Excerpt from The Blind by A.F. Brady, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

We take so much of our power for granted; it only really exists because our patients aren't aware of their ability to fight against it. And then this guy comes in and starts unsettling everything. I guess I respect him, in a way. I had been napping in my office hoping that something would change, and I guess this guy may be the one to change it.

October 19th, 1:15 P.M.

"Okay, guys, what does hereditary mean?" I'm running a group counseling session. This is a psychoeducational group, so I'm supposed to be helping my patients understand their diagnoses. So often psychiatrists will tell a patient that he or she has something and then never explain in plain English what it means.

"It means it runs in your family, right?" This is Tashawndra. She had eleven children. Every single one of them has been removed from her custody by social services. She isn't sure of the whereabouts of most of them, and she believes that two of them are dead, but isn't positive. This is her reality.

"That's exactly right—it means there is a genetic component. So which mental illnesses have a genetic component?" I'm up on top of the desk, where I usually sit.

"Cancer. My mom had breast cancer and I had to go get checked for it because she had it, but I didn't have it." Lucy.

"That's right. Cancer has a big genetic component to it, so it's important to get checked out if someone in your family has it. But what about mental illnesses? What about the kinds of things we treat here?"

"All of 'em, right? I know that if your parents or your brother is addicted to drugs that you will probably get addicted to drugs, too. And people here are getting treated for that. You treat drug addicts here. And sometimes, if your family is depressed, you could get depressed, too." Tashawndra.

"Yeah, that's a big one," I say, wagging my finger in her direction. "Depression has a genetic component. So does schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and many of the other problems we treat here."

"So you're fucked, huh? If your mom is schizophrenic, then you can't stop it from happening to you, huh? It's like you're born fucked over. You're born to be crazy, right? Ha, like 'Born to Be Bad,' that song? Born to be crazy." Tyler. Tyler has schizophrenia. At twenty-two years old, he's very advanced for his age. He seems to have a greater understanding of the world that the rest of us missed somehow. He's at peace with things that the rest of us struggle with. Tyler has forgiven.

"Well, no, not always. And watch your language. When you have a genetic predisposition, which means when someone in your family has a disorder, then sometimes you will get it and sometimes you won't. It depends on what else happens in your life. It depends on whether or not you are exposed to things that will help you stay well, or things that will make you get sick." I'm bouncing my heels off the front of the desk.

"What kind of stuff makes you sick? Like drugs and stuff?" Tyler. "Because I know my brother did drugs in school with his friend, and then he was crazy after that. He got locked up but he was crazy, man. He never acted like that before he did those drugs."

"Drugs, sure. That's a significant one, actually." I'm nodding and explaining, bright-eyed. "Also, poverty, abuse, growing up without both parents, not being able to get enough food or go to school. They are kind of like strikes against you. So, if you have the gene in you to get depression or schizophrenia, and then you have these strikes in your life, too, you could end up with the diagnosis."

"Like three strikes, you're out, right?" Tyler. He and I talk baseball in the hallways. I'm afraid of running into him one day at Yankee Stadium.

Excerpted from The Blind by Alex Brady. Copyright © 2017 by Alex Brady. Excerpted by permission of Park Row Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.