people responding to this horrible thing that has happened. And so it's natural to like find everyone in the state of feeling totally alone and distressed. So I'm going to read the quote as a quote from the book. It says, there are stories that save us and stories that trap us. In the midst of an illness, it can be very hard to know which is which.

Rachel Aviv is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her new book is Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us.

“I used to feel that if I knew everything, that was a good sign. And I've become more aware that if you know everything you want to argue, that's not such a good sign…. Do I have a genuine question? Is there something I’m trying to figure out? Then the story is worth telling. But if I don’t really have a question or if my question is already answered, then maybe that should give you pause.”

Show notes: