Synopses & Reviews
True stories are more bizarre than any fiction, and Dr. Gary Small knows this best. After thirty distinguished years of psychiatry and groundbreaking research on the human brain, Dr. Small has seen it allnow he is ready to open his office doors for the first time and tell all about the most mysterious, intriguing, and bizarre patients of his career.
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a spellbinding record of the doctor's most bewildering cases, from naked headstands and hysterical blindness to fainting schoolgirls and self-amputations. It is an illuminating journey into the mind of a practicing psychiatrist and his life in medicine as it evolves over timea behind-the-scenes look at the field and a variety of mental diseases as they've never been seen or diagnosed before. You'll find yourself exploring the puzzling eccentricities that make us human.
Often funny, sometimes tragic, and always compelling, Dr. Small takes you on a tour of his career that moves from the halls of a crowded inner-city Boston emergency room to the multimillion-dollar ski lodges of the nation's elite. In between, Dr. Small introduces a strange cast of true-life characters and conditions, while dealing with mysterious hysterical blindness, a man convinced that his penis is shrinking, secret double lives, and frighteningly psychotic romantic desires. His career and personal life come full circle when his own mentor becomes his patient, making Small realize that no one is beyond mental explorationnot even himself.
Synopsis
A spellbinding record of a doctors 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.
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 psychiatrists 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.
About the Author
Dr. Gary Small is director of the UCLA Memory and Aging Center at the university's Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. He is also professor of psychiatry at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. His research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, has made headlines in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today. Scientific American magazine named him one of the world's leading innovators in science and technology. Dr. Small lectures throughout the world and frequently appears on Today, Good Morning America, PBS, and CNN. He has written five books, including the New York Times bestseller The Memory Bible.