Elyn Saks is a graduate of Yale Law School, a Marshall Scholar, and graduate of Oxford University. Dr. Saks is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and holds a Ph.D. in psychoanalytic science. She is Associate Dean and Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry at the University of Southern California, and is a prolific academic and educator. Dr. Saks also lives with schizophrenia. In her gripping memoir, Dr. Saks described the progress of navigating her early symptoms of schizophrenia as a child, leading up to her first psychotic break during her studies at Oxford University. Later, as a student at Yale, Dr. Saks was force-fed antipsychotic medications and left in restraints for hours at a time. By the time her diagnosis was confirmed, doctors declared her prognosis as "grave." In her story, Dr. Saks wrote with intimacy and vulnerability as she shared details of her hallucinations and delusions, her passion and perseverance for her work, and how she has found love and friendship while living with schizophrenia.

Saks' memoir is profoundly insightful for counselors who may work in a hospital setting or with any client living with schizophrenia. Dr. Saks described how talk therapy helped her to live a healthy life and continues to help her struggles with not only the symptoms of her illness but also the stigma of taking medication. It is worth noting the amount of financial resources she has had in her life to help her with this journey and to be mindful of how privilege impacted the prognosis of living with schizophrenia. Overall, Dr. Saks' story is a testimony to the healing power of talk therapy, and how – combined with the right medication – it saved her life.