The Other Side of the Couch - by Gary Small & Gigi Vorgan (Paperback)

About the Book

Stories of human behavior at its most extreme .With humor, compassion, empathy, and insight, Small searches for and finds the humanity that lies hidden under even the most bizarre symptoms. Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New MindA psychiatrist s stories of his most bizarre cases, The Other Side of the Couch (originally published in hardcover as The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head) by Gary Small, M.D., and Gigi Vorgan co-authors of The Memory Bible offers a fascinating and highly entertaining look into the peculiarities of the human mind. In the vein of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and the other bestselling works of Oliver Sacks, The Other Side of the Couch surprises, enthralls, and illuminates as it focuses on medical mysteries that would stump and amaze the brilliant brains on House, M.D."

Book Synopsis

"Stories of human behavior at its most extreme....With humor, compassion, empathy, and insight, Small searches for and finds the humanity that lies hidden under even the most bizarre symptoms."
--Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

A psychiatrist's stories of his most bizarre cases, The Other Side of the Couch (originally published in hardcover as The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head) by Gary Small, M.D., and Gigi Vorgan--co-authors of The Memory Bible--offers a fascinating and highly entertaining look into the peculiarities of the human mind. In the vein of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and the other bestselling works of Oliver Sacks, The Other Side of the Couch surprises, enthralls, and illuminates as it focuses on medical mysteries that would stump and amaze the brilliant brains on House, M.D.

From the Back Cover

A spellbinding record of a doctor's most bewildering cases--from naked headstands and hysterical blindness to fainting schoolgirls and self-amputations--The Other Side of the Couch is an illuminating journey into the mind of a renowned psychiatrist. Here is a unique behind-the-scenes look at psychiatry and a fascinating exploration into the puzzling eccentricities that make us human.

Review Quotes

"Gary Small's remarkable achievement in this book is his uncanny ability to transport the reader into a heretofore unfamiliar world of psychiatry and mental illness. The reader feels like a fly on the wall, witnessing what it's really like to stand in both the doctor's shoes and those of his patients, who experience a variety of discomfiting and eye-opening mental health conditions. Reading it will entertain you, fascinate you, inspire you, and teach you more about other people and yourself than you ever thought you knew." - Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want and Professor of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
"Fascinating . . . Small writes with empathy and humor about the complexity of human relationships, reflecting on his lifelong struggle to help his clients gain insight and surmount their problems." - Booklist
"When a psychiatrist promises to 'tell all' about his 15 most unusual cases in 30 years of practice, a reader gets his hopes up. In The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head, Dr. Gary Small delivers on his promise with some fascinating tales. . . . It's a good read." - Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press
"Filled with captivating and insightful stories revealing the inner lives of unusual patients...offers an insider's view into how mental health professionals grow. I found it hard to put this treasure of a book down." - Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation and Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA