For the Time Being is a modern look at mental illness, specifically the challenges persons with Bi-Polar Disorder face. There are three clear shifts in narrative, each corresponding with various shifts in plot direction within the story. The longest of these "sections" is the first, which answers the question: what happens when a five-foot-nine, one-hundred-fifty-pound human being ingests five times the prescribed dosage of their medication and lies down for a nap? The second part takes us through the treatment the narrator receives after trying to take his own life and is a sensational and brutally honest look at life in the ER. The third lands the reader in the hospital, fully committed, a patient of the state.