I consider reading advice columns my guilty pleasure, and I have several on rotation throughout the week. I was reading The Atlantic’s ‘Dear Therapist’ this week, when below the byline I noticed that the eponymous Therapist, Lori Gottlieb, has published a book: ‘Maybe You Should Talk To Someone’. I got it from the library and inhaled it in two sittings on a long return train journey.
I am a therapist myself, although in a different modality to Gottlieb, and I was engrossed by her writing about the process of therapy with her clients. I haven’t read anything else that captures the nuances of therapy in this way; the constant consideration of how to approach the client, the ethical concerns, the improvisation and adaptation that is continually occurring. Gottlieb’s care for her patients and the deep quality of attention she gives to them shines through, and shows the power of what therapy can ideally achieve.
I was less engaged by the parallel thread of Gottlieb attending her own therapy with another psychotherapist she names Wendell. Early in the book she is talking in a session with Wendell when he “lightly kicks” her and makes a quip that she was enjoying her pain so much he wanted to add to it. My eyes bulged out of my head reading this and I never quite warmed to Wendell afterwards, although she clearly found their therapy helpful and transformative. I wondered if perhaps being in the role of the patient led Gottlieb to be less insightful about this experience than in her role as therapist, or if it was simply my personal preference.
Has anyone else enjoyed or had a particular reaction to this book? Did you feel it accurately depicted therapy in your experience?
by floatswithgoats