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صباح الخير أيها الوحش
هذا كتاب عن خمسةِ أشخاصٍ أعتبِرهم أبطالَ حروبٍ نفسيةٍ، لا جدالَ أن المعارك التي خاضوها تركت لديهم ندوبًا، لكنهم انتصروا انتصارًا حقيقيًّا. إن مَهمَّة البطل هي الخلود والعودة، أيْ إنَّ البطل يصل إلى الكمال عبر فعلٍ فريدٍ تتجسد به الشجاعة، وبه يُولد البطل من جديد، ليعلِّمَنا -نحن الناشئين- الدروس التي خبرها، وكتابي هذا هو أسلوبي للإشادة بهؤلاء الأبطال المنتصرين، وتصويرهم وهم يسردون حكاياتِهم المُرعبة المُثمرة، حين تحتَّم على كلٍّ منهم ضرب عنق وحش مختلف، حيث استخدم كلُّ واحد منهم سلاحًا مختلفًا، واستعان باستراتيجية حربية مختلفة. للوهلة الأولى قد يبدو هؤلاء الخمسة غاية في الاختلاف، لكننا نكتشف، بعد تقشير الطبقات الخارجية، أن احتياجاتهم اللاواعية متشابهة إلى حدٍّ مُدهش، وأننا جميعًا في حاجة إلى الشعور بأننا محبوبون لنعيش حياةً طيبةً. ما يُعلِّمُه لنا هؤلاء الخمسة هو أن كلَّ واحد منا يستطيع أن يكون بطلًا، فهم يظهرون لنا كيفية الغوص في أعماق أنفسنا وتسليط الضوء على جوانبها الخفية، واكتشاف ما يقبع في تلك الزوايا المظلمة، ثم جرُّه إلى الضوء جرًّا، وأخيرًا مواجهته. لقد ساروا في رحلتهم بكل بسالة وسلكوا الطرق المجهولة سعيًا للتغيير، وبذلك يذكروننا بأننا نستطيع التغلُّب على مخاوفنا وكسر الحدود التي فرضناها على أنفسنا حين التبس علينا الانحباس والأمان، وأخيرًا يبثون الإلهام في قلوبنا بتبيُّنِهم أن كل مراجعة للنفس إنما هي الشجاعة بعينها. هؤلاء الشجعان تركوا بداخلي أثرًا لا يُمحى في أثناء وجودهم بالعلاج النفسي، وآمل أن تلهمك شجاعتهم كذلك.
360 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2020
7654 people are currently reading
98033 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Gildiner
11 books688 followersCatherine has written two best selling memoirs. The first is called TOO CLOSE TO THE FALLS and was on the best seller's lists for two years. It is about working full time from the age of four.
Her next memoir AFTER THE FALLS covers her teenage and college years where she got involved in civil rights and was investigated by the FBI.
COMING ASHORE, her final memoir is coming out this fall. It is about her years at Oxford, The U.S. and finally Canada. This book shares the joy of those few years in your twenties after you leave home and before Adult responsibilities crowd in.
She has also written a novel, SEDUCTION, a thriller about Darwin and Freud. It was chosen by DER SPIEGAL as one of the ten best mysteries.
She is a unique writer in that she was a psychologist for many years and only became a writer at the age of 50. Shows anything is possible.
She lives in Toronto with her husband and has three grown sons.
Her next memoir AFTER THE FALLS covers her teenage and college years where she got involved in civil rights and was investigated by the FBI.
COMING ASHORE, her final memoir is coming out this fall. It is about her years at Oxford, The U.S. and finally Canada. This book shares the joy of those few years in your twenties after you leave home and before Adult responsibilities crowd in.
She has also written a novel, SEDUCTION, a thriller about Darwin and Freud. It was chosen by DER SPIEGAL as one of the ten best mysteries.
She is a unique writer in that she was a psychologist for many years and only became a writer at the age of 50. Shows anything is possible.
She lives in Toronto with her husband and has three grown sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,519 reviews
March 5, 2021
I recently wrapped up my 3-star review of the uber-popular Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by saying maybe I should talk to someone…else. Well, I found her, and she’s a monster.
As of today, Lori Gottlieb’s therapy-themed memoir has 151,322 GR ratings. Meanwhile, Catherine Gildiner’s lesser-known Good Morning, Monster only has 2,251. I hope I can change that.
The book’s subtitle - A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery - is the perfect content summary. I was actually surprised to find that the patients she profiled weren’t psychopaths given the “monster” in the primary title. Rather, they were just people trying to be functioning adults after horrible (HORRIBLE) childhoods. Case in point, a woman whose hateful mother greeted her each day with, “good morning, monster.”
Gottlieb’s 368-page professional memoir is broken into five parts. Each part covers the start-to-finish treatment of one patient, and I loved this structure. Staying with someone from the beginning of their story to the end really helped me focus on their psychological growth and understand how the therapy worked. I found the author to be very candid in her successes and failures with these patients, sharing different strategies she implemented well and mistakes that caused setbacks. While I’m not in the psychology field, I learned a lot about human nature that’s easily applicable to everyday life.
I also appreciated that at the end of each section, she shared how she approached the patient to discuss including their story in the book. Hearing these details made it easier to not worry their confidences had been compromised. They wanted others to benefit from their experiences, and in that and many other regards, they were, in fact, heroes.
I highly recommend Good Morning, Monster to anyone who loved Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, or who like me was looking for something similar but someone else.
Oh and hey I made a blog! http://www.confettibookshelf.com
And a Bookstagram! @confettibookshelf
As of today, Lori Gottlieb’s therapy-themed memoir has 151,322 GR ratings. Meanwhile, Catherine Gildiner’s lesser-known Good Morning, Monster only has 2,251. I hope I can change that.
The book’s subtitle - A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery - is the perfect content summary. I was actually surprised to find that the patients she profiled weren’t psychopaths given the “monster” in the primary title. Rather, they were just people trying to be functioning adults after horrible (HORRIBLE) childhoods. Case in point, a woman whose hateful mother greeted her each day with, “good morning, monster.”
Gottlieb’s 368-page professional memoir is broken into five parts. Each part covers the start-to-finish treatment of one patient, and I loved this structure. Staying with someone from the beginning of their story to the end really helped me focus on their psychological growth and understand how the therapy worked. I found the author to be very candid in her successes and failures with these patients, sharing different strategies she implemented well and mistakes that caused setbacks. While I’m not in the psychology field, I learned a lot about human nature that’s easily applicable to everyday life.
I also appreciated that at the end of each section, she shared how she approached the patient to discuss including their story in the book. Hearing these details made it easier to not worry their confidences had been compromised. They wanted others to benefit from their experiences, and in that and many other regards, they were, in fact, heroes.
I highly recommend Good Morning, Monster to anyone who loved Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, or who like me was looking for something similar but someone else.
Oh and hey I made a blog! http://www.confettibookshelf.com
And a Bookstagram! @confettibookshelf
Read
June 5, 2025oops totally forgot to mark this one as "read!" as someone that went to school for psychology and is absolutely fascinated by the human mind, i loved this book so much. i loved how honest the therapist was with us as readers, letting us know when she messed up or what she should have done differently, hindsight is always 20/20! please please pleaseeee check tws, this book has it all❤️🩹
June 28, 2024
5 giant stars!
My streak of outstanding reads continues. Though I have only read 31 books this year, the number of 5 stars books amongst that lot is remarkable. And the streak continues with Good Morning Monster.
This book is simply phenomenal! Catherine Gildiner is a now retired Canadian psychotherapist. Out of the thousands of clients she has treated over the years, she has picked five of her therapy “heroes” to write about—Laura, Peter, Danny, Alanna, and Madeleine. We are in the room with Ms. Gildiner as she works with these diverse patients with varied deep-seated psychological issues. Each one comes into therapy armed with complicated coping mechanisms and defensive strategies that prevent them from getting to the core of their issues. It is fascinating to see how all five, with the help of Ms. Gildiner, did the heavy lifting and fought the battle to get to the point where they for the most part conquered their demons and went on to much better lives.
I was hooked immediately, and my interest did not flag for a single second. This book is gold. Every one of the five individual journeys proved to be highly inspirational and incredibly interesting. I learned so much about the power of the human subconscious and the ability of psychotherapy to break through. These types of issues are not something that can be untangled in a couple of weeks; all of the patients were in therapy for 4-5 years. But if you ask any one of them, it was worth it.
Bonus points for the fact that Ms. Gildiner gave “decades later” follow on each patient. Extra credit too for the fact that I picked up a suggestion or two that I might try in my own life. And I have to say my eyes welled up at the end simply because the book was done. No more sessions with these beautiful people and Ms. Gildiner. My next book is going to have to fight my “book hangover.”
I chose this book after reading Lori Gottlieb’s “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” another winner. Anyone who liked that one will surely love this one. I think it hasn’t gotten the attention Ms. Gottlieb’s book did at this stage of the game because of the odd title (which I finally understood in the last chapters). Don’t let that deter you from grabbing a copy of this truly inspirational and educational book that will make you think about yourself as well. Recommended for all.
Many thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Ms. Catherine Gildiner for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
Special thanks to my Goodreads friend Jennifer Tar Heel whose review made it clear I was not to miss this one. Thanks, Jennifer!
My streak of outstanding reads continues. Though I have only read 31 books this year, the number of 5 stars books amongst that lot is remarkable. And the streak continues with Good Morning Monster.
This book is simply phenomenal! Catherine Gildiner is a now retired Canadian psychotherapist. Out of the thousands of clients she has treated over the years, she has picked five of her therapy “heroes” to write about—Laura, Peter, Danny, Alanna, and Madeleine. We are in the room with Ms. Gildiner as she works with these diverse patients with varied deep-seated psychological issues. Each one comes into therapy armed with complicated coping mechanisms and defensive strategies that prevent them from getting to the core of their issues. It is fascinating to see how all five, with the help of Ms. Gildiner, did the heavy lifting and fought the battle to get to the point where they for the most part conquered their demons and went on to much better lives.
I was hooked immediately, and my interest did not flag for a single second. This book is gold. Every one of the five individual journeys proved to be highly inspirational and incredibly interesting. I learned so much about the power of the human subconscious and the ability of psychotherapy to break through. These types of issues are not something that can be untangled in a couple of weeks; all of the patients were in therapy for 4-5 years. But if you ask any one of them, it was worth it.
Bonus points for the fact that Ms. Gildiner gave “decades later” follow on each patient. Extra credit too for the fact that I picked up a suggestion or two that I might try in my own life. And I have to say my eyes welled up at the end simply because the book was done. No more sessions with these beautiful people and Ms. Gildiner. My next book is going to have to fight my “book hangover.”
I chose this book after reading Lori Gottlieb’s “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” another winner. Anyone who liked that one will surely love this one. I think it hasn’t gotten the attention Ms. Gottlieb’s book did at this stage of the game because of the odd title (which I finally understood in the last chapters). Don’t let that deter you from grabbing a copy of this truly inspirational and educational book that will make you think about yourself as well. Recommended for all.
Many thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Ms. Catherine Gildiner for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
Special thanks to my Goodreads friend Jennifer Tar Heel whose review made it clear I was not to miss this one. Thanks, Jennifer!
July 14, 2022
If you are looking for a book that tells you in detail what a therapist thinks about her clients and how she tries to help solve their problems, and you also want to read the tragic but true stories of people who were abandoned, neglected, suffered different forms of abuse, this could be the book for you.
First of all, Good Morning, Monster is heart-breaking, because the book tells the stories of real people and the horrors they had to endure over long periods of time. There are so many abysmal things these men and women went through that I found it hard to read on at times. The book made me cry more than once, and since the stories told are at times rather detailed, it is sometimes a long way in each story until you see the success, if you want to, you can call that the happy ending.
And there are definitely many descriptions that might trigger you, if you have a history of abuse, neglect, assault or trauma.
But second of all, Good Morning, Monster is a book that creates hope. In each of these stories, these traumatized people made it. They completed therapy successfully, and they have turned from hurt beings into people who can have a more positive approach to life again. They are real success stories.
And this is why I like this book so much. After abuse and trauma you might only feel isolated and numb, and finding people who can actually understand what you are going through is not necessarily easy then. You’ll find these, I hope. But sooner or later you might be able to see that there is a way of healing for you, and this is where I see a book like Good Morning, Monster can be extremely valuable. It can help create this little bit of hope that you might need to go on, or even help to push yourself a little bit further. You could actually be like the success stories written about by Dr. Gildiner, and since I love books that can create hope, Good Morning, Monster is definitely a 5 star book for me. Actually, more like a six star book. So, 6 out of 5 stars.
First of all, Good Morning, Monster is heart-breaking, because the book tells the stories of real people and the horrors they had to endure over long periods of time. There are so many abysmal things these men and women went through that I found it hard to read on at times. The book made me cry more than once, and since the stories told are at times rather detailed, it is sometimes a long way in each story until you see the success, if you want to, you can call that the happy ending.
And there are definitely many descriptions that might trigger you, if you have a history of abuse, neglect, assault or trauma.
But second of all, Good Morning, Monster is a book that creates hope. In each of these stories, these traumatized people made it. They completed therapy successfully, and they have turned from hurt beings into people who can have a more positive approach to life again. They are real success stories.
And this is why I like this book so much. After abuse and trauma you might only feel isolated and numb, and finding people who can actually understand what you are going through is not necessarily easy then. You’ll find these, I hope. But sooner or later you might be able to see that there is a way of healing for you, and this is where I see a book like Good Morning, Monster can be extremely valuable. It can help create this little bit of hope that you might need to go on, or even help to push yourself a little bit further. You could actually be like the success stories written about by Dr. Gildiner, and since I love books that can create hope, Good Morning, Monster is definitely a 5 star book for me. Actually, more like a six star book. So, 6 out of 5 stars.
November 11, 2020
A therapist's account of five of her most thought-provoking patients, I would have liked to have more information about the process of obtaining consent and/or obscuring personal details enough to maintain the patients' anonymity. Consent is touched on in the author's note, but when the author mentions talking about the book with her patients throughout the text, the exchange sounds more like Catherine Gildiner telling the patients they will be included rather than asking permission. One of the patients has since passed away, so I wonder how he was able to consent to sharing his story?
All of the cases feature victims of extreme child abuse and sexual violence, and are therefore hard to read. I found the first two stories heartbreaking but inspirational. It was great to see therapy in action, helping people find peace with themselves and their history, and eventually lead much happier, healthier lives. I loved that part, and left those chapters feeling inspired to take a closer look at my own mental health.
I became uncomfortable in Danny's case study when the author writes about an incident when Danny almost quit therapy after she suggested he had been a likely target of sexual abuse as a child because he is handsome. The author defends her comment as objectively true; I found that to be shockingly insensitive and unprofessional regardless. Danny found the words to stand up to himself in the face of what I will generously call the therapist's insensitivity, but I don't think that passage was responsibly managed or written.
I almost stopped reading when I got to Alana's case study. Alana was referred to the author by her partner's therapist. Alana suffered a mind boggling amount of trauma that manifested itself in what the author identified as dissociative identity disorder, itself a controversial diagnosis. What really bothers me though, is the portrayal of Alana's partner, Jane, a transgender woman. In introducing their relationship, the author made some narrative decisions that I disagree with, for example deadnaming Jane, and describing Jane's transition using incorrect pronouns. A quick edit could have eliminated some common microaggressions; I'm not sure why the author or the editorial staff made the decision to print the text as-is. As Alana progressed in therapy, she decided to end her relationship with Jane. I recognize that the dialogue attributed to Alana during this portion of her therapy is meant to convey the suppressed anger starting to bubble up as well as the misdirection of that anger. However, I don't think that some of the overtly transphobic things that Alana said about her partner needed to be included in this book. A thoughtful editor would have been able to portray anger without including comments that border on hate speech. The author also shared a pretty amazingly offensive rationale behind Alana's attraction to a trans woman that I'm not comfortable repeating in this review.
Alana's story is positioned towards the end of the book, so I decided to keep reading as I'd come so far. In the final chapter, the author reflects on a case in which her own personal history became intertwined with a patient's treatment. While I appreciate the honesty, reading this passage made me uncomfortable.
While half of the book is thought-provoking and inspiring, the other half more like grossly irresponsible trauma porn. I'm unable to review this book highly or recommend it to others.
All of the cases feature victims of extreme child abuse and sexual violence, and are therefore hard to read. I found the first two stories heartbreaking but inspirational. It was great to see therapy in action, helping people find peace with themselves and their history, and eventually lead much happier, healthier lives. I loved that part, and left those chapters feeling inspired to take a closer look at my own mental health.
I became uncomfortable in Danny's case study when the author writes about an incident when Danny almost quit therapy after she suggested he had been a likely target of sexual abuse as a child because he is handsome. The author defends her comment as objectively true; I found that to be shockingly insensitive and unprofessional regardless. Danny found the words to stand up to himself in the face of what I will generously call the therapist's insensitivity, but I don't think that passage was responsibly managed or written.
I almost stopped reading when I got to Alana's case study. Alana was referred to the author by her partner's therapist. Alana suffered a mind boggling amount of trauma that manifested itself in what the author identified as dissociative identity disorder, itself a controversial diagnosis. What really bothers me though, is the portrayal of Alana's partner, Jane, a transgender woman. In introducing their relationship, the author made some narrative decisions that I disagree with, for example deadnaming Jane, and describing Jane's transition using incorrect pronouns. A quick edit could have eliminated some common microaggressions; I'm not sure why the author or the editorial staff made the decision to print the text as-is. As Alana progressed in therapy, she decided to end her relationship with Jane. I recognize that the dialogue attributed to Alana during this portion of her therapy is meant to convey the suppressed anger starting to bubble up as well as the misdirection of that anger. However, I don't think that some of the overtly transphobic things that Alana said about her partner needed to be included in this book. A thoughtful editor would have been able to portray anger without including comments that border on hate speech. The author also shared a pretty amazingly offensive rationale behind Alana's attraction to a trans woman that I'm not comfortable repeating in this review.
Alana's story is positioned towards the end of the book, so I decided to keep reading as I'd come so far. In the final chapter, the author reflects on a case in which her own personal history became intertwined with a patient's treatment. While I appreciate the honesty, reading this passage made me uncomfortable.
While half of the book is thought-provoking and inspiring, the other half more like grossly irresponsible trauma porn. I'm unable to review this book highly or recommend it to others.
February 21, 2022
Intensely brutal, but insightful memoir of five patients treated by a clinical psychologist.
This was my book club choice for February. I chose it because I loved Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, loved the different insights into therapy. This book is similar, yet also different.
If you're going to choose to read this book, realize that it has many things discussed in detail that could be triggering and traumatic. One of the cases in particular is pretty detailed with the sexual abuse of a child and it was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching for me and I'm not personally affected by it.
The book details five different patients treated by Catherine Gildiner, patients she considers "heroes" because they endured horrible things in their lives and were able to come out better on the other side. I found many of the insights fascinating, especially about intergenerational trauma and the path that therapy needs to take in order to be ultimately successful.
I'm glad I read this memoir, but it won't be a book for everyone due to the intense subject matter.
This was my book club choice for February. I chose it because I loved Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, loved the different insights into therapy. This book is similar, yet also different.
If you're going to choose to read this book, realize that it has many things discussed in detail that could be triggering and traumatic. One of the cases in particular is pretty detailed with the sexual abuse of a child and it was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching for me and I'm not personally affected by it.
The book details five different patients treated by Catherine Gildiner, patients she considers "heroes" because they endured horrible things in their lives and were able to come out better on the other side. I found many of the insights fascinating, especially about intergenerational trauma and the path that therapy needs to take in order to be ultimately successful.
I'm glad I read this memoir, but it won't be a book for everyone due to the intense subject matter.
October 31, 2020
I loved Gildiner’s three memoirs and was excited to see she had another book coming out. Because I worked as a counselor for several years, reading a Gildiner memoir about her years as a therapist seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately, not only was I disappointed, I actually found a large swath of the book distasteful.
In the prologue, Gildiner tells us that in order to portray her clients as heroes she must first give us insight into the darkness of their formative years—a psychological version of the rags to riches motif. She asserts that this is an uncomfortable, but necessary, journey. In other words, her readers’ perception of her clients as heroes is completely dependent upon her exhaustive descriptions of the abuses they suffered.
I don’t buy it.
After the first chapter, the excavation of every detail of the horrific abuses suffered by her clients begins to feel excruciatingly redundant. The further I got into the book, the more I felt an oppressive, inescapable weight bearing down on me. This heaviness-a normal reaction to reading about abuses of this magnitude-was exacerbated by Gildiner’s use of transitional sentences that read like click-bait. Right in the middle of tediously recounting every aspect of every abusive incident, Giildiner breaks from the narrative to dangle the promise of yet another salacious detail to come. It’s as if she is using patient experiences as fodder for a game of authorial shock-and-awe.
This style is so inconsistent with that of her memoirs that it makes me wonder if her publisher demanded that she add squeamish details in an effort to satisfy an audience already jaded by the modern media’s daily bombardment of objectionable material on our senses. Apparently, the use of theatrically worded transitions resembling the headlines of the muckraking years—the kind that keep readers interested and ensures commercial success—was more important than the ethical conundrum of exploiting personal tragedy.
This also makes me question the book’s theme. It makes me wonder if the hero angle was an afterthought-a way to justify the use of all those personal details. Gildiner says she received each client’s consent to write the book. My guess is that they agreed based on the idea that there would be more focus on the hero, less on the trauma and victimization.
Regardless of how it all came to be, it is blatantly unethical. Calling someone a hero means nothing if you treat them like a pawn.
My other gripes include: fictitiously drawn characterizations, client stories that dragged endlessly through the muck before suddenly ending on a tidy note, the inclusion of the highly controversial Dissociative Identity Disorder (of which Gildner’s portrayal was woefully non-persuasive), and the final section—an out of place recounting of a client’s story intermingled with her own personal family issues.
I do not recommend this book. In fact, I highly suggest avoiding it and choosing one of the many other more reputable, less sensationalist, books about the power of therapy .
In the prologue, Gildiner tells us that in order to portray her clients as heroes she must first give us insight into the darkness of their formative years—a psychological version of the rags to riches motif. She asserts that this is an uncomfortable, but necessary, journey. In other words, her readers’ perception of her clients as heroes is completely dependent upon her exhaustive descriptions of the abuses they suffered.
I don’t buy it.
After the first chapter, the excavation of every detail of the horrific abuses suffered by her clients begins to feel excruciatingly redundant. The further I got into the book, the more I felt an oppressive, inescapable weight bearing down on me. This heaviness-a normal reaction to reading about abuses of this magnitude-was exacerbated by Gildiner’s use of transitional sentences that read like click-bait. Right in the middle of tediously recounting every aspect of every abusive incident, Giildiner breaks from the narrative to dangle the promise of yet another salacious detail to come. It’s as if she is using patient experiences as fodder for a game of authorial shock-and-awe.
This style is so inconsistent with that of her memoirs that it makes me wonder if her publisher demanded that she add squeamish details in an effort to satisfy an audience already jaded by the modern media’s daily bombardment of objectionable material on our senses. Apparently, the use of theatrically worded transitions resembling the headlines of the muckraking years—the kind that keep readers interested and ensures commercial success—was more important than the ethical conundrum of exploiting personal tragedy.
This also makes me question the book’s theme. It makes me wonder if the hero angle was an afterthought-a way to justify the use of all those personal details. Gildiner says she received each client’s consent to write the book. My guess is that they agreed based on the idea that there would be more focus on the hero, less on the trauma and victimization.
Regardless of how it all came to be, it is blatantly unethical. Calling someone a hero means nothing if you treat them like a pawn.
My other gripes include: fictitiously drawn characterizations, client stories that dragged endlessly through the muck before suddenly ending on a tidy note, the inclusion of the highly controversial Dissociative Identity Disorder (of which Gildner’s portrayal was woefully non-persuasive), and the final section—an out of place recounting of a client’s story intermingled with her own personal family issues.
I do not recommend this book. In fact, I highly suggest avoiding it and choosing one of the many other more reputable, less sensationalist, books about the power of therapy .
September 18, 2020
Wow! This book! It should be on your radar! I have not yet read Lori Gottlieb’s insightful hit, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, though it’s waiting on my shelf, so I can’t make any comparisons, but I can tell you that Gottlieb blurbed this beautiful book. Available next week!
The premise of Good Morning, Monster is Gildiner, a therapist, shares five of her most “heroic and memorable” patients. Each individual comes to her for one problem but over the years discovers the source of the hurt and pain is from something in their pasts. As you can imagine, this book is emotional, powerful, insightful, inspiring, and hopeful even in the face of immense trauma and loss. I think anyone can read this book and learn new things and feel inspired.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
The premise of Good Morning, Monster is Gildiner, a therapist, shares five of her most “heroic and memorable” patients. Each individual comes to her for one problem but over the years discovers the source of the hurt and pain is from something in their pasts. As you can imagine, this book is emotional, powerful, insightful, inspiring, and hopeful even in the face of immense trauma and loss. I think anyone can read this book and learn new things and feel inspired.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
December 7, 2020
Since reading Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed last year, I've been so eager to find something similar. I fell prey to the marketing for Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life, and, for some twisted reason, I actually finished that awful book despite it being one of the most cringey reading experiences I've ever had the displeasure of going through. Not only did it not quench my thirst for another Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, it nearly put me off of the idea of books centering around therapists for good.
But lo and behold, there was ANOTHER book about a therapist being released around the same time as Group, it's just that the Whiskey in a Teacup lady didn't choose it for her book club and the publisher didn't rain copies down on Bookstagrammers so it didn't get half the hype as Group did. Friends, this one is worlds better than Group.
That being said, this is one of the most emotionally taxing books I've read all year. And I've read some dark stuff, believe you me. My feelings on this one are complex, so I need some time to chew on it, but I beg of you - if you're thinking about reading Group, please read this instead.
But lo and behold, there was ANOTHER book about a therapist being released around the same time as Group, it's just that the Whiskey in a Teacup lady didn't choose it for her book club and the publisher didn't rain copies down on Bookstagrammers so it didn't get half the hype as Group did. Friends, this one is worlds better than Group.
That being said, this is one of the most emotionally taxing books I've read all year. And I've read some dark stuff, believe you me. My feelings on this one are complex, so I need some time to chew on it, but I beg of you - if you're thinking about reading Group, please read this instead.
November 2, 2020
Thoughts later .... I am on a dirt trail and I’m going to lose service soon.
Parts were good..... very good.
Yet....3 stars is about as high as I can honestly rate it -
But good - my thoughts were involved!!!
Yet....unfortunately( just being honest), I did more judging and evaluating ( some of it very positive- some less so)....
than I did in taking anything away that will stay with me over any length in time.
The author did on absolutely outstanding job with one of her clients- an indigenous man -
It was - for me - the most inspiring- and interesting story.
This feels like the authors memoir as much as it’s a professional look at the process between therapist
and patient.
It’s got much more going for it than “Group” by Christie
Tate....
But not nearly as great as “Maybe You Should Talk To
Someone” by Lori Gottieb
Well there you have it… I wrote a review after all....
I'm standing here under trees on the trail.
There’s more I could say— but with election day tomorrow and things I need to do....
I’ll just end with saying there were some positive aspects of this book that I enjoyed —-
there were also parts that I found slow, and even a little too syrupy....
Packaged with a pretty optimistic bow.
But....I think readers who enjoy these type of books will enjoy it.
Parts were good..... very good.
Yet....3 stars is about as high as I can honestly rate it -
But good - my thoughts were involved!!!
Yet....unfortunately( just being honest), I did more judging and evaluating ( some of it very positive- some less so)....
than I did in taking anything away that will stay with me over any length in time.
The author did on absolutely outstanding job with one of her clients- an indigenous man -
It was - for me - the most inspiring- and interesting story.
This feels like the authors memoir as much as it’s a professional look at the process between therapist
and patient.
It’s got much more going for it than “Group” by Christie
Tate....
But not nearly as great as “Maybe You Should Talk To
Someone” by Lori Gottieb
Well there you have it… I wrote a review after all....
I'm standing here under trees on the trail.
There’s more I could say— but with election day tomorrow and things I need to do....
I’ll just end with saying there were some positive aspects of this book that I enjoyed —-
there were also parts that I found slow, and even a little too syrupy....
Packaged with a pretty optimistic bow.
But....I think readers who enjoy these type of books will enjoy it.
November 20, 2020
I started this book because I really enjoyed Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, and thought this would be similar. The book was interesting at first, but rapidly degenerated into what ultimately came across as a horrifying breach of confidence and trust, and capitalizing on the horrors of others' lives for the shock and awe value of it - offering details about each patient's abuse to the point of salaciousness, not just offering context for their treatment and progress. Instead, the book is made up of “trauma porn,” blithe admissions of the author’s own mistakes in treating these patients, weirdly fawning over the patients at times, and other times glorifying herself as a savior or substitute maternal figure.
I'm not a psychologist so I can't necessarily speak to ethical boundaries, but it did feel like the treatment as depicted in the book was frequently toeing the line, and certainly crossing over into impropriety at the very least. The book starts with an Author's Note about seeking the patients' consent (which is described in each patient's section and appears to be more the author informing them that she is writing about them in a "case study" - i.e., not asking - and in one case, not even informing, because the patient had died) and hiding their identities. However, a simple Google search later and I'm 99% sure I know who one of the patients is, so that's worrisome. This is a good example of the apparent lack of boundaries demonstrated in this book.
The author also seems a bit too nonchalant and glib in admitting to omissions, mistakes, and oversight that affected the treatment of the patients in the book, adding little teasers to her writing that made it sound like she was hyping up the anticipation of what would happen next, which felt wildly inappropriate in this context. It was not framed as merely a psychologist learning on the job in practice out in the real world after the textbook cases in school, because she was describing similar mistakes all the way up to her last client. And there's a distinct lack of responsibility taken for said mistakes. Though the author admits in the narration that they are mistakes, in describing the encounter with the patient and how these conversations actually occurred, she seems heedless and sometimes even downright dismissive of their reaction (which included willfully ignoring triggers). At one point she allegedly has a conversation with a surgeon where she compares the loss of a premature baby during delivery to her being fired by a patient for her own (admitted) impulse control. The author explains that the purpose of psychotherapy is to allow trauma to be revealed and relived in a safe space, but as written, it frequently appeared that that safe space did not fully exist; at times it almost seemed as if they were bullied into "progress" in their treatment.
The book seems to revel in the retelling, in graphic detail, of extreme sexual, physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. The author frequently goes over the top in praising her patients as "heroes,” instead of simply treating them as regular people who have been through horrendous experiences and need support, healing, coping methods, etc. The author seems fascinated with her patients’ twisted family members and their methods of abuse. The book also addresses and handles physical appearance, weight, homosexuality, gender transition, and even race in an extremely indelicate way. I wanted to enjoy the section that focused on the author’s understanding that one patient, a Cree man who had his ethnic identity forcibly erased, needing to seek an indigenous community and healing methods, but instead I was too upset that she apparently continued to treat a patient whom she did not have the skill set to treat.
Overall, I was fairly disturbed by this book. Perhaps the most succinct way to put it is that the title, "Good Morning, Monster," comes from the traumatizing greeting that one of Dr. Gildiner's patients received every morning from her mother, which set the stage for years' worth of damage to the patient's psyche. This book ultimately reads like a psychologist exploiting her patients' pain for her own benefit and I would not recommend it.
I'm not a psychologist so I can't necessarily speak to ethical boundaries, but it did feel like the treatment as depicted in the book was frequently toeing the line, and certainly crossing over into impropriety at the very least. The book starts with an Author's Note about seeking the patients' consent (which is described in each patient's section and appears to be more the author informing them that she is writing about them in a "case study" - i.e., not asking - and in one case, not even informing, because the patient had died) and hiding their identities. However, a simple Google search later and I'm 99% sure I know who one of the patients is, so that's worrisome. This is a good example of the apparent lack of boundaries demonstrated in this book.
The author also seems a bit too nonchalant and glib in admitting to omissions, mistakes, and oversight that affected the treatment of the patients in the book, adding little teasers to her writing that made it sound like she was hyping up the anticipation of what would happen next, which felt wildly inappropriate in this context. It was not framed as merely a psychologist learning on the job in practice out in the real world after the textbook cases in school, because she was describing similar mistakes all the way up to her last client. And there's a distinct lack of responsibility taken for said mistakes. Though the author admits in the narration that they are mistakes, in describing the encounter with the patient and how these conversations actually occurred, she seems heedless and sometimes even downright dismissive of their reaction (which included willfully ignoring triggers). At one point she allegedly has a conversation with a surgeon where she compares the loss of a premature baby during delivery to her being fired by a patient for her own (admitted) impulse control. The author explains that the purpose of psychotherapy is to allow trauma to be revealed and relived in a safe space, but as written, it frequently appeared that that safe space did not fully exist; at times it almost seemed as if they were bullied into "progress" in their treatment.
The book seems to revel in the retelling, in graphic detail, of extreme sexual, physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. The author frequently goes over the top in praising her patients as "heroes,” instead of simply treating them as regular people who have been through horrendous experiences and need support, healing, coping methods, etc. The author seems fascinated with her patients’ twisted family members and their methods of abuse. The book also addresses and handles physical appearance, weight, homosexuality, gender transition, and even race in an extremely indelicate way. I wanted to enjoy the section that focused on the author’s understanding that one patient, a Cree man who had his ethnic identity forcibly erased, needing to seek an indigenous community and healing methods, but instead I was too upset that she apparently continued to treat a patient whom she did not have the skill set to treat.
Overall, I was fairly disturbed by this book. Perhaps the most succinct way to put it is that the title, "Good Morning, Monster," comes from the traumatizing greeting that one of Dr. Gildiner's patients received every morning from her mother, which set the stage for years' worth of damage to the patient's psyche. This book ultimately reads like a psychologist exploiting her patients' pain for her own benefit and I would not recommend it.
January 15, 2022
The first three accounts were interesting and the book was readable and fast paced. The fourth account of Alana’s trauma was horrifying to read and I almost stopped reading as it was so upsetting. I looked for other reviews and found the phrase trauma porn and other people saying they felt icky reading it which seemed a fitting description of my reaction. I also objected to her belittling patients she’d had with less traumatic pasts and saying they should take note from these people and get over insignificant things. Her bar for significance is way too high.
Maybe I’m pessimistic but the stories didn’t inspire me about the power of the human spirit but instead horrified me that anyone could be capable of the cruelty depicted. In Alana’s story the author mentions some horrible abuse and then states that she won’t write everything that happened to her as it would be too upsetting for most readers. Well, just don’t say anything at all then. This bothered me so much because I couldn’t stop thinking about what could be worse although I really didn’t want to know about even the things she did disclose. It’s sort of like someone telling you “did you hear about… oh I shouldn’t say anything,” just irritating and provoked unwanted thoughts for me.
It was still a fast, interesting read and, at the beginning especially, I couldn’t put it down. Still not sure if that was a good thing or just the effect of morbid curiosity. By the last case I was much less interested and just wanted to finish the book. By that time her insights, which were pretty good- anger is not a feeling but a defense, for example- were getting repetitive. I could have done without the hero theme, or at least not had it hammered home so hard.
Edit -
The more time passes the more annoyed I am that I read this book. It’s exploitative and salacious. One man couldn’t give consent for her to tell his story and Alana’s consent seems shaky at best by the authors own description, especially considering how extremely horrifying her trauma was. The hero theme seems more and more like a cheap way to flatter these people into letting their stories be told and to make the audience feel better for reading them, especially the way it’s tacked on at the end of each account. I also keep remembering how insane her tangent was about the obgyn she met at Central Park who had just had a patient die. She actually told him she lost a patient too, because she’d been fired. Even in her own depiction of this scene he seems like he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. Really, lady?
Maybe I’m pessimistic but the stories didn’t inspire me about the power of the human spirit but instead horrified me that anyone could be capable of the cruelty depicted. In Alana’s story the author mentions some horrible abuse and then states that she won’t write everything that happened to her as it would be too upsetting for most readers. Well, just don’t say anything at all then. This bothered me so much because I couldn’t stop thinking about what could be worse although I really didn’t want to know about even the things she did disclose. It’s sort of like someone telling you “did you hear about… oh I shouldn’t say anything,” just irritating and provoked unwanted thoughts for me.
It was still a fast, interesting read and, at the beginning especially, I couldn’t put it down. Still not sure if that was a good thing or just the effect of morbid curiosity. By the last case I was much less interested and just wanted to finish the book. By that time her insights, which were pretty good- anger is not a feeling but a defense, for example- were getting repetitive. I could have done without the hero theme, or at least not had it hammered home so hard.
Edit -
The more time passes the more annoyed I am that I read this book. It’s exploitative and salacious. One man couldn’t give consent for her to tell his story and Alana’s consent seems shaky at best by the authors own description, especially considering how extremely horrifying her trauma was. The hero theme seems more and more like a cheap way to flatter these people into letting their stories be told and to make the audience feel better for reading them, especially the way it’s tacked on at the end of each account. I also keep remembering how insane her tangent was about the obgyn she met at Central Park who had just had a patient die. She actually told him she lost a patient too, because she’d been fired. Even in her own depiction of this scene he seems like he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. Really, lady?
April 24, 2021
My undergraduate degree is in psychology, so I’m always interested in books about psychotherapy and the resilience of human mind in the face of trauma and abuse. This excellent book examines five heroic and memorable patients of Dr. Catherine Gildiner. This book is full of triggers - psychological and sexual abuse, cruelty, abandonment - yet it is ultimately extremely uplifting and deeply moving.
Highly recommend - very well and thoughtfully written. A couple of these survivors will stay with me for a long time.
4.5 stars.
Highly recommend - very well and thoughtfully written. A couple of these survivors will stay with me for a long time.
4.5 stars.
March 13, 2024
I am a huge advocate for therapy as it’s been a tool of mine since I was 17… my therapist will say, “sometimes we just need a check up from the neck up.” This nonfiction book is written by retired therapist, Catherine Gildiner, who highlights 5 of her former patients. She’s labels them psychological heroes… and they are. It is amazing they survived such difficult and devastating lives, and emerged survivors. Heartbreaking but beautiful stories of human perseverance. I loved this.
October 3, 2019
Madeline would try to sneak potato chips into her room between restaurant meals; every morning when she'd round the back servant stairs to the kitchen, hoping for some breakfast before school, her mother would greet her by saying, “Good morning, monster.” Then she would accuse her of skulking for food. Yet the restaurant meals were never sufficient, since Charlotte would force Madeline to say she wasn't hungry. Her mother would say, “One day when you're not a fat pig, you'll thank me.”
Catherine Gildiner practised psychotherapy for twenty-five years (before retiring to concentrate on creative writing, which led to her three well-received memoirs and one novel), and in her latest nonfiction effort, Good Morning, Monster, Gildiner describes the therapeutic histories of five patients whose journeys to recovery she describes as “heroic”. Each of these five people first presented themselves as extremely psychologically damaged, but through the processes described by Gildiner, each eventually unpacked and confronted the childhood abuses that had formed them; each eventually leaving therapy after attaining a kind of wellness. There's a sameness to each of the five sections – presentation, therapy, wellness, followed by a revisitation by Gildiner as she wrote this book – and although each of the five patients came from very different backgrounds, and although each of them suffered very different types of childhood abuse (from neglect to sexual abuse to a residential school survivor), there's a sameness to their therapeutic journeys as well. As interesting and informative as this material inherently is, it felt like there was a lack of depth or insight in the recounting of it that left me a bit nonplussed. I'm rounding down to three stars to reflect this lack in the writing style. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Almost all abusive parenting is based on generations of the same; those who are abusive were likely themselves abused. That's why there are no enemies in these cases, but rather layers of dysfunction to unravel.
Something that I found very interesting in these narratives were the eventual revelations that the most abusive parents had been abused themselves – also interesting to see how the patients would finally be able to let go of anger over their upbringings once they recognised that their own parents had once been lonely, frightened, and powerless children themselves. And it was very surprising to read how many of the patients credited their miserable childhoods for making them the type of adults they had become. When she revisited them while writing this book, Gildiner would ask her former patients what they would have done differently if they could go back in time. A woman who had been abandoned in the woods at eight years old to take care of her younger siblings replied: If she had her life to live over, she said, she probably wouldn't have wanted it to be be any different. Of the man whose mother locked him in an attic for his entire preschool years in order to keep him out from under her feet: One of the most surprising things Peter said was that if he had to live his life over again, he wouldn't change one thing....His piano playing had given him the greatest joy in his life, he continued, and if he'd had friends and a normal upbringing he might not have needed it. Perhaps less surprising is the answer of a woman who had been horrifically sexually abused by her father: “I'd have killed (him).” Very interesting to see how Gildiner's therapeutic methods are able to stop these cycles of abuse (and in the case of the residential school survivor, interesting to see how Gildiner advocated for her patient to explore traditional Indigenous healing methods in order to achieve a more culturally sensitive and holistic form of wellness, long before we in Canada were acknowledging the damage done by the residential school system.)
Arnold Toynbee, a philosopher of history, informs us that the first job of a hero is to be an eternal, or universal, man or woman – meaning that through a singular act of bravery a hero is perfected and then reborn. The second job of a hero is to return, transfigured, to teach us, the uninitiated, the lessons he's learned. And so this book is my way of hailing these five conquering heroes, of having them tell their terrifying but rewarding tales. Each had to slay a different Minotaur, each used a different weapon, and each employed different battle strategies. These five people may at first have seemed vastly different, yet when the economic and cultural layers were peeled away, their unconscious needs were strikingly similar. They all needed to feel loved in order to live better lives.
From explaining Freudian and Gestalt therapeutic techniques to outlining the ways in which she had made mistakes with these patients, Good Morning, Monster is as much Gildiner's professional memoir as it is a grouping of case studies meant to demonstrate what she means by “the hero's journey”. And again, it's all potentially very interesting, just a tad underdelivered.
October 7, 2024
Trying to squeeze in more nonfiction in my life. This was difficult to read. As far as the formatting goes, it's split into five sections, one for each of the five patients whose stories she recounts. That is digestible. It is the subject matter which is so dark it's difficult to read when you remember that there are so many that suffer, in real life not my fictional books, of abuses so horrific that it can barely be fathomed. While the stories of those that endured these events are terrible, the resilience exhibited by these individuals as a result of the psychotherapy process is pretty remarkable.
I don't proclaim to be any sort of an expert in the area of mental health. I do think, however, some of the therapy tactics may be a little dated. I work in healthcare, including Behavioral Health, and it is an ever-evolving practice. A lot can happen in a few years. I think many years have passed from when she treated these patients and wrote the book. I appreciate the author's insight into her own shortcomings and recognizing this in her own practice. She seems very competent and it's great to hear about these five people she helped so much.
I don't proclaim to be any sort of an expert in the area of mental health. I do think, however, some of the therapy tactics may be a little dated. I work in healthcare, including Behavioral Health, and it is an ever-evolving practice. A lot can happen in a few years. I think many years have passed from when she treated these patients and wrote the book. I appreciate the author's insight into her own shortcomings and recognizing this in her own practice. She seems very competent and it's great to hear about these five people she helped so much.
March 13, 2025
Really loved this book and wished the whole time that I could have a therapist like the writer. Only thing that annoyed me was the number of times she mentioned her memoir in the last couple of chapters.
November 26, 2020
Canadian therapist Catherine Gildiner, retired after twenty-five years of practice in clinical psychology, draws five patients forward from her files to illustrate what it means to be a hero. She goes so far as to say that if the common complainers were aware of this level of struggle, it might quickly put their problems into perspective. These five, she determines, were actual psychic warriors.
There is Laura, who was abandoned in a cabin as a child and sought to hide that fact from the world as she stepped into the role of parent for her younger siblings. There is Peter, the son of immigrants, who was consigned nearly from birth to years spent alone in a room above the family restaurant; years that left him with developmental deficits harsh enough to deny him the intimacy he so required as an adult. There is Danny, an Indigenous man, who was ripped from his family by the government so that he might have his native ways educated out of him, only to suffer repeated abuse in the school ostensibly meant to save him. There is Alana, the daughter of a pedophile, who was proffered to her father's friends until society intervened to place her with her paternal grandparents - where the true nightmare began. And there is Madeline, whose aristocratic mother greeted her every day with the phrase destined to become this book's title.
These are heart-wrenching stories of survival; the depiction of lives rising up to be lived despite the insurmountable odds erected against them. Calling these people heroes is apt. However, there is a palpable distance to be found in the account of their struggles. I suspect this has something to do with the Freudian leanings of their therapist - a methodology that is not relational or connective. She was, per her theoretical stance, not on the journey with them but more an audience to it; which is fine in the treatment dynamic but leaves much empathy and understanding unavailable to be tapped in a literary venue. As a result, the telling became a bit prurient for me. Less five testimonials to courage than five sensationalized accounts of Alice down her rabbit hole.
A good book I'm certain would have been great under a different set of circumstances.
There is Laura, who was abandoned in a cabin as a child and sought to hide that fact from the world as she stepped into the role of parent for her younger siblings. There is Peter, the son of immigrants, who was consigned nearly from birth to years spent alone in a room above the family restaurant; years that left him with developmental deficits harsh enough to deny him the intimacy he so required as an adult. There is Danny, an Indigenous man, who was ripped from his family by the government so that he might have his native ways educated out of him, only to suffer repeated abuse in the school ostensibly meant to save him. There is Alana, the daughter of a pedophile, who was proffered to her father's friends until society intervened to place her with her paternal grandparents - where the true nightmare began. And there is Madeline, whose aristocratic mother greeted her every day with the phrase destined to become this book's title.
These are heart-wrenching stories of survival; the depiction of lives rising up to be lived despite the insurmountable odds erected against them. Calling these people heroes is apt. However, there is a palpable distance to be found in the account of their struggles. I suspect this has something to do with the Freudian leanings of their therapist - a methodology that is not relational or connective. She was, per her theoretical stance, not on the journey with them but more an audience to it; which is fine in the treatment dynamic but leaves much empathy and understanding unavailable to be tapped in a literary venue. As a result, the telling became a bit prurient for me. Less five testimonials to courage than five sensationalized accounts of Alice down her rabbit hole.
A good book I'm certain would have been great under a different set of circumstances.
April 21, 2021
Last year I listened to and LOVED Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed and although this one definitely has a more serious tone I still found the 5 cases presented fascinating.
Had it not been for a friends recommendation I never would have thought to try another book on psychology.
Each case presented is quite different and unique. From a woman with recurring herpes outbreaks because of stress, to a Native American man who cannot show emotion. They all have one thing in common, showing that trauma, abuse, neglect can induce destructive triggers but it also shows the indomitable human spirit to overcome adversity.
I must confess that my favourite case was that of Danny. I never knew the Canadian government implemented a systematic eradication of Native American culture in the 1960s. Shocking!
I found it refreshing that the author did not shy away from pointing out her own mistakes during treatment. Most doctors will rather cut off a body part than admit fault.
She also quotes works and theories from other psychologists, some known and others completely unknown to me.
Audio book recommended
Had it not been for a friends recommendation I never would have thought to try another book on psychology.
Each case presented is quite different and unique. From a woman with recurring herpes outbreaks because of stress, to a Native American man who cannot show emotion. They all have one thing in common, showing that trauma, abuse, neglect can induce destructive triggers but it also shows the indomitable human spirit to overcome adversity.
I must confess that my favourite case was that of Danny. I never knew the Canadian government implemented a systematic eradication of Native American culture in the 1960s. Shocking!
I found it refreshing that the author did not shy away from pointing out her own mistakes during treatment. Most doctors will rather cut off a body part than admit fault.
She also quotes works and theories from other psychologists, some known and others completely unknown to me.
Audio book recommended
August 29, 2022
Although this made for a good read, I didn’t appreciate the way that it almost glorified trauma by calling trauma survivors heroes and inspirational. It felt almost unreal and detached from reality; for every success story out there, you have way more people who are still struggling, way more who succumb to their mental illnesses. I get that it’s meant to be inspiring, but the way that this book was written just didn’t sit right with me.
August 17, 2024
کتاب: صبح بخیر هیولا
انتشارات نیماژ
از کتاب: پایان سال اول درمانمان بود. برای من که فکر میکردم تنها شش جلسه زمان میبرد، خیلی بود. وقتی افراد چنین آسیبهایی را که مدلین تجربه کرده بود، از سر میگذرانند، تا زمانیکه درد خود را بیرون نریزند، شروع به بهبود نمیکنند. من در آنجا نقش شاهد را ایفا میکردم، تا به او اطمینان دهم که هر روز صبح "هیولا" نامیده شدن بیرحمانه بود، و این تقصیر او نبود. من آنجا بودم که به او کمک کنم تا با عواقب چنین کودکی دردناکی کنار بیاید.
کتاب از زبان کاترین گیلدینر هست که بیش�� و پنج سال به عنوان روانشناس بالینی کار کرده. او داستان پنج نفر از بیمارانش را که با موقعیتهای مختلف به او مراجعه کردهاند، را نوشته است.
انتشارات نیماژ
از کتاب: پایان سال اول درمانمان بود. برای من که فکر میکردم تنها شش جلسه زمان میبرد، خیلی بود. وقتی افراد چنین آسیبهایی را که مدلین تجربه کرده بود، از سر میگذرانند، تا زمانیکه درد خود را بیرون نریزند، شروع به بهبود نمیکنند. من در آنجا نقش شاهد را ایفا میکردم، تا به او اطمینان دهم که هر روز صبح "هیولا" نامیده شدن بیرحمانه بود، و این تقصیر او نبود. من آنجا بودم که به او کمک کنم تا با عواقب چنین کودکی دردناکی کنار بیاید.
کتاب از زبان کاترین گیلدینر هست که بیش�� و پنج سال به عنوان روانشناس بالینی کار کرده. او داستان پنج نفر از بیمارانش را که با موقعیتهای مختلف به او مراجعه کردهاند، را نوشته است.
February 20, 2022
i didn't enjoy how this book handled the case about peter, the chinese-canadian client (stereotypes about chinese people leak out through her verbiage).
however, i will admit that gildiner's storytelling and narrative style were so compulsively readable and came at just the right time - as i'm starting my own education as a psychologist/therapist.
however, i will admit that gildiner's storytelling and narrative style were so compulsively readable and came at just the right time - as i'm starting my own education as a psychologist/therapist.
June 7, 2022
There’s no doubt that Good Morning, Monster was an interesting read: The author, a therapist, presents here five case studies of particularly troubled patients and how she helped them, and her writing is engaging. Ultimately, though, the whole thing made me uneasy. The patients featured in these case studies had intense, extreme issues, some involving shocking levels of child abuse and neglect. Therapists might find reading about these cases instructive, but as a general reader I was uncomfortable with the rubbernecking quality of the premise. Plus, Gildiner herself behaved questionably in at least one of these cases. To be fair, she eventually recognized this and describes how she came to her senses, but not until I’d spent most of the chapter feeling infuriated with her. Not a great reading experience! Again, I can see how this book might be helpful for therapists, but I definitely don’t recommend it for the rest of us.
I won this advance copy in a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to the publisher.
I won this advance copy in a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you to the publisher.
August 4, 2020
I keep trying to decipher what the lesson of this book is, and I think it boils down to this: if you have been horribly emotionally damaged, you may never be able to repair yourself completely, but don't let that discount the progress it IS possible to make.
This is being billed as an "inspiring" book, but I'm not sure inspired is the emotion I felt after reading it. It's good - it's really good. I was interested in each patient profiled, I couldn't have stopped reading their stories even if I'd wanted to. I was intrigued by Dr. Gildiner, and appreciated that she was transparent about the mistakes she made in each case. I loved learning more about how therapy works from the therapist's side of the room.
But inspired? Mostly I just felt sad at the capacity humans have for hurting other humans, for the ways that hurt can easily get passed on generations down the line, and for all the times the people who are SUPPOSED to notice and follow up on suspected neglect or abuse just ... don't. In every case, the patient who was abused as a child could have been saved a world of hurt had other adults stepped in and said, "no, something isn't right here."
Thanks to Netgalley for this advance copy!
This is being billed as an "inspiring" book, but I'm not sure inspired is the emotion I felt after reading it. It's good - it's really good. I was interested in each patient profiled, I couldn't have stopped reading their stories even if I'd wanted to. I was intrigued by Dr. Gildiner, and appreciated that she was transparent about the mistakes she made in each case. I loved learning more about how therapy works from the therapist's side of the room.
But inspired? Mostly I just felt sad at the capacity humans have for hurting other humans, for the ways that hurt can easily get passed on generations down the line, and for all the times the people who are SUPPOSED to notice and follow up on suspected neglect or abuse just ... don't. In every case, the patient who was abused as a child could have been saved a world of hurt had other adults stepped in and said, "no, something isn't right here."
Thanks to Netgalley for this advance copy!
March 3, 2021
I would be super sad if this woman were my therapist. Some of the un-attuned things she said to clients were just harmful to read. I can't imagine having heard them in person.
June 2, 2023
Tikrai nedaug skaitau psichologinių knygų, tad labai džiaugiuosi, kad tos, kurios pakliūva į rankas būna įdomios. Labiausiai mėgstu istorijas iš gydytojų kabinetų, tikras patirtis ir tikras keliones pasveikimo link. „Labas rytas, pabaisa“ būtent tokia ir yra – penki šokiruojantys, nustebinę ir skausmingai žiaurūs pasakojimai, kuriuos skaitant plaukai piestu stojosi.
Rašytoja - klinikinė psichologė, dirbusi su tikrai sudėtingais atvejais, kuomet kartais iki problemos esmės priėjimo su pacientu tekdavo dirbti ir po keletą metų. Keli metai vien tam, kad pajudintum paviršių, išleisiantį visus demonus ir priežastis kodėl žmogui dabar gyventi sunku. O sunkumų čia labai daug. Visi penki aprašyti atvejai – tai iš pažiūros sėkmingi žmonės, padarę šaunias karjeras, sukūrę šeimas, jokių materialių dalykų nestokojantys. Tie, kuriuos sutikus gatvėje kažko jiems pavydėtum. Tačiau po išore slepiasi paslaptys, kurios nustebino net visko mačiusią specialistę. Visų penkių pacientų skausmas ėjo iš vaikystės. Vieną jų nuo mažų dienų prievartavo tėvas ir versdavo vaidinti malonumą, kitas turėjo siaubingą ryšį su motina, kuri tiesiog nemokėjo ja būti. Dar kitą, mama nuo vaikystės vadino „pabaisa“ ir su ja konkuravo. Čia labai mažos detalės iš ilgų, sudėtingų pasakojimų, kuriuos skaitydami net nenorėsite patikėti, kad tai tiesa.
Man labai patiko, kad Catherine nevaidino Dievo ir drąsiai skaitytojui prisipažino nežinojusi kaip elgtis su vienokia ar kitokia paciento trauma. Neslėpė ieškojusi pagalbos pas kitus specialistus ir net prisipažino klydusi, parinkusi netinkamą terapijos metodą. Ji tokia žmogiška, kad klaidomis priverčia ja pasitikėti, jog nedumia skaitytojui akių. Labai smagu ir tai, kad po kiekvieno pasakojimo ji nepalikdavo skaitytojo nežinioje kaip vienam ar kitam herojui sekėsi toliau. Aprašė susitikimus su savo buvusiais pacientais, kurie po terapijos pabaigos įvyko net po kelių dešimčių metų. Tad skaitydami knygą gauname pilną istoriją – su tikra pradžia ir tikra pabaiga. Žinoma, iš knygos galima pasisemti labai daug drąsos, ryžto, užsisipyrimo, mat kiekvienas iš penkių aprašytųjų kovojo tokias kovas, apie kokias (tikiuosi!!!), mes skaitome tik išgalvotose knygose ar matome Netflixe. Šitie tikrų gyvenimų aprašymai dar kartą parodo iš kokių gilių duobių gali ištraukti psichologas, tiesiog parodydamas kelią, kurio galvojome, kad išvis nėra. Tikrai įdomi knyga, mėgstantiems tikras istorijas ir nebijantiems šiurpių detalių.
Rašytoja - klinikinė psichologė, dirbusi su tikrai sudėtingais atvejais, kuomet kartais iki problemos esmės priėjimo su pacientu tekdavo dirbti ir po keletą metų. Keli metai vien tam, kad pajudintum paviršių, išleisiantį visus demonus ir priežastis kodėl žmogui dabar gyventi sunku. O sunkumų čia labai daug. Visi penki aprašyti atvejai – tai iš pažiūros sėkmingi žmonės, padarę šaunias karjeras, sukūrę šeimas, jokių materialių dalykų nestokojantys. Tie, kuriuos sutikus gatvėje kažko jiems pavydėtum. Tačiau po išore slepiasi paslaptys, kurios nustebino net visko mačiusią specialistę. Visų penkių pacientų skausmas ėjo iš vaikystės. Vieną jų nuo mažų dienų prievartavo tėvas ir versdavo vaidinti malonumą, kitas turėjo siaubingą ryšį su motina, kuri tiesiog nemokėjo ja būti. Dar kitą, mama nuo vaikystės vadino „pabaisa“ ir su ja konkuravo. Čia labai mažos detalės iš ilgų, sudėtingų pasakojimų, kuriuos skaitydami net nenorėsite patikėti, kad tai tiesa.
Man labai patiko, kad Catherine nevaidino Dievo ir drąsiai skaitytojui prisipažino nežinojusi kaip elgtis su vienokia ar kitokia paciento trauma. Neslėpė ieškojusi pagalbos pas kitus specialistus ir net prisipažino klydusi, parinkusi netinkamą terapijos metodą. Ji tokia žmogiška, kad klaidomis priverčia ja pasitikėti, jog nedumia skaitytojui akių. Labai smagu ir tai, kad po kiekvieno pasakojimo ji nepalikdavo skaitytojo nežinioje kaip vienam ar kitam herojui sekėsi toliau. Aprašė susitikimus su savo buvusiais pacientais, kurie po terapijos pabaigos įvyko net po kelių dešimčių metų. Tad skaitydami knygą gauname pilną istoriją – su tikra pradžia ir tikra pabaiga. Žinoma, iš knygos galima pasisemti labai daug drąsos, ryžto, užsisipyrimo, mat kiekvienas iš penkių aprašytųjų kovojo tokias kovas, apie kokias (tikiuosi!!!), mes skaitome tik išgalvotose knygose ar matome Netflixe. Šitie tikrų gyvenimų aprašymai dar kartą parodo iš kokių gilių duobių gali ištraukti psichologas, tiesiog parodydamas kelią, kurio galvojome, kad išvis nėra. Tikrai įdomi knyga, mėgstantiems tikras istorijas ir nebijantiems šiurpių detalių.
August 15, 2022
“Therapy is a matter of getting your unconscious to stop controlling your conscious mind. Effective therapy is about lowering your defenses so that you can deal with the issues that arise in your life.”
This was a really great read! Although I found Good Morning, Monster lacking a little at times because it primarily focuses only on psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approaches, it was still very well done! Dr. Gild is incredibly insightful, and there are so many good reminders about therapy in this unputdownable book!
This was a really great read! Although I found Good Morning, Monster lacking a little at times because it primarily focuses only on psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approaches, it was still very well done! Dr. Gild is incredibly insightful, and there are so many good reminders about therapy in this unputdownable book!
October 11, 2020
If you loved books like Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Educated and The Glass Castle, you should add this to your TBR. The author, a psychologist, shares the backstories and therapeutical journey of five of her patients who had to work extremely hard over a long period of time to deal with and overcome what happened to them in their childhood.
Although sad and shocking, the author manages to share the stories of Laura, Peter, Danny, Alana and Madeline, not for us to pity them but to admire and be inspired by their lives. I liked the fact that she also shares her mistakes made with us and why she made them. There is more of a focus on the different psychological methods she used than in Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, and I really enjoyed this aspect.
I had a few Aha-moments, which has influenced how I see some aspects of my own life now. We tend to forget that we create defense mechanisms in childhood to cope with certain things, but then retain these long after they become unnecessary.
I listened to the audio version and Deborah Burgess, the narrator, did an amazing job! I highly recommend experiencing this as an audible book.
A book that inspires, makes you think and feel, and could possibly even make you look at some of your behaviors differently.
Although sad and shocking, the author manages to share the stories of Laura, Peter, Danny, Alana and Madeline, not for us to pity them but to admire and be inspired by their lives. I liked the fact that she also shares her mistakes made with us and why she made them. There is more of a focus on the different psychological methods she used than in Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, and I really enjoyed this aspect.
I had a few Aha-moments, which has influenced how I see some aspects of my own life now. We tend to forget that we create defense mechanisms in childhood to cope with certain things, but then retain these long after they become unnecessary.
I listened to the audio version and Deborah Burgess, the narrator, did an amazing job! I highly recommend experiencing this as an audible book.
A book that inspires, makes you think and feel, and could possibly even make you look at some of your behaviors differently.
May 22, 2023
I'm dismayed by the popularity and high rating of this book for the fact that it has misinformation about Dissociative Identity Disorder in it and now that information has gone out to all the people who have read this.
I really was enjoying listening to the stories of these patients, of their resilience in the face of the most terrible things, but I had to DNF close to 80 percent in because as someone whose mother has DID, I just cannot abide its misrepresentation, especially by a health professional. I made a tiktok ranting a little about it which you can find on eliza.underlined, because I don't feel like typing it up here right this moment.
I also saw some transphobia in the book, so the author deeply needed sensitivity readers before this was published. Between those two things, who knows what could be in here that's also offensive that I personally didn't pick up on.
I won't say not to read the book if it interests you, but if you are going to, please do so with this knowledge in mind.
edit: upon further reflection, i have to lower my rating to a 1 star, because i do think its harmful.
I really was enjoying listening to the stories of these patients, of their resilience in the face of the most terrible things, but I had to DNF close to 80 percent in because as someone whose mother has DID, I just cannot abide its misrepresentation, especially by a health professional. I made a tiktok ranting a little about it which you can find on eliza.underlined, because I don't feel like typing it up here right this moment.
I also saw some transphobia in the book, so the author deeply needed sensitivity readers before this was published. Between those two things, who knows what could be in here that's also offensive that I personally didn't pick up on.
I won't say not to read the book if it interests you, but if you are going to, please do so with this knowledge in mind.
edit: upon further reflection, i have to lower my rating to a 1 star, because i do think its harmful.
August 20, 2022
Touching, haunting, gutting, spectacular. I could not put this down. This makes Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk To Someone—a book that I enjoyed but that was brought down to a measly three stars by the author’s own inserted story—look like child’s play. No one should have to experience a fraction of what these five people did in their childhoods. Mine was tough and at times tragic, but it was never without love. I picked this up because I heard it was very compelling and because I wanted to see if it would help me gain insight into my own therapy; I recently started work with a new therapist and there is so much to unpack. I don’t even know where to start. After reading this I feel I can learn the tools to heal, and that anyone can. The resiliency of the human spirit is astounding. If you can stomach the parts of this book that will break you heart, I highly encourage reading this. The inspiration that follows is insurmountable.
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