"From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world--where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she)"--

"One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives--a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys--she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell. With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change. [This book] is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them." --

Gottlieb, a therapist with a Los Angeles practice, faced a crisis that caused her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist who seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but. Now Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change. -- adapted from jacket

Part one.

Idiots ; If the Queen had balls ; Space of a step ; Smart one or the hot one ; Namast'ay in bed ; Finding Wendell ; Beginning of knowing ; Rosie ; Snapshots of ourselves ; Future is also the present ; Goodbye, Hollywood ; Welcome to Holland ; How kids deal with grief ; Harold and Maude ; Hold the mayo ; Whole package ; Without memory or desire --

Part two.

Fridays at four ; What we dream of ; First confession ; Therapy with a condom on ; Jail ; Trader Joe's ; Hello, family ; UPS guy ; Embarrassing public encounters ; Wendell's mother ; Addicted ; Rapist ; On the clock --

Part three.

My wandering uterus ; Emergency session ; Karma ; Just be ; Would you rather? ; Speed of want ; Ultimate concerns ; Legoland ; How humans change ; Fathers ; Integrity versus despair ; My neshama ; What not to say to a dying person ; Boyfriend's email ; Wendell's beard --

Part four.

Bees ; Kenya ; Psychological immune system ; Counseling versus therapy ; Deathzilla ; Dear Myron ; Mothers ; Hug ; Don't blow it ; It's my party and you'll cry if you want to ; Happiness is sometimes ; Wendell ; A pause in the conversation