Interrogating the Stories We Tell About Our Minds
About this episode
Klein speaks with New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv about her book 'Strangers to Ourselves,' which asks how the stories we tell about mental illness shape who we become. They begin with Swedish children of asylum seekers who fell into a coma-like 'resignation syndrome' — and why it took such a culturally specific form. Aviv reflects on her own childhood anorexia diagnosis and how labels can both explain and trap. The conversation moves through striking cases: Ray Osheroff, a depressed doctor whose grievance story distorted his reality; Bapu, an Indian mother torn between religious devotion and a schizophrenia diagnosis; and Naomi, a young Black mother whose realistic fears of racist violence became entangled with psychosis in tragedy. They also discuss the ethics of writing about suicide and whether destigmatization can backfire, closing with three book recommendations.