What happens if you are a professional therapist
with a life crisis and you need help and support?

You visit a therapist.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb is a New York Times bestseller—and not a book I would have read on my own. But thanks to my neighborhood book club, I’m glad I did.

Lori, a therapist, is blindsided by a breakup with a boyfriend she believed was “the one.” Falling apart, she asks a fellow therapist for a recommendation—for a friend. When she meets Wendell, her new therapist, she’s skeptical. His methods feel off at first, even irritating. But as her sessions progress, she realizes Wendell’s insights are strikingly similar to the advice she gives her own clients. And slowly, she uncovers that her breakup is only the surface of her deeper emotional struggle.

Lori also introduces us to four of her patients (with identities concealed):

• John, a sharp-tongued TV writer who thinks everyone else is the problem.
• Julie, a newlywed facing terminal cancer.
• Rita, a 69-year-old woman burdened by her past, who plans to end her life at 70.
• Charlotte, a twenty-something who repeatedly sabotages herself due to deep childhood wounds.

As Lori works with her patients—and through her own healing—she explores the complexity of emotional growth, vulnerability, and the long road to reconciliation.

Honest, Insightful, and Sometimes Witty

While many reviews call this book “funny,” I found that a bit misleading. It’s warm, often witty, and deeply honest. Written in a memoir style, it also offers a behind-the-scenes look at therapy from both the therapist and client perspectives.

Gottlieb explains that therapy isn’t just hard for patients—it challenges therapists, too. Clients want to be seen and helped but also admired. Therapists must balance support with growth, nudging people toward their own realizations. “The most powerful truths… are those they come to, little by little, on their own.”

Not all the stories end neatly, and Lori grapples with how personally involved a therapist should become. One standout moment for me was when Wendell gently kicks Lori’s foot mid-session while she’s crying over her ex. When she asks why, he replies: “There’s a difference between pain and suffering. You’re not choosing the pain, but you’re choosing the suffering.” It’s a breakthrough for Lori—and a powerful insight for any reader.

Another insight stuck with me: As an intern, Lori once complained with colleagues about how long it would take to become licensed. An older instructor overheard and said, “What does it matter what age you are when that happens? Either way, you won’t get today back.” A timely reminder to live fully, even in the in-between.

Loneliness Beneath It All

Later in her career, Lori reflects: “No matter the circumstances, there seemed to be this common element of loneliness… a craving for, but a lack of, strong human connection.” Her patients rarely name it, but it runs quietly through their stories—and hers.

Interestingly, the book she was supposed to be writing during this season wasn’t this one. But through the personal and professional challenges she shares, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone became the book that needed to be written.

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