The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Aviv, Rachel. Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.

Rachel Aviv's Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us is a work of nonfiction. The text is divided into six sections, each of which traces the life and story of a distinct individual. Aviv writes predominantly from her first person point of view, but also incorporates the voices, opinions, and writings of experts and subjects throughout. The following summary relies upon a streamlined mode of explanation.

In the prologue, "Rachel," Aviv tells her own story. When she was just six years old, she was hospitalized after refusing to eat and drink for several months. She was soon diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Because she had just begun to read, Rachel had no concept of what the eating disorder entailed. She also did not understand the ways in which manipulating her body might beget a more idealized version of beauty. While on the ward, Rachel met two girls, Carrie and Hava, whose behaviors she began to imitate. Although she did adopt some of their disordered habits, anorexia ultimately failed to satisfy Rachel's evolving sense of self.

In "Ray," Ray was admitted to the Chestnut Lodge after a prolonged period of detachment from his daily, family, and vocational lives. He was soon diagnosed with melancholia, which his doctor attributed to Ray's obsession with his past missteps. Although Ray spent several years at the hospital, his mother believed they were doing nothing to help her son. She soon had him transferred to Silver Hill, an institution that embraced the use of antidepressants, much unlike the Lodge. After leaving Silver Hill, Ray sued the Lodge for failing to cure him. In the wake of his settlement, he tried returning to his life, but ultimately could not reengage with his relationships and reality.

In "Bapu," not long after Bapu married and had two children, Bhargavi and Karthik, Bapu became determined to cast off her bodily and worldly needs. She devoted herself entirely to Krishna. Her seemingly delusional spirituality inspired her family to have her committed. She was soon diagnosed with schizophrenia. Because the diagnosis pathologized her spirituality, Bapu refused to take her medications following her release from the hospital. Although she lived as a social pariah for years, her community later came to regard her as a saint and a healer. To honor her mother's memory and to help others like her, Bhargavi founded the non-profit Bapu Trust.

In "Naomi," after Naomi began educating herself about the history of Black oppression in America, she became overwhelmed by despair. In an attempt to free herself and her two infant sons from this oppression, she threw all three of them over a bridge. A man on the riverbank saved her and one of her sons. The other baby died and Naomi was soon incarcerated for second-degree murder. Following her release, she gained insight into her illness and pursued healing through song.

In "Laura," Laura's repressive upbringing consigned her to a stifling mode of being. Unable to satisfy her family's and community's rigid codes of behavior, Laura descended into despair. She was eventually diagnosed with depression, and later with borderline personality disorder. After years of taking medications to cope with these conditions, Laura decided to taper off all of her prescriptions. She knew doing so would not cure her, but it did effectively grant her access to new emotions and sensations.

In the epilogue, "Hava," after talking to the doctors who treated her at Children's Hospital of Michigan, Aviv went in search of Hava. She quickly discovered Hava had died after throwing up and asphyxiating in her sleep. Conversations with Hava's father, mother, and boyfriend Tim granted Aviv insight into Hava's lifelong struggle with anorexia.