Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

By Lori Gottlieb

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is a nonfiction work authored by Lori Gottlieb, a practicing therapist in Los Angeles, California. In this insightful examination of the therapeutic process, Gottlieb chronicles the cases of four patients: John, Julie, Charlotte, and Rita. But these cases are set against the backdrop of a more significant therapeutic endeavor, her own. After a personal crisis, Gottlieb seeks therapy for herself and finds she is facing the challenges and stimulation of establishing rapport with her new therapist, Wendall. It is from this case that the book develops into a heartrending and edifying analysis of the elements of humanity and the positive growth that can emerge from seeking the answers within ourselves.

After decades of teaching graduate students the foundational elements of what it means to be a counselor, this book captured so many of the lessons and knowledge that establishes this solid floor. While reading Gottlieb’s account, I found myself nodding frequently and being somewhat in awe of the broad array of theory and technique she skillfully wove together through this narrative. She interlaces the theories of Irving Yalom’s existential therapy, James Prochaska’s transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM), cognitive therapy, and others. In addition, she shares nuggets of wisdom on both the therapeutic process and human behavior that she’s acquired throughout her education, training, and both personal and professional experience.

When a therapist finds that the therapeutic approach being used is not effective:

“when something isn’t working, do something different”

A lesson learned during her internship:

“avoidance is a simple way of coping by not having to cope”

She quotes her college dean:

“Being a therapist is going to require a blend of the cognitive and the creative . . . There’s an artistry in combining the two.”

This last quote is something I have shared with my own students many times over the years. Therapy is a beautiful combination of art and science. It is most successful only when these two are turning together in synchrony. When this harmony is present, it is remarkable what can be accomplished.

—N. Jung

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

By Oliver Sacks

Before you even open this book to the first page, you can’t help but to expect something profound. After all, Oliver Sacks is the author of Awakenings, a story about a group of victims of encephalitis lethargic who were engaged in a comatose state for decades until a new doctor at their hospital discovered a cure. The book was adapted as a major motion picture and nominated for an Academy Award. If you hadn’t read any of his works prior to seeing this movie, you are in for a treat.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a collection of 24 case studies of patients diagnosed with various neurological disorders primarily related to damage to the right hemisphere of the brain. Disorders introduced through case studies include (but are not limited to): visual agnosia (prosopagnosia), tonal agnosia, retrograde amnesia related to Korsakov’s syndrome, sensory neuropathies, problems in proprioception, Parkinson’s, Tourette’s and Autism. The book is around 233 pages and was first published in 1970. Although not necessary, some background in biological science is helpful when reading through the cases and notes. However, it can certainly be appreciated by those not in the field.

Since the publication of this compilation of case studies, the link between the brain and behavior has been explored even further, with newer research being published on the topics introduced. In his footnotes, the author himself notes that he has learned more about some of the disorders presented since he originally wrote the book. But the introduction of current research is neither the foundation nor purpose of this book, it is the eloquent depiction of serious neurological disorders and how they are manifested in patients. Yes, it touches on the science and testing involved in the diagnosis of these disorders, but it offers much more than that. It is a poignant memoir of lives touched by brain dysfunction and pathology.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat offers insight into the heartache, loss, perseverance and hope of the patients who are presented. It makes you appreciate the brain and its mystery as well as its power. You are reminded that the most primitive functions of the brain serve a purpose further than sustaining basic life forces, but are a necessary component for higher level analysis and reasoning. The vitality of memories, whether good or bad, feed our human spirit. It is the ability to remember the past, whether recent or remote, that forms our ability to live in the present.

—N. Jung

Book Review: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

A Review: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat