Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery is a look at the therapeutic psychological practice of Catherine Gildiner, a fascinating memoir of how she dealt with five clients, all so severely emotionally damaged that they had to be superheroes to have survived their early lives. Gildiner charts her own course, beginning with her very first patient, as she learns the things she didn’t learn in her formalized schooling. She gradually becomes able to modify her approach to handle the specifics of a client’s case and writes about their growth and her own with grace, humor, and humility.
In this compilation, the reader meets five of Gildiner’s most difficult cases. She expertly grapples such diverse and difficult topics as child abuse, neglect, abandonment, gender-based violence, sexual abuse and trauma. These people have been so psychologically traumatized that they developed maladaptive behaviors such as trauma-based triggers, denial, and shame to compensate, yet their spirits remain indomitable. They choose to deal with these internal issues, to heal themselves, to grow emotionally, to become “whole” rather than persist in these behaviors. Originally, they sought help from Dr. Gildiner for a single issue, but as they dealt with that one, others appeared as Gildiner unpeeled the “onion” of their souls.
These stories are about recovery from childhood trauma with the requisite emotional recovery and growth; thus they are both difficult to read because of the subject matter, yet heartwarming, heartbreaking, and inspirational. Gildiner offers a glimpse of the role of the psychotherapist: to become involved in a reciprocal relationship to help clients resolve their innermost issues.
As a family practice physician, I enjoyed this glimpse into a practitioner of a related field. Many times, as a primary care physician, I’ve had to refer patients to therapists, and it was interesting to see the inner workings of psychologist and patient.
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Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recoveryis available through:
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