Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

What if the therapist helping others navigate their lives suddenly finds herself in crisis and needs therapy too? Lori Gottlieb's Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is a funny, moving, and deeply honest memoir that follows five people in therapy—including Gottlieb herself—revealing how we deceive ourselves, resist change, and ultimately discover who we are through the vulnerable work of being truly seen by another person.

This isn't a clinical guide to therapy—it's the intimate, behind-the-scenes story of what actually happens in the room. Gottlieb weaves together her work with four clients (a self-destructive newlywed, a narcissistic TV producer, a dying woman, and a young woman who can't stop drinking) with her own therapy sessions after a devastating breakup sends her to a therapist she calls Wendell. Through these interwoven stories, she explores how we all struggle with the same fundamental questions: How do we change? Why do we resist what's good for us? What does it mean to live a meaningful life? This is self-discovery through the therapeutic process—learning who you are by examining the stories you tell yourself and finding the courage to change them.

What You'll Discover

• What actually happens in therapy from both sides of the couch
• How we construct narratives about our lives that keep us stuck
• Why change is so difficult even when we desperately want it
• The universal struggles we all face: love, loss, meaning, mortality, identity
• How being truly seen and heard by another person facilitates healing and growth
• Honest, funny, and heartbreaking insights into the human condition and self-deception

Gottlieb writes with warmth, humor, and unflinching honesty about her own vulnerabilities and blind spots. This book has become a phenomenon because it shows that therapists are human too, that we all struggle with the same questions, and that self-discovery requires the courage to be vulnerable and the willingness to examine the stories we've been telling ourselves. It's about learning that you're not alone in your struggles and that change is possible when you're willing to do the work.

What stories are you telling yourself? What would change if you examined them honestly? Gottlieb's New York Times bestseller—beloved by millions—offers profound companionship for anyone navigating therapy, seeking to understand themselves better, or simply trying to live a more authentic and meaningful life.

Perfect for: Anyone in therapy or considering therapy, readers seeking honest accounts of the therapeutic process, those interested in psychology and human behavior, people navigating life transitions or relationship challenges, anyone committed to self-examination and personal growth through vulnerability and honest self-reflection.

Hardcover edition. A New York Times bestseller offering an intimate, funny, and moving look at therapy, change, and self-discovery from both sides of the couch.