Sometimes I feel like going to therapy is a lonely experience because there's very few people in my life that I can celebrate my progress with, so I like to read about other people's stories in books.
I've read both fiction and non-fiction books with this topic:
– Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb
– Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner
– Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
– Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford
– Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
– The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
I've found I've enjoyed the ones that can balance a little humor with all the heavy stuff. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it 🙂
by morrigandalf
17 Comments
Big Little Lies
A Million Tomorrows by Kris Middaugh — therapy sessions aren’t throughout but it’s an integral piece of the story.
If you want non-fiction, Loud in the House of Myself by Stacy Pershall isn’t necessarily in sessions but it’s a deep look (first-person POV) inside some pretty severe mental health issues.
Both are pretty short, quick reads.
My book club just read Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan and therapy and healing are very central themes in that book. It is mostly a straight up spicy romance, which isn’t normally our thing but I thought it still had good messages about therapy.
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-Hee. It’s translated from Korean. I didn’t love it and it’s a memoir. She recorded her therapy sessions. At the end, you hear from the therapist too.
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb. It’s nonfiction. The author is a therapist and she writes about being a therapist as well as someone who is on therapy. I really enjoyed it.
Postcards from the Edge, by Carrie Fisher.
Therapy with a twist – Favorite Daughter by Morgan Dick
Your Voice In My Head – by Emma Forest
Beautiful work about her experience with mental illness and healing
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
Tell Me Who You Are by Louisa Luna–it’s a thriller about a therapist in Brooklyn!
Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. It’s definitely a lot darker/heavier than Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, but still had things I found funny. If you do the audio book it includes recordings of her actual sessions.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Mosfegh. Super kooky therapist.
If you like science fiction, Gateway by Frederik Pohl.
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. In my top 5 of all time.
Gateway by Frederik Pohl