Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped

by Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Carlo DeCarlo

"The jock," "a whore," "a closet case," "a paranoid schizophrenic," and "a killer." In life, in entertainment, in myth, we feel drawn to archetypal personalities—to their drama, to their denial and inner conflicts, to their personal journeys, and to what makes them tick. These five are just some of the people who make up BARE: Psychotherapy Stripped, which explores the true-life chronicles of long-term psychotherapy patients while sharing with the reader what goes through the mind of the therapist during the session. Using a first-person, non-traditional novelized format, this case-study book strips away the classical barrier between the psychologist and the patient so the reader can live through the patients’ traumas, their ups and downs, and experience how it feels to sit in the therapist’s chair. While empathizing with the patients’ lives, readers might just glean insight into themselves and their life in general. BARE peels back the veil of therapy with moving, shocking and sometimes humorous results.

Genres: Nonfiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2014

About the author

Jacqueline Simon Gunn is an award-winning writer and Manhattan-based clinical psychologist. She is the author of both fiction and non-fiction books as well as many articles, both scholarly and mainstream. With her academic and clinical experience in psychology, Gunn’s novels tend to be psychological and thought-provoking. Always in search of truth, fiction writing, like psychology, is a way for her to explore human nature – motivation, emotions, relationships.

In addition to her clinical work and writing, Gunn is an avid runner, swimmer, yogi and reader, a serious cat lover and coffee connoisseur.

Reviews

[Kony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a vivid glimpse into the mind of a clinical therapist as she sits with clients, responds to their crises, and processes her emotions. Ms Jacquie portrays herself as open, compassionate, and conscientious about maintaining boundaries while taking "clinical risks" calculated to deepen the therapeutic relationship. She portrays each client as a unique puzzle to unravel, comparing clients to each other and to herself in a thoughtful (and only occasionally voyeuristic) manner. Although she switches between client threads somewhat abruptly and uses psychiatric jargon where plain speak would suffice, overall she tells a good story and sheds light on an interesting line of work.

[Jason Dias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sometimes tawdry look behind the scenes of therapy. Visceral, voyeuristic and lovely. These are the secret selves that we think we alone possess, that nobody can know of - the things that make us human.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting insider look at what it is like to be a therapist. Wide variety of clients from BPD to elderly lady struggling with death to young athlete and the ethical dilemmas that a psychologist faces. Excellent book.