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Tales from the Couch: A Clinical Psychologist's True Stories of Psychopathology
Tales from the Couch is collection of actual case studies and a primer on psychopathology, as well as a captivating reflection on the human condition. Drawn from Dr. Bob Wendorf’s thirty-six-year career years as a clinical psychologist, the book examines the lives of some of his most troubled patients, in a project that aims to both educate and fascinate the reader. Clinical syndromes are described and dramatized by real-life case examples (altered only as necessary to protect patient confidentiality).Each of the sixteen chapters focuses on a particular psychiatric diagnosis, including Multiple Personality Disorder, Asperger’s, and ADD. The clinical picture and symptoms are described and explained, then brought to life by case examples taken from the author’s practice. Dr. Wendorf presents the cases as a series of narratives-some dramatic, some humorous, most quite poignant. Along the way, the author offers his own reactions to the people and events described here and application to the general human condition as well.Tales from the Couch offers compelling stories of extraordinary people, clinical conditions, and events-both in and out of the therapy hour-while providing insights into the nature of human beings, mental illness, and the psychotherapeutic enterprise.
241 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
March 7, 2018
I like reading books on psychotherapy and neurology. How people behave according to their frame of reference, chemical make up or gene inheritance interests me. I thought this book was something rather different and might be interesting.
1. The majority of the psychology books I read are by doctors with a Jewish background. This doctor is Roman Catholic and his background does inform certain of his patients' treatments.
2. Most of the authors owe a lot to Freud, Dr. Wendorf is contemptuous of him. Freudian therapists like to get to the root of the problem, Wendorf is strictly behavioural. Cognitive behavioural therapy to be more precise. My favourite author in this genre is Dr Irv Yalom who had a Jewish background but was an existentialist. This comes closest I suppose to behavioural therapy but in no way is Dr Wendorf an existentialist and does not address his patients' problems from this point of view at all.
Although I am an existentialist, I lean more to CGT as therapy than anything else. A lot of us know why we do stuff that is not making us or others happy, or don't really care, what we want is to stop doing it, do something else that is better, not 5 years of lying on a couch and talking about oneself. (Exception. My mother, she just liked talking about herself and popping valium.) Some of his treatments were interesting. The man who couldn't pee in public having to distract himself by counting back from 20, the boy with no self esteem who was taught to play ping pong and since he didn't do anything else at all, no school, no work, no treatment, became extremely good at it and thereby cured himself.
3. In Oliver Sacks' books, patients come alive as people who have issues, people with schizophrenia for example, and not schizophrenics. Dr Wendorf doesn't lack compassion but his description of the patients is generally only as far as it has to do with the mental problems. However, he, like Sacks does often involve the person in looking at their disorder in a quite objective way that they could treat together.
It sounds like a really great read, but actually I was mostly bored.
The book started off well enough, at a fast clip through patients and disorders and, Wendorf being quite a personal writer, what he thought of them, if he liked the patient or the opposite. But when he got into disorders he really enjoyed, like borderline personality disorder and multiple personalities, now called dissociative identity disorder, he just went on and on. All the patients were unattractive individuals to read about and they mostly had horrific backgrounds. The borderline personality people with their inadequacies and alternatively seductive/aggressive sides were just people you really hoped you'd never have to deal with since they don't seem able to be cured. One wonders if they even want to be.
Some things were almost beyond belief. Like every male member of the family raping a little girl from the time she was a toddler and selling her. The grandmother would 'clean' out her vagina with lye, rendering her sterile. Or the little girl who had small dead animals put into her vagina and left to rot. I was terribly sorry for these poor women and it is no wonder they developed multiple personalities as a defence against actually having to deal with these horrific issues. But there is a limit to how much I want to read about these personalities and how the author handled them.
In the end I kind of drifted off, skimming, just trying to finish. That's never a good sign and that's why the book only gets 3 stars.
1. The majority of the psychology books I read are by doctors with a Jewish background. This doctor is Roman Catholic and his background does inform certain of his patients' treatments.
2. Most of the authors owe a lot to Freud, Dr. Wendorf is contemptuous of him. Freudian therapists like to get to the root of the problem, Wendorf is strictly behavioural. Cognitive behavioural therapy to be more precise. My favourite author in this genre is Dr Irv Yalom who had a Jewish background but was an existentialist. This comes closest I suppose to behavioural therapy but in no way is Dr Wendorf an existentialist and does not address his patients' problems from this point of view at all.
Although I am an existentialist, I lean more to CGT as therapy than anything else. A lot of us know why we do stuff that is not making us or others happy, or don't really care, what we want is to stop doing it, do something else that is better, not 5 years of lying on a couch and talking about oneself. (Exception. My mother, she just liked talking about herself and popping valium.) Some of his treatments were interesting. The man who couldn't pee in public having to distract himself by counting back from 20, the boy with no self esteem who was taught to play ping pong and since he didn't do anything else at all, no school, no work, no treatment, became extremely good at it and thereby cured himself.
3. In Oliver Sacks' books, patients come alive as people who have issues, people with schizophrenia for example, and not schizophrenics. Dr Wendorf doesn't lack compassion but his description of the patients is generally only as far as it has to do with the mental problems. However, he, like Sacks does often involve the person in looking at their disorder in a quite objective way that they could treat together.
It sounds like a really great read, but actually I was mostly bored.
The book started off well enough, at a fast clip through patients and disorders and, Wendorf being quite a personal writer, what he thought of them, if he liked the patient or the opposite. But when he got into disorders he really enjoyed, like borderline personality disorder and multiple personalities, now called dissociative identity disorder, he just went on and on. All the patients were unattractive individuals to read about and they mostly had horrific backgrounds. The borderline personality people with their inadequacies and alternatively seductive/aggressive sides were just people you really hoped you'd never have to deal with since they don't seem able to be cured. One wonders if they even want to be.
Some things were almost beyond belief. Like every male member of the family raping a little girl from the time she was a toddler and selling her. The grandmother would 'clean' out her vagina with lye, rendering her sterile. Or the little girl who had small dead animals put into her vagina and left to rot. I was terribly sorry for these poor women and it is no wonder they developed multiple personalities as a defence against actually having to deal with these horrific issues. But there is a limit to how much I want to read about these personalities and how the author handled them.
In the end I kind of drifted off, skimming, just trying to finish. That's never a good sign and that's why the book only gets 3 stars.
July 6, 2017
Where to start? So many things about this book made me rage. The author's clear narcissism. The fact that this book was clearly just a vehicle to stroke his own ego and mock his patients. His inability to acknowledge that he doesn't understand - truly - what the forensic process is about. His regular notation about which clients did - or did not - pay his bill or his "very high fee." His unnecessary and regular mentions of his jaguars. His incredibly unkind characterizations of addicts. This is awful.
I'm just glad he's not a practitioner that I have to deal with.
I'm just glad he's not a practitioner that I have to deal with.
December 1, 2016
This book just rubbed me the wrong way right from the beginning. I set the book down twice for a while to try and clear my mind a bit and come back to it without my irritation, but failed. I finished it, but hated it.
I am going to write about some specific examples, but in case you don't want to read through all of them, here is the general idea: his stories are a bit unempathetic and egocentric. I have heard many psychologists tell tales of their patients. Some of which were funny stories told to entertain, some which were not. Sometimes they were just looking for advice or sympathy or even just to vent frustration. Some stories were books, some were told at conferences or presentations and some were just shared socially. I don't feel like I've ever really gotten the impression that a psychologist was mocking their patients until this book (with the exception of a few patients Robert Hare has told stories about). Also, he takes every opportunity to mention his various classic cars and whether or not that particular patient paid him his bill (or if he did the talk pro bono or not). Obviously since he wrote the book, he is mostly telling his success stories, but quite a few don't sound very successful at all. Sure they stopped coming in, but I would have too if you were charging me by the hour for that kind of service.
His introduction started out quite promising. He wants to tell some stories about some of his most memorable and/entertaining patients. He clarifies that he will use terminology that colloquially may have become offensive but were proper clinical terms once upon a time. I liked that distinction especially because people have this idea that a diagnosis is like a bad label, but this is really a colloquial idea that clinical psychology keeps having to rebrand and run away from.
After this, I started to turn on him. He talks about ADHD and how he never likes to use medication over therapy, except Ritalin, which is great. And it can be for some people, sure. He then goes on to talk down the idea or argument of the problem of overprescribing Ritalin. Then he tells a story about a father who functioned totally fine until he got a desk job and now he's restless and going crazy. His son is ADHD and Ritalin helped so why not him too?! That would be a good example of unnecessarily prescribing a drug considering he did function totally fine in the other job. Sounds like a lifestyle change could have probably sorted that out actually.
Then his whole take on suicide was pretty discouraging. He talks about how with most suicide attempts they don't really want to die. That is usually true. They are lost and desperate and they don't know what to do and they do this because they want help but they don't know how or where or who. Fine Bob, with you so far. Then he precedes to imply that these are just the irrational impulses of silly teenagers (usually due to a break-up) and really they are so silly and stupid you just need to point out their silliness and they'll be on their way. Yes Bob, because normal and healthy functioning teenagers try to kill themselves every time a break-up occurs. That's how well functioning people react to that situation. Definitely no underlying issues there.
His take on discipline. Yes, this is important to teach any child, however he seems unable to differentiate between discipline and violence. He encourages the parents to discipline their child using threats of violence (and then of course you must follow through if they do not listen). The one woman threatened her son with a switch, and he considered that success. Did it produce results? Sure. Did it produce further psychological dysfunction? Probably.
I have more issues with the book, but I am running out of time. I have places to go and people to see, all of which I would prefer to do over continuing to write about a book I really didn't enjoy.
I am going to write about some specific examples, but in case you don't want to read through all of them, here is the general idea: his stories are a bit unempathetic and egocentric. I have heard many psychologists tell tales of their patients. Some of which were funny stories told to entertain, some which were not. Sometimes they were just looking for advice or sympathy or even just to vent frustration. Some stories were books, some were told at conferences or presentations and some were just shared socially. I don't feel like I've ever really gotten the impression that a psychologist was mocking their patients until this book (with the exception of a few patients Robert Hare has told stories about). Also, he takes every opportunity to mention his various classic cars and whether or not that particular patient paid him his bill (or if he did the talk pro bono or not). Obviously since he wrote the book, he is mostly telling his success stories, but quite a few don't sound very successful at all. Sure they stopped coming in, but I would have too if you were charging me by the hour for that kind of service.
His introduction started out quite promising. He wants to tell some stories about some of his most memorable and/entertaining patients. He clarifies that he will use terminology that colloquially may have become offensive but were proper clinical terms once upon a time. I liked that distinction especially because people have this idea that a diagnosis is like a bad label, but this is really a colloquial idea that clinical psychology keeps having to rebrand and run away from.
After this, I started to turn on him. He talks about ADHD and how he never likes to use medication over therapy, except Ritalin, which is great. And it can be for some people, sure. He then goes on to talk down the idea or argument of the problem of overprescribing Ritalin. Then he tells a story about a father who functioned totally fine until he got a desk job and now he's restless and going crazy. His son is ADHD and Ritalin helped so why not him too?! That would be a good example of unnecessarily prescribing a drug considering he did function totally fine in the other job. Sounds like a lifestyle change could have probably sorted that out actually.
Then his whole take on suicide was pretty discouraging. He talks about how with most suicide attempts they don't really want to die. That is usually true. They are lost and desperate and they don't know what to do and they do this because they want help but they don't know how or where or who. Fine Bob, with you so far. Then he precedes to imply that these are just the irrational impulses of silly teenagers (usually due to a break-up) and really they are so silly and stupid you just need to point out their silliness and they'll be on their way. Yes Bob, because normal and healthy functioning teenagers try to kill themselves every time a break-up occurs. That's how well functioning people react to that situation. Definitely no underlying issues there.
His take on discipline. Yes, this is important to teach any child, however he seems unable to differentiate between discipline and violence. He encourages the parents to discipline their child using threats of violence (and then of course you must follow through if they do not listen). The one woman threatened her son with a switch, and he considered that success. Did it produce results? Sure. Did it produce further psychological dysfunction? Probably.
I have more issues with the book, but I am running out of time. I have places to go and people to see, all of which I would prefer to do over continuing to write about a book I really didn't enjoy.
February 1, 2024
2.5⭐️
This was a hard book for me to read due to the author's hard look at abuse to children, teens, adults, and animals. It's hard for me to read about abuse of any kind, and this was very graphic.
It was interesting to read about the different kinds of psychology disorders that he treated.
Multiple Personality Disorder (now called Dissociative Disorder) was a weird one because it was so complex and because it involved the people with the worst abuse cases he had to deal with.
This book needed to have trigger warnings. I would not have read it.
This was a hard book for me to read due to the author's hard look at abuse to children, teens, adults, and animals. It's hard for me to read about abuse of any kind, and this was very graphic.
It was interesting to read about the different kinds of psychology disorders that he treated.
Multiple Personality Disorder (now called Dissociative Disorder) was a weird one because it was so complex and because it involved the people with the worst abuse cases he had to deal with.
This book needed to have trigger warnings. I would not have read it.
February 7, 2017
OH BOY HERE WE GO. I can't remember the last time a book made me this angry. It started out promisingly enough. There were some interesting cases. The author's approach to mental health seemed a bit old fashioned but then he is now retired. Then real doubts crept in: his chuckling at the ethical standards of the profession. His disdain for "silly" suicidal people. His frankly creepy need to describe how attractive his female clients are, including speculation about whether one of them had had a boob job.
It got worse. There's a common belief in Psychology - now fortunately going out of fashion - that you don't need to bother with evidence as long as you have some vaguely coherent notion about how something works. I found myself wanting to yell at the book WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE FOR YOUR POSITION as he wanked on about the inner causes of BPD and narcissism.
And then he went on to MPD and the satanic panic and I realised he was one of the original professionals responsible and that's when I got really angry. I understand that the guy was acting in good faith at the time. He was misguided but so were a lot of people. But the science of how memory works has come along so far since then, and so many claims of ritual abuse have been investigated and found unfounded, and so many have been retracted, that any therapist who still propagates this bullshit is absolutely culpable. He wants to know why the rate of MPD has dropped in the last 20 years? Because the late 1990s is when doubts crept in and therapists stopped expecting to see it, newspapers, magazines and TV stopped going on about it, and The Courage to Heal dropped off the bestseller lists. That's why.
So we get a long list of horrific acts of abuse, the descriptions of which are as gratuitous as the acts themselves are implausible. His message to any doubting reader is "bad things happen. The Holocaust happened." Yes. The Holocaust happened. But the reason why I believe that it happened is that there's evidence for it. Nobody has found any evidence of Satanic ritual abuse rings. And we're not talking about the kind of crime that leaves no physical trace. With the specific crimes mentioned (I won't go into details) we're talking about a situation where absence of evidence really is evidence of absence.
So basically yeah. I didn't like this one.
It got worse. There's a common belief in Psychology - now fortunately going out of fashion - that you don't need to bother with evidence as long as you have some vaguely coherent notion about how something works. I found myself wanting to yell at the book WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE FOR YOUR POSITION as he wanked on about the inner causes of BPD and narcissism.
And then he went on to MPD and the satanic panic and I realised he was one of the original professionals responsible and that's when I got really angry. I understand that the guy was acting in good faith at the time. He was misguided but so were a lot of people. But the science of how memory works has come along so far since then, and so many claims of ritual abuse have been investigated and found unfounded, and so many have been retracted, that any therapist who still propagates this bullshit is absolutely culpable. He wants to know why the rate of MPD has dropped in the last 20 years? Because the late 1990s is when doubts crept in and therapists stopped expecting to see it, newspapers, magazines and TV stopped going on about it, and The Courage to Heal dropped off the bestseller lists. That's why.
So we get a long list of horrific acts of abuse, the descriptions of which are as gratuitous as the acts themselves are implausible. His message to any doubting reader is "bad things happen. The Holocaust happened." Yes. The Holocaust happened. But the reason why I believe that it happened is that there's evidence for it. Nobody has found any evidence of Satanic ritual abuse rings. And we're not talking about the kind of crime that leaves no physical trace. With the specific crimes mentioned (I won't go into details) we're talking about a situation where absence of evidence really is evidence of absence.
So basically yeah. I didn't like this one.
October 11, 2019
If you have a mental illness yourself, definitely don't read this book. You will be offended. In fact, don't read this book if you're neurotypical either, because it's awful. I can't believe this guy was ever a practicing therapist. Most books written by psychologists about their patients are done so in a way meant to educate readers about mental illness. This book came across mostly as exploitative rather than informative, presenting stories of patients merely as entertainment. 'Haha listen to what this crazy person did!' He casually refers to patients are "crazy" multiple times. (There's an entire chapter titled "Truly Crazy People.") He also refers to patients in crisis as "making for an entertaining therapy session." Or if their crisis isn't "entertaining" enough for him, instead he talks about how annoying certain people were to deal with. It felt like this guy had no compassion for his patients and found his job to be a huge burden, in which case why even bother staying in such a line of work? The chapter on suicide in particular was exceptionally heartless - constantly accusing the patients of being selfish, stupid, and having "silly" or even "comical reasons" for wanting to end their life. In one early chapter, he basically mocks a patient for thinking that owning a Jaguar is the pinnacle of success, and then in subsequent chapters proceeds to (repeatedly) name-drop the fact that he owns a Jaguar himself. Some of his insensitivity you might try to write off as a sign of the times, being that he clearly did the majority of his work in the 1970s when the field of psychology still had some very questionable practices. But the cumulative amount of this insensitivity, and the fact that he wrote the book in 2015 and should have learned better by now, makes it unforgivable overall.
April 19, 2024
I’m not sure what I’m more shocked by: the amount of problematic comments in this book, or the fact that it was published in 2015. The whole time I was listening to it, I was under the impression that this must be a book that was released decades ago; otherwise, how could the author have gotten away with this sort of writing in this day and age? I’m not sure how this book made it through multiple edits within a publishing company and still came out like this.
His writing includes multiple slurs and contributes to stigma against people living with mental disorders. Some of his noteworthy comments include mentioning that every grown man’s dream is being with a teenage girl, mentioning that what would enrage any man (he really meant a White Southern American man) the most is having his wife cheat on him with a Black man, speaking about being gay as if it’s a disorder to be ashamed of or avoided (while also casually using the f-word), and framing addicts as being lazy and self-defeating, among many other comments.
While at times he sounds like a teenage boy going through puberty (like when he felt it was necessary to comment on his female patients’ hot bodies and boobs), some of his comments are also outright dangerous, such as claiming that most people who state that they’re suicidal do not have serious intent and solely want attention or to be talked out of it. He casually sprinkles these comments into his narrative as if they’re common knowledge that all his readers would agree on.
This book should come with a disclaimer that it’s for a specific audience. After I finished the book, I saw that the author is an elderly White American man from Alabama. His racist, sexist, and homophobic world view clearly seeped into his writing and got in the way of his ability to achieve his purpose of providing relevant, interesting case studies about his patients with various mental disorders. This is unfortunate because the book could have had some (emphasis on only some) potential if he had chosen to keep his bigoted views out of it.
Similarly, I agree with other reviewers in that the author writes with a self-absorbed, narcissistic tone. The author is the protagonist of this book when the focus should have fully been on his patients. Instead of humanizing his patients and using empathetic language when recounting their life stories, he laughs about how “crazy” they are and explicitly mentions that they served as entertainment for him. Who gave this man his degree?
Finally, I found it comical that he begins the book by writing that there is a possibility that it could one day be turned into a movie, with him as the main star, of course. Who does he think he is? He’s not a well-known or famous psychologist by any means. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page dedicated to his career.
His writing includes multiple slurs and contributes to stigma against people living with mental disorders. Some of his noteworthy comments include mentioning that every grown man’s dream is being with a teenage girl, mentioning that what would enrage any man (he really meant a White Southern American man) the most is having his wife cheat on him with a Black man, speaking about being gay as if it’s a disorder to be ashamed of or avoided (while also casually using the f-word), and framing addicts as being lazy and self-defeating, among many other comments.
While at times he sounds like a teenage boy going through puberty (like when he felt it was necessary to comment on his female patients’ hot bodies and boobs), some of his comments are also outright dangerous, such as claiming that most people who state that they’re suicidal do not have serious intent and solely want attention or to be talked out of it. He casually sprinkles these comments into his narrative as if they’re common knowledge that all his readers would agree on.
This book should come with a disclaimer that it’s for a specific audience. After I finished the book, I saw that the author is an elderly White American man from Alabama. His racist, sexist, and homophobic world view clearly seeped into his writing and got in the way of his ability to achieve his purpose of providing relevant, interesting case studies about his patients with various mental disorders. This is unfortunate because the book could have had some (emphasis on only some) potential if he had chosen to keep his bigoted views out of it.
Similarly, I agree with other reviewers in that the author writes with a self-absorbed, narcissistic tone. The author is the protagonist of this book when the focus should have fully been on his patients. Instead of humanizing his patients and using empathetic language when recounting their life stories, he laughs about how “crazy” they are and explicitly mentions that they served as entertainment for him. Who gave this man his degree?
Finally, I found it comical that he begins the book by writing that there is a possibility that it could one day be turned into a movie, with him as the main star, of course. Who does he think he is? He’s not a well-known or famous psychologist by any means. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page dedicated to his career.
July 21, 2022
Wow, this guy is awful. He has some extremely dated and sometimes just downright offensive views on a number of topics including autism (couldn’t possibly want friends if you’re autistic), bulimia (it’s a fad that’s gone out of fashion), addiction (simultaneously both a terrible thing to be afflicted with and also your own fault, he particularly doesn’t like working with addicts) and a host of other diagnoses which i’d really expect a clinical psychologist to have a more rounded view on. His case examples tended to be too short and either lacked an outcome or he quickly ‘cured’ people with some unproved bit of made up reverse psychology. He clearly loves himself but I feel seriously sorry for anyone who he ends up working with, as he seems like an unskilled asshole.
October 8, 2021
"Tales From The Couch" by Dr Bob Wendorf is a story based on events from medical psychology, daily work of psychiatrists. This book has inspired me, and it took great pleasure to listen to it on Audible narrated by Bob Reed. I found this book was well written and an excellent read.
December 3, 2023
The author is a clinical psychologist who honed his skills working with a variety of patients in his private practice several decades ago. What drew me to this book was the mention of psychopathy on the cover, however I found there was very few (and fleeting) mentions of this and little to no discussion of psychopathology and it’s links to crime and the criminal mind. This is more like a collection of the authors recollections of treating patients that particularly interested him throughout his long career, ranging from a variety of mental illnesses such as depression, dissociative identity disorder and teenaged disruptive behaviour.
My real issue with this book was the undercurrents of misogyny, racism and cynicism that felt ingrained in the authors personal recollections. So much so, that I kept notes as I read of things that unnerved me and felt wholly inappropriate. Some examples I noted being:
Referring to drug addicted sex workers as ‘lower class women.’
Multiple descriptions of patients as ‘crazy.’
Suggesting that the universal fantasy of middle aged men is to have a romantic affair with a teenage girl. And conversely, describing an “inappropriate” homosexual relationship.
When describing the history of mental health, the author suggested that illnesses go in and out of fashion. The current ‘fads’ being ADHD and narcissistic personality disorder.
Unnecessarily mentioning race when describing patients illnesses.
In describing a patient as ‘slender where a woman is supposed to be.’ Also mentions of attractive patients and specifically, breasts.
Promoting corporal punishment for a parent who was struggling to manage their child’s behaviour.
A clinical psychologist, however old school he might be, should be doing better than this.
My real issue with this book was the undercurrents of misogyny, racism and cynicism that felt ingrained in the authors personal recollections. So much so, that I kept notes as I read of things that unnerved me and felt wholly inappropriate. Some examples I noted being:
Referring to drug addicted sex workers as ‘lower class women.’
Multiple descriptions of patients as ‘crazy.’
Suggesting that the universal fantasy of middle aged men is to have a romantic affair with a teenage girl. And conversely, describing an “inappropriate” homosexual relationship.
When describing the history of mental health, the author suggested that illnesses go in and out of fashion. The current ‘fads’ being ADHD and narcissistic personality disorder.
Unnecessarily mentioning race when describing patients illnesses.
In describing a patient as ‘slender where a woman is supposed to be.’ Also mentions of attractive patients and specifically, breasts.
Promoting corporal punishment for a parent who was struggling to manage their child’s behaviour.
A clinical psychologist, however old school he might be, should be doing better than this.
August 29, 2018
Interesting book but I was surprised to see it was written in 2015. Between recommendations for spanking children, references to “bastard” (illegitimate) children, “inappropriate“ homosexual relationships, it seemed horrendously anachronistic. His judgemental attitude towards some patients, and obvious narcissism, were oftentimes difficult to read.
December 28, 2021
2.5 stars
This book sits somewhere in the middle for me, very interesting patient cases but the doctor himself is very questionable, often makes weird comments about his patients 😭 the book almost feels like an ongoing testament to his self pandering of his ego.
This book sits somewhere in the middle for me, very interesting patient cases but the doctor himself is very questionable, often makes weird comments about his patients 😭 the book almost feels like an ongoing testament to his self pandering of his ego.
April 16, 2023
2.5 stars!
When I started this book, I thought the author was a bit of a dick, lacks compassion and I was tempted to throw it out, but I persisted. This is reflected in some
of the other reviews here too. But, I’ve changed my mind a little bit as the book went on, I think he genuinely cared for his patients but could have organised the book in a better way that doesn’t rub readers up the wrong way from the start… a better editor would have realised this!
It was certainly interesting to read about some of the cases encountered by the author in clinical practice, and a good amount of research, criticality of the diagnostic system and I learnt a thing or two from his takes on situations and people (I’m also a psychologist, PhD).
Some of the comments about patients, especially about their looks, should have not been reported, and there’s some repetitions about stories/anecdotes. Again, it could have definitely done with a better editor.
Probably wouldn’t recommend to others, as there’s far better books out there with a similar brief, such as the skeleton cupboard.
When I started this book, I thought the author was a bit of a dick, lacks compassion and I was tempted to throw it out, but I persisted. This is reflected in some
of the other reviews here too. But, I’ve changed my mind a little bit as the book went on, I think he genuinely cared for his patients but could have organised the book in a better way that doesn’t rub readers up the wrong way from the start… a better editor would have realised this!
It was certainly interesting to read about some of the cases encountered by the author in clinical practice, and a good amount of research, criticality of the diagnostic system and I learnt a thing or two from his takes on situations and people (I’m also a psychologist, PhD).
Some of the comments about patients, especially about their looks, should have not been reported, and there’s some repetitions about stories/anecdotes. Again, it could have definitely done with a better editor.
Probably wouldn’t recommend to others, as there’s far better books out there with a similar brief, such as the skeleton cupboard.
May 7, 2019
I forced myself to read this half-way through, (only because I hate to not finish a book), but I could not force myself to read any further. This author is so full of himself, it was highly irritating! I do not recommend this book, unless you enjoy being severely agitated. I feel very bad for his poor patients.
March 14, 2023
Wow. Where to start with this book?? On the one hand I found the patient stories very interesting but on the other hand, so many of the authors comments are completely unethical and quite frankly, offensive. But I’m trying to think of him as a practitioner of a certain era so I have to take that into consideration.
July 4, 2017
3.5 STARS
Reading some of the reviews for this I have to wonder if people even have the attention span to focus on more than the first few lines any more, seeing as most (not all) of what is being criticized by the reviewers is usually explained or built upon a few lines later in the book. People seem to shut off their brains (or just put down the book) as soon as they read something they may not agree with.
This book certainly has its "flaws" and will not appeal to everyone. It's unnecessarily graphic in places, the author does come of as rather egocentric and some of the decisions or procedures in regards to his patients does seem a bit questionable or unethical (never extremely so, he's not abusing his patients of anything like that). But considering at least some of these stories seem to take place before their respective disorder became "a thing", let alone a well researched thing, it's hard to be too critical about it.
Also most of us (the readers) don't have a background in psychology or medicine, so focusing the criticism on those parts of the book are never really a good idea unless you can substantiate it.
So judging this book as the work of entertainment it is I found it pleasing, providing me with a good amount of humour, a little bit of shock and awe, as well as some "aw, that's sweet" moments.
Reading some of the reviews for this I have to wonder if people even have the attention span to focus on more than the first few lines any more, seeing as most (not all) of what is being criticized by the reviewers is usually explained or built upon a few lines later in the book. People seem to shut off their brains (or just put down the book) as soon as they read something they may not agree with.
This book certainly has its "flaws" and will not appeal to everyone. It's unnecessarily graphic in places, the author does come of as rather egocentric and some of the decisions or procedures in regards to his patients does seem a bit questionable or unethical (never extremely so, he's not abusing his patients of anything like that). But considering at least some of these stories seem to take place before their respective disorder became "a thing", let alone a well researched thing, it's hard to be too critical about it.
Also most of us (the readers) don't have a background in psychology or medicine, so focusing the criticism on those parts of the book are never really a good idea unless you can substantiate it.
So judging this book as the work of entertainment it is I found it pleasing, providing me with a good amount of humour, a little bit of shock and awe, as well as some "aw, that's sweet" moments.
December 28, 2022
This book is really problematic. Spanking children as a way to discipline them and descriptions of women's bodies when they are the patients of the author - just to name a few problems. You can't be only a patient if you're a woman, you still need to have "curves where they should be".
September 20, 2021
I listened to the audiobook of TALES FROM THE COUCH which wasn’t spoke by writer Bob Wendorf, but I assume Dr Wendorf had to sign off the narration. I’m not sure whether listening made the book sound more flippant or disrespectful to clients, but I felt sorry for the individuals who might come across their stories in the book. A lot of the patients had interesting stories, unfortunately they were related in a way that felt more like gossip than sharing information about clinical disorders.
Dr Wendorf is from a different era of education and practice as me so I’m not going to criticize his clinical skill, but I will criticize that manner in which he talks about his patients. He doesn’t convey a level of respect for their journeys that I would hope to hear from a clinician. “Frumpy” isn’t an appropriate word for an assessment or a necessary word for describing a former client, for example.
If you read or listen, do so knowing most therapists have more respect and consideration than Dr Wendorf.
Dr Wendorf is from a different era of education and practice as me so I’m not going to criticize his clinical skill, but I will criticize that manner in which he talks about his patients. He doesn’t convey a level of respect for their journeys that I would hope to hear from a clinician. “Frumpy” isn’t an appropriate word for an assessment or a necessary word for describing a former client, for example.
If you read or listen, do so knowing most therapists have more respect and consideration than Dr Wendorf.
November 27, 2022
The author clearly has a lot of experience and stories to share, that being said he does have some controversial opinions (like not agreeing with the new DSM-V) and can be pretty unnuanced in his views. Not a bad read, but would recommend Yalom's 'love executioner' a thousand times over if you're interested in 'tales from the couch'.
January 7, 2023
“These women survived their hellish childhoods and endured. They were left fragmented and scarred, depressed and suicidal, but they endured. Amazingly, most of them found ways to be happy”.
If you love psychology/psychotherapy and the book ‘This is going to hurt’ by Adam Kay, you’re going to like this book.
If you love psychology/psychotherapy and the book ‘This is going to hurt’ by Adam Kay, you’re going to like this book.
November 5, 2019
The author is annoying and full of himself, increasingly towards the end of the book. As a psych nurse have more than a few issues with his attitude towards his clients.
December 20, 2017
Fascinating and entertaining book for those interested in clinical psychology. Borderlines love to marry narcissists! (Whoda thunk it?) Some great anecdotes that illustrate various psychopathologies.
The writer is a very kind and principled psychologist with a great sense of humor.
Some parts are interesting, such as his two patients with multiple personality disorder, which he believes to be a true phenomenon, but at the same time, some of his stories border on voyeuristic, especially the ones on women who have highly sexualized characters as alters.
The writer is a very kind and principled psychologist with a great sense of humor.
Some parts are interesting, such as his two patients with multiple personality disorder, which he believes to be a true phenomenon, but at the same time, some of his stories border on voyeuristic, especially the ones on women who have highly sexualized characters as alters.
December 10, 2019
I didn't care for his writing style - he didn't seem to show some of the patients he saw adequate respect - not very professional in his descriptions. I find it hard to believe that he was able to solve many cases in such a short amount of time. He seemed arrogant and unempathetic. It was almost like he was bragging about the MPD patients he counseled. He doesn't have an MD degree in psychiatry but says he recommends medications to other practitioners. And some of his descriptions of women were sexist. I didn't care for this book.
February 8, 2021
* Mocking patients
* Spreads false information (the bpd is similar to did argument what the hell?)
* Also at the end when he kind of invalidated her did? I would have been heartbroken to read that if I were the patient.
* Not empathetic at all
* Some disgusting comments (he preferred to sleep with his wife while she was still asleep. She probably preferred it that way too) excuse me? She preferred sexual assault?
* For some reason always felt the need to tell us how attractive all the women were
* So bad and so outdated I can’t believe it was written in 2015
* Unacceptable
* Spreads false information (the bpd is similar to did argument what the hell?)
* Also at the end when he kind of invalidated her did? I would have been heartbroken to read that if I were the patient.
* Not empathetic at all
* Some disgusting comments (he preferred to sleep with his wife while she was still asleep. She probably preferred it that way too) excuse me? She preferred sexual assault?
* For some reason always felt the need to tell us how attractive all the women were
* So bad and so outdated I can’t believe it was written in 2015
* Unacceptable
Read
November 24, 2020Interesting book, awful therapist. Can you imagine spending a whole career trying to help people in incredible amounts of psychic pain and then cashing in on that by writing a memoir where you treat your readers to views of your former patients as if they were animals in a zoo? I understand that you become a little jaded after so many years, but this guy seemed downright uncaring at times. Plenty of cliches in the writing as well. Interesting stories though.
September 2, 2016
Wow! Couldn't make it past the 5th chapter. Glad he's not my psychologist.
October 8, 2019
Lightweight
If this is the attitude of a psychologist, then heaven help his patients. The author is flip and disrespectful of those he supposedly tried to help.
If this is the attitude of a psychologist, then heaven help his patients. The author is flip and disrespectful of those he supposedly tried to help.
February 7, 2023
Denne boka må jeg nesten bare skrote. I starten fant jeg Wendorf som en vittig, men to-the-point forfatter, nesten som en onkel som lettbeint forteller om hans småartige historier. Men i løpet av boka fikk jeg faktisk avsmak for forfatteren og skrivestilen. Denne boka er sikkert perfekt for de som ikke studerer psykologi, men som gjerne vil vite om interessante historier fra psykiatrien og spesifikt om enkelte lidelser og diagnoser. Men for min egen del manglet hele det fenomenologiske aspektet av det som finner sted i terapirommet. Menneskene som beskrives blir gjort om til karikaturer og eksemplarer av diagnosene enn som helhetlige personer. Diagnosen blir beskrevet, historien fortalt, og så går vi videre til neste kapittel. Denne formen trekkes ut i det langtekkelige, og det helhetlige inntrykket man får er bare "mitt liv som eksentrisk psykolog, og mitt møte med disse 15 nokså småartige lidelsene".
December 21, 2024
The case studies were interesting. But the author’s ethics seem really questionable. Some of the “therapeutic” strategies he has used seem harmful (threatening patients with violence?? Telling them they’re complaining so much that they’re hard to listen to??) and some of the language is extremely problematic- I vehemently disagree with his assertion that professionals are using inappropriate language like describing a person who has suffered brain death as a “veggie”- maybe in his circles, but certainly the therapists I know would NEVER. At one point he claims that every middle aged man’s fantasy is to be with a teenage girl?!? I looked up the publish date expecting it to be at least 20 years old but it was published in 2015! Because of this, nothing I read sat right with me. The book was also oddly repetitive at points towards the end.
If you read it, be warned- the author casually describes some of the worst child abuse (physical and sexual) I’ve ever heard of.
If you read it, be warned- the author casually describes some of the worst child abuse (physical and sexual) I’ve ever heard of.
September 25, 2023
The constant use of the phrase “mental retardation” simply because that’s the term that was used during the time he practiced had me uncomfortable, for something that was published in 2015 the option was there to use the updated term. Also the constant comments about the patients looks/weight seemed unnecessary to the tales told of them (aside from that one about weight watchers). Just an overall weird vibe of a book but 2 stars for the tales that were interesting.
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