She does this by gently and constantly explaining to the reader what exactly therapists are trying to do with their patients, sharing language and frameworks. There’s something satisfyingly voyeuristic and intimate about getting to listen in on anyone else’s therapy, a feeling Gottlieb amplifies by contextualizing what is actually happening in each session from a more clinical perspective.

Send me updates about Slate special offers. The subtitle- A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed-makes clear that this book will attempt to invert our normal perception of therapists by putting its subject on the couch. (I’ve personally found it so worthwhile that I don’t even think my friends need to have “real” problems to try it.) On the other hand are people like my mother, who just last week asked me, “Are you still seeing your … person? Aren’t you healed by now?” This may (doubly) explain why I am such a susceptible audience for Lori Gottlieb’s new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

On the one hand, there are people like me, who exist in a somewhat constant state of telling people that they ought to at least consider seeing someone professionally. There are many simplistic but entertaining binaries by which to classify the types of people in the world, but one I find to be instructive is whether you believe in therapy. Roman Polanski, David Bowie, and a New Solution to the Problem of Art Made by Monstrous Men Guess What? This Mystery Story Written by Robots Is Kind of Good! The Four-Month Scandal That Made Martin Amis the Center of the Literary World He’s One of Twitter’s Most Beloved Writers.

Maybe you should see someone