The Good Psychologist

by Noam Shpancer

"Noam Shpancer portrays the oft-hidden world of psychotherapy with unparalleled authenticity, compassion, and wit . . . An astonishing debut."—Jonathan Kellerman Noam Shpancer's stunning debut novel opens as a psychologist reluctantly takes on a new client—an exotic dancer whose severe anxiety is keeping her from the stage. The psychologist, a solitary professional who also teaches a lively night class, helps the client confront her fears. But as treatment unfolds, her struggles and secrets begin to radiate onto his life, upsetting the precarious balance in his unresolved relationship with Nina, a married former colleague with whom he has a child—a child he has never met. As the shell of his detachment begins to crack, he suddenly finds himself too deeply involved, the boundary lines between professional and personal, between help and harm, blurring dangerously. With its wonderfully distinctive narrative voice, rich with humor and humanity, The Good Psychologist leads the reader on a journey into the heart of the therapy process and beyond, examining some of the fundamental questions of the to move or be still; to defy or obey; to let go or hold on.

Genres: Fiction, Psychology, German Literature, Book Club, Adult, Roman, Contemporary

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Noam Shpancer was born and raised on an Israeli kibbutz. Currently he is a professor of psychology at Otterbein University and a practicing clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is also a blogger at psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-therapy and an op-ed columnist for the Jewish bimonthly The New Standard. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Reviews

[Stepheny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Original review:

What a snooze fest.



Updated Review:

Do you want to read a book where literally nothing happens? Do you enjoy stories where you’re led to believe there’s some big discovery about to happen only to find that no, it’s actually fucking pointless? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then boy do I have the book for you.

Here’s yet another Overdrive audiobook I snagged while waiting for more credits. Life with the World’s Busiest 18-Month Old leaves little time for “actual” reading but offers ample opportunities for audiobooks! And I have been burning through them at the speed of light!

Anyway, I did a very brief scan of the description of this one before deciding that it sounded interesting. A stripper, a psychologist and the potential for things to get dirty. The potential lied. This was boring, under developed and exaggerated.

We’ve got a stripper with a bad case of stage fright. But that’s not all folks! (Cue the sappy music) She’s trying to get her child back from Evil Baby Daddy. Oh, you thought that was it? Nope. Not even close. She’s also being threatened by her Russian Mafia boss! Yup. I think this author wanted to see how many clichés could be jammed into one character.

We’ve got a doctor who is so apathetic it’s kind of terrifying. His patients’ lives mean nothing to him. And while I can see where this is important- separating their lives from your own as their doctor- I still think it’s important for a doctor to want to help his patient out of genuine concern for their well-being. I don’t know exactly what I’m getting at here, other than to say that his indifference to everyone else’s life was reason enough for me to NEVER want to go see a psychologist.

The writing was decent. I particularly liked the formatting. The psychologist teaches a class at a local college at night and you get his lectures which relate to something that is about to occur between him and his patient. He uses the phrase “The good psychologist” quite often while lecturing indicating the do’s and don’ts of doctor/patient relations.

Literally nothing really happens. It was a neat little insight into phycology but that was about all it had going for it. I didn’t like anyone in the book nor could I relate. The narration was not great either which did not help me enjoy it.

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Noam Shpancer's stunning debut novel opens as a psychologist reluctantly takes on a new client—an exotic dancer whose severe anxiety is keeping her from the stage. The psychologist, a solitary professional who also teaches a lively night class, helps the client confront her fears. But as treatment unfolds, her struggles and secrets begin to radiate onto his life, upsetting the precarious balance in his unresolved relationship with Nina, a married former colleague with whom he has a child—a child he has never met. As the shell of his detachment begins to crack, he suddenly finds himself too deeply involved, the boundary lines between professional and personal, between help and harm, blurring dangerously.

With its wonderfully distinctive narrative voice, rich with humor and humanity, The Good Psychologist leads the reader on a journey into the heart of the therapy process and beyond, examining some of the fundamental questions of the soul: to move or be still; to defy or obey; to let go or hold on.

My Review: Wonderful line-by-line writing! Lovely images, and a very delicate hand at description. Characters that make an impression on your readerly senses.

But not a novel, really. More like the internalized effects of living a life in the psychologist's seat made into an essay. Not so much acted out as acted. The unnamed psychologist, a damned decent man, can be summed up in one clean metaphor: He finds a broken-down old piano, hauls it home, and gets a professional piano-tuner to come and fix its battered old carcass up. The tuner, being a responsible sort, says the Good Psychologist could go get a new piano for less than it'll cost to bring the old one back to life. The psychologist thanks him, and orders the remake to proceed. It does. Beautiful music ensues.

Well, that's it, really. Not that this is in any way a bad book, but it would HUGELY irritate me to pay twenty-four United States dollars for it. Twelve, yes. MAYbe fourteen. Over twenty? Oh HELL no.

First novels, such as this is, published initially in harcover are a bad idea, in this climate of frugality and underemployment. Take heed, publishers, and move to a trade paper format.

How interested are you in the inner life of a shrink? If very, buy the book. If mildly, don't.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be at least a 4 star read and was hopeful about it as the blurb sounded very much interesting. Unfortunately the audiobook just didn't "pop up" for me. The book went pretty much in the background and I had difficulty getting invested in this.

[Pragya]

3.5 stars

Read more reviews at Reviewing Shelf.

When you come across the word 'psychologist' in the book title and google the author to find out he's a clinical psychologist himself and working in the area of anxiety disorders, your curiosity is piqued and you buy it during an online sale. The book patiently waits to be picked up for a couple of years until it's finally brought to the forefront of the bookshelf during spring cleaning and set down by the bedside to be read.

You try not to let your expectations hit the roof and start reading without peeking at the synopsis. Gradually, you find yourself being pulled in by the setting of the therapy, the interesting client to see which direction it will take. You find yourself enthralled by the really good examples, the psychologist gives to the client and mentally make a note to add that to your therapeutic skills. And then you are put off by the casual throwing around of the client information and find yourself doing a 'you didn't do that!' only to tell yourself this is fiction and perhaps the author is taking creative liberty, don't go all ethics on him. And you read on.

The plot could have been made more interesting than it was. It did appeal to me when it began. But the only thing that held my interest steadfast was the really good examples given by the clinical psychologist to his client as well during his class. Those I intend to make use of in my therapeutic practice. I liked a bit of the unravelling but I am sure my expectations did get in the way. Perhaps I was looking for an ethical, doing it by the rules, clinical psychologist who leads the client from point A to point B but of course, this isn't a text and not made to be taken in that way. So well, it made for an interesting one-time read but perhaps a non-psychology background reader would do it more justice by being objective about the plot and the treatment.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Shpancer has written a heady and unique novel that takes its primary form as therapy sessions between a psychologist and a stripper. The psychologist has a limited clinical schedule in his anxiety clinic and teaches a university class to augment his income. He also plays weekly basketball with a group of guys that he barely knows. He's been involved in a love affair with another psychologist, Nina, and they have a child together. This relationship is ebbing.

The Good Psychologist is the protagonist of this novel and also the referent of the university class on clinical psychology - what makes a good psychologist. The Good Psychologist is never given a name. The author is very knowledgeable about many psycho-therapeutic modalities, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. As a clinical social worker and marriage and family therapist, I found this book fascinating. It reads somewhere between a textbook and a novel of clinical methodology.

The chapters switch between sessions with the psychologist's 4 p.m. client, a stripper named Tiffany, his university teachings, his time or phone calls with Nina, his basketball games and an odd chapter or two where he is alone or getting his piano fixed. The gravitas is in the session time. It is in the classroom where the psychologist's knowledge, charisma and sensitivity come to light. The author describes the university classroom as though it were real. It brought me back to my clinical work in graduate school and I was impressed with the class's accuracy and thoroughness.

As the novel opens, the psychologist and Nina are ending a passionate affair, one in which she wants to become pregnant by him. She loves her husband but he is ill and unable to provide her with a child. She will never leave him. She and the psychologist have an agreement that he will never try to see his child. Nina and the psychologist have an easy relationship, speaking frequently and e-mailing one another for personal and professional reasons. As the novel progresses, their interchanges become more professional and less personal and finally start ebbing altogether. Nina is the person to whom the psychologist is closest and he is losing her.

His 4 p.m. appointments with the stripper are often troubling to him as he traverses the difficult issue of boundaries. He consults with Nina about this and tries to be ethical and correct in his treatment. However, he often trips himself up or is tripped up by extenuating circumstances. Tiffany, the stripper, is a difficult client with a lot of baggage, some of which she transfers onto the psychologist.

We get to know some of the students in his class and learn to appreciate the knowledge he imparts. He utilizes Socratic teaching methods, eclectic psychoanalytic methodology and cognitive behavioral modalities. Additionally, he utilizes narratives, metaphors, and stories from the old masters. His students seem to respond to him and it is clear to the reader that he is making some bold inroads to his students' thinking.

The psychologist is lonely and alone. He lives in a sparsely furnished apartment with cherished gifts from his clients and one mondo-sized piano. He has no friends or acquaintances. He is a world of one whose life is acted out in his clinic and in his classroom. Without Nina in his life, he has no one left who is dear to him. He yearns, from time to time, to see his daughter Billie, but remembers the promise he made to Nina. This creates strong tensions for him.

I loved this book. I don't think it is a perfect choice for every reader but I think that any reader that is interested in psychotherapy, clinical sessions, and the heart of what makes a good psychologist, will be transfixed by this remarkable book, a debut novel written with the wisdom of a master writer.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skilled not only in his unusual approach in narration, Noam Shpancer is also quantifiably knowledgeable as a clinical psychologist and a psychology professor.

In his masterful debut novel, he displays the intricacies of successful clinical psychological intervention and professorial academic allocution while offering a glimpse of the inner turmoil of the solitary protagonist’s daily life.

If such an unexpected premise is not sufficient to draw immediate attention, the guileless reader also senses a subliminal awareness of being an unsuspecting client of our nameless psychologist.

“But in every situation, the good psychologist always attends to movement, to the wind in the sails; always seeks, like a surfer, to catch the good wave and exploit its momentum. The sole purpose of every thought, every utterance, every gesture you produce in the therapy space is to advance the client’s agenda: to listen to the client, to understand the client, to allow a protected space for his explorations, to share with him your knowledge of the inner architecture, to train him in the proper use of the psychological tools. All the materials of the therapeutic encounter, all its expressions and gestures exist for one legitimate purpose: discerning their role in the process of the client’s healing.” (Pages 115-116)

I found it difficult to appropriately categorize this book. In one sense, it definitely fits the parameters necessary to define it as literary fiction. At the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if these carefully orchestrated episodes are the result of the author’s personal experiences, thus, it becomes a fully realistic depiction of his own life, i.e., autobiographical fiction. Finally, the subtle nuances directed toward the unwary reader suggest a minimal possibility that reeks of a “self-help” manual. Noam Shpancer’s one literary Rubik cube will not suffice, nor should it.

[Deborah Lott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book consists of a fictional psychologist's lectures to his therapy class, the narrative of his own life which involves his endless longing for a married female supervisor with whom he had an affair and a child, and his treatment of a stripper with a sexual abuse history who is having trouble stripping after a new trauma at the hands of a male customer. While I found some of the discussions of theory fascinating,and the author has clearly thought a lot about his work, the fact that the "good psychologist" isn't really put me off. And I don't think the author intended the title ironically at all.

Like many therapists, this one's abilities are marred by his narcissism; he likes to hear himself talk, and think, and ponder, and self-congratulate. Even his self-doubt turns into self-congratulation. He pontificates to his students who are presented as stereotypes (the born-again Christian; the TWO indistinguishable white-teethed smiling females; the Type A perfectionistic young woman)from whom he appears to learn nothing. Nothing seems to get in despite his image of himself as sensitive and perceptive. Worse, he doesn't see any problem in taking supervision on his current case from a woman with whom he's in love -- the need for boundaries apparently doesn't apply to him. And he blames the patient for becoming sexual when he enters into an reenactment with her by using an invasive and paternalistic form of quasi-hypnosis to relax her! after she tells him about her father's abuse. Of course his wise explanation of her behavior is enough to set her back on the right track, feeling gratitude and respect for her good doctor. Finally (plot spoiler) he culminates her therapy (which he deems a success) by watching her strip. And of course it all works out splendidly; she's grateful, healed, except for the fact that she flees at the end. From her life or from her therapy? Maybe I missed the intended irony.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel about a psychologist who is good at his craft, and even better at teaching it. But living life is not easier for a good psychologist than for his clients and some of his decision making, especially involving the married lover, are immature and irresponsible. The protagonist is unnamed, simply called the psychologist. He is careful to create distance between his clients and himself, by using the cliched clip board and note taking to put a "barrier" between client and doctor. By not knowing the psychologist's name the reader has distance too, we know what he is thinking, feeling and doing, but we still can't fully identify him. He gets a challenging client whom he really wants to help and it causes him to drop the barrier and get overly involved in her life. He seems to be heading toward a midlife crisis as the lonely life he leads comes to the fore and he practically stalks the lady he is in love with. The psychologist is moved when he sees an abandoned piano and he spends an exorbitant amount to fix it so it'll play. I found the piano to be the sweetest metaphor I've seen in a long time. They seems like two peas in a pod and the psychologist seems to be holding out that someday someone will invest the kind of care in him, as he did for the "useless" old piano.

[Can Eryürek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu kitap bir yere varmıyor, sonu belli değil diyenleri anlamış değilim... 😊 Dili çok akıcı ve sade anlatım ve kurgu son derece dengeli, teorik ile pratik içiçe geçmiş... Sofi'nin dünyasının Psikoloji versiyonu diyebilirim...

[Ömer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

Yorumu için: http://kronikokur.blogspot.com.tr/201...

[Jennifer Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good Psychologist is one intriguing book. Part psychology instruction manual and part novel, it explores a male psychologist’s professional and personal lives and the intersection between them. The author Noam Shpancer has a unique take on both the professional (therapy and teaching) and personal (a single man who helped a colleague by fathering her child when her disabled husband couldn’t). He offers many powerful, clever metaphors for life experiences that clearly illuminate his clients, students, and the reader.

The author’s voice is unusual, as is the lack of quotation marks throughout the story. Beyond my love for his creative metaphors (which I will quote liberally below), it’s hard to know what to make of this novel.

I read some other reviews of this novel on Goodreads, and some readers were put off by the psychologist’s arrogance. He does seem dismissive when describing the students in his class and how he doesn’t care to get to know them; that all young people look similar and distant to him p.32. However, while I’ve met my share of egotistical psychologists, I don’t believe he is one of them. I think the fact the author grew up in Israel, combined with his blunt cognitive approach, make him seem cold or arrogant when he’s not really that way at all. Calling the main character a “good” psychologist is more about irony or striving to be good instead of boldly proclaiming he’s the best psychologist ever. I was appalled when one of his first therapeutic responses was “So what?” but then I read on and understood this was part of his style and perhaps even his charm. In the beginning of the novel, the psychologist sounds conceited, but through growing to understand him I began to accept him more (which parallels his emphasis on the importance of acceptance in therapy). He does seem to be an effective therapist and teacher, using his own distinctive style.


Parts of this story made me uncomfortable. His main client is a stripper whose panic attacks prevent her from performing her job. Explicitly following the anxiety “exposure” treatment model, the psychologist actually goes to the strip club to offer her support after they’ve worked together to deal with her anxiety more effectively. When she splays herself naked in front of him, I squirmed. I’m wondering if this psychologist, who seems a bit over-sexed at times, went a bit too far with his exposure treatment? (Excellent play on words by the author).

I found so many quotes I wanted to share, including these brilliant metaphors:

Crying is the trail of blood that leads to the corpse in the bushes. p. 12

You grew up in the country, he says, right? Well, fears are like mice in the fields. Nobody likes mice, but if you run away from them, if you deny their existence, they will only multiply and ruin the crops and gardens, take over the house. You must go after them and hunt them down. The same is true with fears. You are training here to become an anxiety hunter. Not an anxiety victim. Not anxiety prey. p. 42

Think of a swimmer trapped by an undertow. His response would usually be to try to swim against it. But that would cause him to tire, cramp, and drown, done in not by the current, mind you, but by his erroneous response. To save himself, the swimmer should let the current carry him to sea, where it will dissipate, and the swimmer can paddle around and back to safety. The same principle holds true for our negative emotions, which should be accepted, even though the impulse to push against them is strong. p. 59.

And his thoughts on therapy, which he states so well:

The big bang theory holds that a successful treatment is characterized by a movement toward the killer insight, the miraculous climax, the rattling catharsis that will release dammed-up emotions, wash away the pain . . . The big bang theory is iconic. It’s the dream of the handsome prince who kisses Sleeping Beauty and takes her to a life of wealth and happiness. It’s the dream of winning the lottery. But waiting for a dreamy prince is not a serious relationship strategy. And the hope of winning the lottery is not a serious plan on which to base your financial future. And the story of therapy, here, in this world, is different entirely . . . There is no purifying insight. There is no magic wand. There is no big bang, only small tremors, each meaningless on its own. And even if there is catharsis, still the true healing occurs afterward, after the kiss, after the waking up, after the insight and metaphor, and it is embodied in the gray repetitive grind of daily practice, of learning a new language, stuttering, with clenched teeth. pp. 80-81.

And herein lies the secret of the therapy experience: acceptance, genuine acceptance of the client, warts and wounds and injuries and all. Such acceptance pushes back the fear of death, even if just for a while, for the therapy hour, like a flashlight’s beam of light calms the person who’s walking through darkness even without chasing the darkness away entirely. Acceptance allows the client to rest, allows him time and space within which to sense himself fully, sober up, look inward and around him, organize the matter of his being, tune his instruments, play the right note. p. 149

I believe therapists, psychology teachers, and therapy clients will enjoy this novel for its insight into human nature and the therapy process.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a terrific book in need of better blurbers. Nothing against Jonathan Kellerman and Stephen White, but they write a particular kind of book, and having their names attached to this one (even if, in Kellerman's case, he's a psychologist himself) suggests that Shpancer's novel is that kind of book as well -- a fast-paced thriller with some surface-level psych thrown in.

Be assured that it's not. It's a much quieter, more nuanced and resonant book than I would have expected, one of my great finds of 2010. It has some flaws, to be sure, some weak characterizations (the mob boss, most of the students in the psychologist's class) and, at least in its first half, a high number of didactic musings from the psychologist that threaten to overwhelm the narrative. But Shpancer writes with such understated confidence that you get totally sucked into the book's rhythm, and the final section is as moving as anything I've read this year. The conceit of not naming the psychologist feels completely right, as does the cloistered environment in which he surrounds himself.

A wonderful debut; highly recommended.

[Lois Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This certainly isn't what one would consider a typical "novel". I'm very interested in psychology and always wondered how the subject might be taught by a practicing psychologist. I sure got my dose of THAT. But a lot of it seemed like psycho-babble--a man preaching to hear himself talk--and he certainly wasn't making it easy for his students (or readers) to grasp. The "story" itself was a non-story.

Having said all that, I'm glad that I read this book. It supports a theory that I have often suspected--that most "shrinks" are egomaniacs and get their sense of worth by playing God to people whose emotional problems may be far less severe than their own.

[Müzeyem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitap birazcık kişisel gelişim birazcık ta ders kitabı niteliğinde. İsminden anlaşıldığı üzere baş kahraman bir psikolog. Bir yandan onun hastalarıyla olan seanslarından insan ruhuna dair şeyler bulurken diğer yandan öğrencilerine verdiği derslerde iyi bir psikolog nasıl olunabilir onu okuyorsunuz.
İçeriği hafif denilecek türden olmasa da kitap akıcıydı, okurken sizi zorlamıyor.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Noam Shpancers Debütroman begleiten wir einen Psychologen, der sich auf die Behandlung von Angststörungen spezialisiert hat, in drei verschiedenen Lebensbereichen. Der Protagonist bleibt stets namenlos und wird vom Erzähler bloß als „Der Psychologe“ bezeichnet.

Zum einen bekommen wir Einblicke in den Praxisalltag des Therapeuten und in die wöchentlichen Sitzungen mit seiner „16 Uhr-Klientin“ Tiffany. Die junge Nachtclubtänzerin leidet unter Panikattacken und Angststörungen und möchte unter allen Umständen das Sorgerecht für ihre kleine Tochter zurückerobern. Schritt für Schritt begleitet der Psychologe die junge Frau auf ihrem Weg ins unabhängige Leben und als Leser erfährt man einiges über die Vorgehensweise während der Therapie.

Zum anderen erleben wir den Psychologen bei seiner Arbeit als Dozent an der Universität und sind stille Beobachter in seiner Abendvorlesung. Mit seinen ungleichen Studenten bespricht er anhand von vielen Fallbeispielen, die Grundfunktionen der Psychotherapie und gibt Einblicke in therapeutische und psychologische Strukturen und Denkweisen. Er bedient sich vieler passender Metaphern um komplexe Zusammenhänge zu erklären und neben Fachwissen, kann der Leser auch lehrreiche Denkanstöße für sein eigenes Leben mitnehmen.

Besonders interessant fand ich allerdings den dritten Erzählstrang, denn er bringt uns das Privatleben des namenlosen Psychologen näher, das durch eine unerfüllte Liebe und die stille Sehnsucht nach einer eigenen Familie geprägt ist. Wir lesen über seine Beziehung zu Nina, seine Kollegin und ehemalige Geliebte, mit der ihn weit mehr verbindet als eine bloße Freundschaft. Der Leser kann miterleben, wie die Therapiestunden mit Tiffany das Denken und Fühlen des Psychologen beeinflussen und wie die Grenze zwischen Privatleben und Professionalität auf gefährliche Art verschwimmen kann. Auch der Psychologe ist nicht gefeit vor Ängsten und wird durch Tiffanys Geschichte an seine eigenen schwierigen Lebensumstände erinnert. Diese Tatsache lässt den Psychologen sehr sympathisch und menschlich erscheinen.

Kapitelweise wechselt der Autor zwischen den drei Wirkungskreisen und erschafft so eine fesselnde Dynamik. Obwohl „Der gute Psychologe“ für mich eher ein Sachbuch in Romanform oder einen literarischen Ratgeber darstellt, konnte Noam Shpancer einen schönen Spannungsbogen erzeugen und meine Neugierde stets aufrechterhalten. Da der Autor selbst als Professor für klinische Psychologie an einer amerikanische Universität lehrt, beschreibt er sehr authentisch und seine Erklärungen und Erläuterungen sind glaubhaft und nachvollziehbar. Seine Sprache ist anspruchsvoll aber dennoch verständlich und die Diskussionen mit seinen Studenten sind erfrischend und sehr aufschlussreich.

Wer Psychotherapie ablehnt, wird vermutlich keine Freude mit dieser Lektüre haben, denn die eigentliche Handlung ist ruhig und unspektakulär. Wer allerdings Einblicke in psychologische Denkweisen erhalten möchte und neue Blickwinkel aufgezeigt bekommen möchte, der kann getrost zu diesem Buch greifen und obendrein noch einiges lernen.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good Psychologist is a story with very few characters, not a lot of action, but a story that leaves the reader with plenty to think about.

The unnamed, "good psychologist" comes across as a lonely man. He see patients at the Center for Anxiety Disorders, teaches a class at a local college, plays basketball with a group of guys, and was involved in a long distance relationship with Nina, a former colleague, a married woman, with a husband who is very ill. We learn that Nina and the unnamed psychologist had a child together, but he had promised Nina that he would stay out of her life. They email, exchange photos, meet on occassion, but are in the process of ending their relationship. He longs to see his daughter Billie.

The story unfolds with a unnamed psychologist sitting in a small office where he works at the Center for Anxiety Disorders. He has to adjust his schedule to stay late for a 4 p.m. appointment, to accomodate a new patient. The patient is Tiffany, an exotic dancer who has suddenly developed panic attacks when she has to strip on stage. As the therapy session continues with subsequent visits the reader learns that Tiffany also has a daughter who does not live with her, and as Tiffany shares her private life and longings, the reader is able to see a similarity between the emotions of the psychologist and Tiffany.

Throughout the short novel, the reader gets the feel for the verbal exchanges that take place between patient and therapist during their sessions. There are also exchanges between the psychologist and the students in his night class, but we never get to know them as intimately as we do Tiffany.

"Panic attacks are a common phenonmenon; very unpleasant, as you know, but not dangerous. Nobody dies of a panic attack."

"I felt like I was dying. I was certain I was gone....."

"People who are anxious feel out of control, but they are not.
It is important to understand this".

The Good Psychologist is a very introspective story, a deep character study that gets inside the heads of all of the primary characters. It's a story where the lines between patient and therapist can sometimes appear blurred, and in the end the lives of not only the patient, but of the psychologist, as well are closely examined.

The novel was very different, but enjoyable. In no way was it a suspense thriller as I read in one review. The fact that the author, in real life is a therapist and a teacher at a local college, makes me think that much of this novel might be reflective of some real life experiences. Regardless, I enjoyed the novel, and the way it made me think and analyze the give and take between therapist and patient. RECOMMENDED.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This is the type of novel that Yalom does much better. One might call it a "novel of ideas," or as Yalom might say, a "teaching novel" about psychology, a novel where the plot and characters have been constructed basically as mouthpieces for conveying psychological ideas. I usually don't care for these types of novels, finding them contrived, overly heavy in dialogue, and lacking in characterization. I'm a little more open when the focus is psychology because I'm always up for learning more about my field, and Yalom's books kind of work for me. This one, less so.

The nameless main character of this book is a psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety disorders and teaches a psychology class at some sort of institution. I hate to nitpick here, but I was a little confused about the type of institution he taught at. The students seemed somewhat unmotivated and lackluster for graduate students, but the rambling lectures on psychotherapy (which we were treated to verbatim; I don't know how interested a lay reader would be) seemed rather technique-focused and sophisticated and beyond what I would expect for undergraduates. Okay, whatever.

Basically there are three subplots here. One subplot focuses on the psychologist as a teacher and his relationships with some of his students. Actually, subplot is probably a misnomer because nothing really happened there -- just a lot of lectures and interactions with students. The second subplot focuses on the psychologist's newest client, an exotic dancer who has developed a fear of dancing at her club. The climactic event here was not nearly as earth-shattering as I would have expected. Finally, the third subplot is about the psychologist's doomed basically one-way love affair with a woman in another town with whom he has a child. She has moved on (actually, she was never really that into it to begin with); he hasn't.

Eh. The bottom line is, although it's always fun for me to read about another psychologist working clinically and teaching, I never really felt like I got to know the main character or could empathize with his choices and struggles. None of the other characters particularly grabbed me either, and the plot (such as it was) didn't compensate.

It was a nice try, but the book didn't work for me.

[Beyza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich finde das Buch ähnelt dem ersten Roman des Autors „Der gute Psychologe“ viel zu stark. Der Handlungsverlauf ist in beiden Büchern sehr einfach und geradlinig, es passiert nichts besonderes oder überraschendes.

In beiden Bücher ist der Protagonist ein Psychologe, dessen Liebesleben, Freundeskreis und Familienleben hoffnungslos sind und der sich jeweils an einen auserwählten Patienten klammert und alles daran setzt, diese Person zu retten bzw. zu heilen. Während es im ersten Roman hauptsächlich um Angststörungen ging, stehen in diesem Buch Persönlichkeitsstörungen im Vordergrund. In beiden Büchern geht es um die Frage, wie nah das Verhältnis zwischen Psychologe und Patient sein darf und um die ganzen ethischen Fragen, die mit zunehmender Nähe einhergehen.

Der Autor ist selber Hochschulprofessor und Therapeut. Dementsprechend hat er in beiden Büchern versucht sein Wissen einzubringen, für meinen Geschmack geschah das aber oftmals zu lehrbuchmäßig. Im ersten Buch war der Protagonist nebenbei Hochschuldozent und hat im Rahmen seiner Vorlesungen dem Leser pures Wissen vermittelt, gefühlt das halbe Buch bestand aus seinen Vorlesungsstunden. In diesem Buch gab es immer wieder lange Monologe von seinem Chef oder altem Mentor, die das Wissen präsentiert haben. Beide Bücher enden sogar auf gleiche Weise: auf den letzten Seiten gibt es eine Hochzeit, auf der sich viele der kennengelernten Figuren wiedertreffen und es gibt mehr oder weniger ein Happy End.

Ist das schon spoilern? Ich denke schon, da in diesem Buch nicht viel mehr passiert als das. Ich finde die Geschichte ist so einfach und platt, dass ich die Vermutung nicht loswerde, dass der Autor eigentlich mysteriös und tiefgründig wirken möchte. Insbesondere enden viele Gespräche und Kapitel mit einem zusammenhangslosen Satz, der den Leser nachdenklich zurücklassen soll und dadurch wird dieser (erzwungene) rätselhafte Eindruck verstärkt. Der mutmaßliche Tiefgang bleibt mir persönlich jedoch verschlossen.

[Jud Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those novels that teaches you something. And no surprise, really, since the main character teaches a psychology class at a (community?) college, and fully a third of the book is a highly engaging account of his interactions with his class. Never having taken a course in psychology myself, I came away feeling that I'd learned quite a bit.

Equally engaging is the second third of the book, in which "the good psychologist" counsels a client, a woman who dances (exotically) for a living but who has been afflicted with an anxiety that "presents" as stage fright. In reading about these counseling sessions, you get to see the psychologist applying the principles that he has been teaching in his college course. Nice counterpoint!

Then there's the third third of the book. The good psychologist's personal life. Poor good psychologist. I'm very reluctant to say too much about plot details that might take away from the discovery that's always part of reading a good novel (not that there will be many people to read this review haha--but still ...), so let me just say that there's a complex relationship of a potentially romantic/familial sort that both provokes and inhibits the good psychologist's deepest and most basic emotions. What's to be done? The word "stuck" comes to mind.

After reading this book once, I decided to read it again. I don't read books twice, so I really must've liked it. Then, halfway through the second reading, I started to get anxious and abandoned it. Such a good psychologist! Making me feel like I needed to go see him!

[Kel Sta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A note from EB's school about a choral festival, the instruction sheet that came with a pair of swimming goggles, a plastic presentation sleeve, a note from the Avon lady, an Avon order form, a serviette, a library issue receipt, half a receipt for electrical appliances (we bought a less-than-a-year-old fridge on ebay, so the previous owners gave us half their original receipt), and a lead pencil: these are marking pages from which I wish to take notes in this book. I should probably keep some little Post-It tabs on hand, because it's annoying when I've gone to the trouble of marking a page then the marker slips out, which often happens when I'm using whatever comes to hand.
But I digress.

I imagine Noam Shpancer is a good psychologist. He's a very good writer. Gentle and wry, this book covers a lot of ground and provokes a lot of thought. It touches on a number of important concepts of psychology, which would make it a valuable read for students of that profession, and it does so in such a way that the more general reader is still able to enjoy the discourse, and muse upon the theories discussed.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply felt novel about a psychologist, his life, and his patients, set in a small college town, about four hours from Chicago. The story is told in three kinds of chapters, about the psychologist's life, his teaching, and one patient, a stripper, who grabs his interest and reawakens his relationship with a woman he'd like to have married. In this way of shifting focus, The Good Psychologist reminds me of In Treatment, the fascinating TV series on HBO. To the detriment of his personal life, this unnamed psychologist is better at respecting boundaries than HBO's Paul Weston -- but I'm not sure his distance makes him a good or better psychologist. His personal life features just as much wrong thinking as his patients' -- he's fixated on an apparently unattainable woman who's borne his child. The book is didactic, and if you let yourself in for it, you can almost feel like you are learning something or even being treated. The prose is not especially pretty, though Shpancer tries hard to fashion suitable metaphors. In the end I felt sorry for the psychologist.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't an especially good story, but it seemed realistic. It's about a psychologist who teaches and treats people for anxiety, written by a psychologist who teaches and treats people for anxiety so I wondered if it was somewhat autobiographical, other than the Ukrainian who wanders in and out of the story to threaten The Good Psychologist.

The main character was pretty much a bastard, so that was an accurate portrayal of psychologists from my professional experience. He spends an inordinate amount of time experiencing his emotions, logically explaining and sitting with his emotions and then validating that he made the right decision except when he doesn't and he agonizes over the dissonance between who he thinks he is and who he is in reality and how he is perceived by others while he magnanimously goes out of his way to help his students and acts with much grace and humility when they return the favor.

I liked the book. Who doesn't like books that have strippers named Tiffany in them?!

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rezension: http://buchzeilen.blogspot.de/2016/01...

[Esra Yılmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Güzel bir terapi deneyimi oldu diyebilirim. Hastaların psikoloğu manipüle edebileceğini ve asıl sorunun bu yüzden gözden kaçırılabileceğinin farkına vardım bu kitapla. Psikoloğun dersleri çok keyifliydi. Samimi bir üslupla yazılmış. Severek okudum. Psikoloğun özel hayatını merak ettim doğrusu 🤔Kendi duygusal sorunlarını çözebildi mi acaba?

[Sabine · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Winter ist Psychologe, und er versucht Menschen, die in eine Sackgasse geraten sind, zu helfen. Als sich der depressive Versicherungsangestellte Barry Long bei ihm vorstellt, ist er zunächst stolz auf diesen außergewöhnlichen Patienten, stellt jedoch schon bald fest, dass ihn die Situation völlig überfordert. Als dann auch noch seine Familie auseinanderbricht, macht er einen folgenschweren Fehler.
Ein gelungener Einblick in den Alltag eines Psychologen – mit all seiner Routine aber auch seinen Fallstricken. Und wenn man eines direkt merkt – auch Psychologen sind Menschen und können sich selbst anscheinend am wenigsten helfen!
Der Psychologe und Ich-Erzähler David Winter ist mir sehr sympathisch, denn er wirkt nicht wie ein allwissender Behandler, sondern vielmehr sehr menschlich mit Ecken und Kanten. Manchmal scheint er menschenscheu zu sein, oft wirkt er ein wenig tollpatschig im Umgang mit seinen Mitmenschen. Doch eines ist wirklich glaubhaft – seine beständige Liebe zu seiner Frau Alex. Seine Patienten sind für ihn eher Mittel zum Zweck, halt sein Beruf, aber nicht seine Berufung. Doch nicht nur der depressive Versicherungsangestellte Barry fordert ihn zu neuem Handeln heraus, auch seine zerbrechende Familie. Während er sich zunächst beruflich und privat in Sicherheit wähnt, muss er im Lauf der Geschichte lernen, mit seinen bröckelnden Gewissheiten umzugehen. Seine Entwicklung, sein Kampf und der stetige Zweifel sind wirklich gut dargestellt und waren für mich gut nachvollziehbar. Sicherlich spielen hier auch die anderen Charaktere eine große Rolle, die allesamt sehr gut herausgearbeitet sind und nicht nur gut oder böse sind, sondern viele Facetten aufweisen. Durch Dialoge, die zum Teil durch Witz und Charme brillieren, aber auch dem Psychologie-Interessierten laienhaftes Wissen vermitteln, lernt man den Chef John Savoia und den Mentor Dr. Helprin kennen. Die Gespräche bieten oft einen tollen Schlagabtausch und zeigen einen feinsinnigen Humor, der mich oft schmunzeln ließ.
Überhaupt lässt sich das Buch gut und flüssig lesen, der Schreibstil ist zwar eigen, aber schon nach wenigen Seiten habe ich mich einlesen können. Gefallen hat mir auch die zum Teil sehr ironisch und sarkastische Sichtweise des Ich-Erzählers, die dem Roman eine ganz besondere Note gibt. Es ist kein spannendes Buch, in dem Abenteuer und Action im Vordergrund stehen, vielmehr ein leises und stilles Buch, das mich manchmal hat innehalten lassen und zum Nachdenken angeregt hat.
Dem Psychologie-interessierten Leser, der bereit ist, sich auf einen eher ruhigen Roman einzulassen, dem kann ich dieses Buch nur empfehlen. Gerade der sympathische Protagonist und die interessanten Dialoge haben mir sehr gefallen – ich gebe dem Buch 4 Sterne.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh. I did not enjoy this author's voice. His tone seemed to me arrogant, and I now hate the phrase "the good psychologist". From the beginning, the narrator drove me nuts for pretending to be calm and level-headed, but it was not the character's fault. The author manages to make even the most exciting, alive parts dull and faded, like dusty book covers over exciting stories. His descriptions were heavy-handed. I often noted unnecessary melodrama, which drove me nuts. Instead of exploring new territory and really trying to open up the main character, the author chose instead to have this calm, sleepy man weather all manner of storms and come through them completely intact and almost the same. Sure, now he plays piano, but really what is that? What does it mean? Does the author even know? Noam Schpancer writes all manner of cryptic details about various characters, but instead of having these details culminate in later revelations, it appears that Schpancer intended theses "illuminating" details to be the revelations themselves. Instead of feeling mysterious and magical, which is how I think Schpancer had intended such insights to feel, I thought they were just silly tricks picked up in a writing class or years of reading basic fiction. What I mean is that the author seems not to know why he said what he said when describing characters. For instance, the piano tuner's son was sad with flashing eyes, but why? Does Schpancer even know? Such instances lead me to believe that he does not in fact know; instead he just uses his side characters to add drama to the story. In the end, everything but the lessons themselves rang as false, which is sad because the plot had a lot of promise. If I had written this book, I probably would not have allowed someone to publish it as is. I think Schpancer needs to spend some time thinking and revising before this book comes out, but as it is already in the advanced reader stage, I know this is impossible. A potentially good book that is just below average instead.

[Kitap Ezgisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

www.kitapezgisi.com

İnsan psikolojisi üzerine sanırım şu zamana kadar okuduğum en iyi roman. Kendisi de bir psikolog olan Noam Shpancer yazma işini de iyi başardığını bu kitabında kanıtlıyor.

Anksiyete hastaları ile ilgilenen psikologun (adını asla öğrenemeyeceğiz) kliniğine bir gün bir kadın gelir. Kadın sahne korkusu yaşamaya başlamış bir striptizcidir. Psikolog kendi hayatı ve psikoloji dersleri ile ilgilenirken aynı zamanda bu kadının hayatına da dahil olur.

Aslında kitap üç bölümden oluşuyor diyebilirim. Psikologun özel hayatı, verdiği dersler ve striptizci kadın ile olan seanslar.

Beni en çok etkileyen bölümler üniversitede verdiği dersler oldu. Örneklerle, öğrencileri ile tartışarak açıkladığı konulardan birçok kişi kendisine de ders çıkartabilir diye düşünüyorum. Dolu dolu bir şekilde gerçekten bir psikoloji profesörünün dersinde gibi hissettim kendimi.

Striptizci ile olan seanslara gelirsek; seansların işlem yollarını, size katabileceği şeyleri çok güzel bir şekilde yansıtmış. Sorular, cevaplar, karşılıklı iletişim… Psikologa giden birisi olarak en çok hoşuma giden şey karşınızdaki kişinin sizi asla ve de asla yargılamayacağını biliyor olmanızın rahatlığı. Bu kitapta da bu çok güzel bir şekilde sergilenmiş.

Kitaplardan bir şeyler öğrenmeyi, kendinize bir şeyler katmayı seviyorsanız bu kitaba bayılırsınız.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up last night, and it seems promising. It is well-written but not so literary that my mind is wandering too much...

--

Eh. I dropped this one just one-third from the end. What's wrong with me? It was competently written but amateur. Somewhat interesting but flawed. The problem? Eh. It was just too pedantic -- one-third of the book is monologue -- lectures, with some student/teacher interaction, that the protagonist delivers to a psychology class he teaches. And the situations and characters felt wooden to me, as did the arc of the storyline. The author also thought he was funnier than he actually was, and the result was a certain smugness.

The author is a psychologist, and I think he drew from his experience in creating characters, particularly the psychologist protagonist's clients. Some of the clients were interesting, but again in a somewhat wooden way. I felt like I was reading Oliver Sacks (not such a bad thing), but it read more like non-fiction woven together with crude fictitious devices. And I'm not in the mood for psych non-fiction.

[Jodell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Patient"
I have to block out thoughts so I don't lose my head
They're crawling like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed
Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I'm alone
Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home
There's a burning in my pride, A nervous bleeding in my brain
An ounce of peace is all I want.

In a sick way I want to thank you For holding my head up late at night
While I was busy waging wars on myself, You were trying to stop the fight
You never doubted my warped opinions On things like suicidal hate
You made me compliment myself When it was way too hard to take
So I'll drive so fucking far away That I never cross your mind
And do whatever it takes in your heart To leave me far behind

And the good psychologist open's his door and say's "NEXT, sit down and how can I help you".

Lyrics by Blue October

[Giada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Affascinante, ben scritto, assolutamente rappresentativo di com’è un percorso di terapia: niente di magico, niente di favoloso, nessuna risoluzione con uno schiocco di dita (se non, a volte, alcuna soluzione del tutto). Le metafore dello psicologo nel corso del libro semplicemente stupende. Ben rappresentata anche la figura dello psicologo: una persona sì professionale ma come tutte le altre, con i suoi problemi e le sue sofferenze.
Ho letto review con voti molto bassi dalle quali si poteva dedurre (gusti a parte letterari a parte, rispettabilissimi quelli) come le persone che le hanno scritte non avessero la più pallida idea di cosa davvero sia il lavoro di uno psicologo né un percorso di terapia. Triste.