Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

 Title: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
by: Lori Gottlieb 

Summary: 
A fascinating backstory (Lori goes through broadcasting & medical school before she decides to become a therapist) leads to many insights and a successful practice as a therapist. While Lori's relationship with Boyfriend is how we're introduced to the story, it thankfully is not what the entire book is about & only gets referenced throughout in a relatable way. 
The famous stages of grief are shared in the text: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, & acceptance and stand as a reminder of our humanity; everyone suffers grief in their lives.  How you tolerate or cope with the grief is what makes you distinct, and some people need a therapist to hear them out and talk them through better life decisions. 
She has a lot of interesting anecdotes and quite a few entertaining clients, & it's somewhat enlightening to see her start meeting with a therapist, while she continues her sessions as a therapist to others. I thought it was profound that many presenting issues that come up in a therapy session are rarely the root of the problem. 


Quotes: 
"There is a continuing decision to be made as to whether to evade pain, or to tolerate it & therefore modify it." 

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." - Einstein

"The opposite of depression isn't happiness, but vitality." 

"Regret can go one of two ways: it can either shackle you to the past or serve as an engine for change." 

"Sometimes people can't identify their feelings because they were talked out of them as children." 

"Avoidance is a simple way of coping by not having to cope."  

"You can't mute one emotion without muting the others. You want to mute the pain? You'll also mute the joy." 

"Whereas Freud believed that people are driven to seek pleasure & avoid pain, Frankl maintained that people's primary drive isn't toward pleasure but toward finding meaning in their lives. ....
Between stimulus & response there is a space. in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth & our freedom." 

My rating: 3.5 (a pretty raw & real read; some language, especially when quoting her patient John.)