Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb

In the category of psychology books, apparently this book is pretty much a must have. It took me forever to get it from the library, my psychology fan friend read it, and most importantly, my psychologist mother read it AND loved it. I have to admit that I don't really see how anyone could not like this book.

Summary

Lori Gottlieb is a psychologist, and a misguided person might think that she has figured out life and can "treat" herself. Wrong. When her boyfriend leaves her after two years because he realizes he doesn't want to live with a child (she has a little boy), she becomes classic: she cries non-stop, ruminates, rants with her friends and puts herself down alternately. When someone suggests that she see a shrink, she goes hoping that the shrink will confirm that her ex is indeed a sociopath.

He won't do that, of course. Instead, as she does with her own clients, he will help her sort out her emotions and get to the heart of the matter. He will help her see a host of things she was barely aware of, while she helps her clients navigate their own problems. This is how we, the readers, can realize that psychologists are human too, and that as clients, we can teach them as much as they teach us.

Impressions

I really, really enjoyed this book. Lori Gottlieb is funny, brilliant and very human. She admits her weaknesses without lacking confidence in herself. We feel privileged to witness her journey with her psychologist.

But I think my favorite part of the book was meeting her patients. She talks about a few of them: a young woman with self-destructive tendencies, a highly unpleasant man who hides a tender heart, a suicidal older woman, and a woman in her thirties condemned to death by cancer. I could relate a little to each of these people, and it was their stories that touched me the most. I cried at the end, of course. It was really beautiful.

I think this book is suitable for people who are already in therapy as well as for people who have never been in therapy. If I wasn't already in therapy, I'd be tempted to go. There's not much more important than what's going on in your head.

P.S. Do you know Dear Therapists? This is a podcast where Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch do a therapy encounter with someone different each time, and I like it. In English only.