Inspired by his own brother’s strug­gle with bipo­lar dis­or­der over many years, Bergn­er set out to explore the field of psy­chi­a­try, where the reliance on often prob­lem­at­ic med­ica­tions has been the main form of treat­ment for over 40 years — decades with no sign of true progress in the devel­op­ment of psy­chi­atric drugs. The result is a propul­sive nar­ra­tive that com­bines per­son­al reflec­tion and rich char­ac­ter pro­files with deeply researched insights into the sci­ence of our brains, the his­to­ry of how we treat men­tal ill­ness, and pos­si­ble alter­na­tive forms of treatments.