This is more of a memoir of a doctor who suffered from bipolar disease in the 1930s and 1940s. His daughter had the book published and is based on his journal and medical records. There weren't any drugs known to treat mental illness back then and so patients were treated brutally as a way to "cure" them. This man was on the forefront of research to treat mental illness but he wasn't able to finish his studies because his illness was debilitating.