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  • Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

  • A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
  • Written by: Lori Gottlieb
  • Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
  • Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (2,927 ratings)

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Written by: Lori Gottlieb
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
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Publisher's Summary

Now being developed as a television series with Eva Longoria and ABC!  

"An irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition." (Kirkus, starred review)

"Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing." (Katie Couric)

"This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book." (Arianna Huffington, founder, Huffington Post and founder & CEO, Thrive Global)

"Wise, warm, smart, and funny. You must read this book." (Susan Cain, New York Times best-selling author of Quiet)

From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world - where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).  

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.  

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives - a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a 20-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys - she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.  

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.  

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

©2019 Lori Gottlieb (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

What the critics say

"Brittany Pressley performs this audiobook at a fast pace that will be familiar to listeners who live in large, bustling cities. But she knows how to moderate her energy for the tender sections, and her overall performance sounds authentic, conversational, and true to the core intentions of the author's story....Portrayed by Pressley, [the author] also sounds like someone you know, which makes her observations and insights all the more accessible." (AudioFile Magazine)

Editorial Review

What happens when your therapist needs a therapist? After a personal crisis rocks her world, prominent Los Angeles therapist Lori Gottlieb finds herself in her patient’s shoes.

A candid look at the human condition, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone follows Gottlieb as she spans the roles of both counsellor and patient. With humour, honesty, and charm, she explores issues of crisis, love, mortality, guilt, fear, and hope from both sides of the therapist couch. Through various patient accounts, we see her advise and console a variety of her own real-life patients, as well as tackle many of the same issues in her own life. From a senior seeking to end things on her own terms to a young single making all the wrong choices, Gottlieb’s accounts are a raw and open look at mental health and honest conversation.

Brittany Pressley lends her talents to narrating Gottlieb’s tales with a dynamic, fast-paced tone. Engaging and emphatic, she instantly connects with listeners in a way that feels personal and familiar. She balances comedic moments with punch, and intimate personal tales with a tender and understanding tone that feels as though you are speaking directly to the therapist yourself. Expertly capturing the feel and style of Gottlieb’s writing, she comes across with a caring, genuine sound that is extremely well received by listeners.

This audiobook, a New York Times best seller in print, is one you won’t be able to pause. Gottlieb brings years of both personal and professional experience to her work, from her own therapist sessions as well as years of “Dear Therapist” column writing. Both critically and commercially acclaimed, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is a true hit with listeners looking to dive deeper into the world of therapy, and the human connection in all of us.

What listeners say about Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

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So good on so many levels!

This book read like a fictional story even though it wasn’t. It also felt like a guide for therapy. The insights were helpful and interesting and were so seamlessly woven into the raw and honest stories. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for both a good story and a guideline for looking inward and growing as a human.

19 people found this helpful

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I absolutely loved this book

I have to admit that I am biased, as I am doing a PhD in psychology. Honestly, I read dozens of self help books, but this is the best I’ve read. The author is so talented, I learned a lot about myself and about therapy. I love the story though, it isn’t a technical book. I related a little bit to each character and the humanity underlining each story. Brittany Pressley’s voice is amazing too. I loved this audio book.

18 people found this helpful

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  • Bev
  • 2019-11-12

A wonderful book whether you are a therapist, client, or neither

Like many professionals, psychotherapists have a unique working experience that feels impossible to convey to others not in the field. For the first time someone has written a book that takes the reader into the real world of a therapist. I know how well Lori Gottlieb portrays this world because I am a psychotherapist myself. I have been recommending this book to colleagues, friends, and family. The psychotherapists will laugh out loud to hear their own experiences portrayed so well. The non-psychotherapists, I hope, will get a deeper understanding of what it’s like to do this job. This book is honest, profound, poignant and incredibly revealing of Lori’s personal self.

12 people found this helpful

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maybe I should!

Maybe this was the right book at the right time, or maybe it's simply fantastic. I found the stories fascinating and the psychology compelling. I think I'll be listening to it again!

8 people found this helpful

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sad that it ended!

As a new therapist I found this book to be so relatable! I would recommend it to anyone in this field, at times it feels as if you are conferencing with a colleague who is vulnerable and wise

8 people found this helpful

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Great story, especially for therapists.

This was a great story, told beautifully. The author weaves through several stories with ease. Really enjoyed it.

5 people found this helpful

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Meh. Narrator whistles C’s & S’s - drove me mad!

I was on a long car ride so it was good enough but the story seemed fake not true life so I didn’t find myself engaged enough. I won’t bother to finish it.
Also the narrator whistles C’s & S’s - once you start noticing, it’s infuriating!!!

3 people found this helpful

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❤❤❤

LOVED this book. Insightful. Poignant. Real
The narrator was perfect for this story. Do yourself a favour and read it.

3 people found this helpful

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Highly Worthwhile

Well worth the read. Well written and well read. Enjoy! Chapters are well organized and follow nicely. Get ready for a few tears.

3 people found this helpful

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Tediously self-absorbed

Couldn't get all the way through it even though I wanted to. Love the intent though.

3 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2019-10-01

It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours

It probably has some good general information, but it felt like the author was trying so hard to write a sentimental book about therapy that would sell to her agent, that most of it came out cheesy and fake.

336 people found this helpful

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  • Jossie J
  • 2019-04-12

I'm going to miss the narrator...

Loved it! I literally just finished listening to it and I'm considering listening to it again right now. It provides great insight into how therapy works and why anyone and everyone would benefit of seeing a therapist (the right therapist, that is). I think there is a take-away for everyone in this book.

273 people found this helpful

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  • Lindsay Gillespie
  • 2019-09-23

So boring, I can't return this fast enough

I'm very perplexed by all the positive reviews for this book. The narrator is possibly the worst one I've ever listened to- she sounds like a robot with little inflection. I imagine maybe I'd like the book more with a different narrator. This is the first Audible book I've returned because I just couldn't listen to it after getting about halfway in. The story rambles and even at this point, I don't know where she's going with it.

Skip this one, unless you like having Siri read you to sleep.

168 people found this helpful

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  • lizz huerta
  • 2019-04-09

Great listen, great narration

I loved this. Honest, laugh out loud funny at some moments, and other moments that had be bawling. Intimate without being overwhelming. Narrator was perfectly cast. I’ve already recommended this audiobook to other friends, worth a listen. It made me think seriously about how I talk to myself and made me want to hug my therapist.

167 people found this helpful

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  • Carla
  • 2019-05-28

Hard to finish!

While there were a few interesting and poignant stories in the book (Julie's story in particular), I found myself having a hard time finishing! The author reveals very specific details about her patients' lives, but she was pretty vague and guarded about her own. For example, she talks about a "mystery illness" that was really affecting her quality of life, but instead of exploring how that made her feel, she glosses over it, and never provides much closure to the reader. This book was a bit of a downer, and I don't think I'd recommend it.

124 people found this helpful

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  • Dina
  • 2019-06-23

An Entertaining, Narcissistic Diatribe

The "story" of Gottlieb's life and patients were certainly interesting and entertaining and Pressley's narration was superb. And, it certainly hit on all the benefits of therapy. But, the book felt a bit self-indulgent and maybe even a bit contrived. I'd need to go to the print version to confirm, but were all the "characters" real or were they conglomerations of many people due to privacy issues? I don't think I really ever quite understood why Gottlieb left an amazing opportunity in the TV industry to then leave another amazing gift of medical school at Stanford to then sideline a successful writing career to become a therapist. And, as another reviewer mentioned, the book ends with no real wrap of the author's struggles that are mentioned throughout the book. Contrived specifically for a sequel? I'm thinking the answer to that is "yes!"

123 people found this helpful

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  • Erin M. Bleier
  • 2019-04-08

Clear your schedule and take a ride

This is an incredible journey through the art of therapy —- told by a therapist who sees a therapist — and the lessons she learns from him and her patients through the years. Expertly crafted, funny, self-deprecating and brutally honest, this is a must listen. I laughed, cried and took deep breathes as Gottlieb wove her life’s work into a book that anyone in therapy or in pain will most likely find astonishingly illuminating in their own lives. I didn’t want it to end.

120 people found this helpful

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  • Ariel
  • 2019-04-11

An amazing story that touched all five of my senses

This book was comical, yet emotional on every level. I laughed, I cried, I hugged my loved ones a little tighter. A book that was written so well it played like a movie in my head. I could taste the Chinese chicken salad Jon brought into his sessions, I could hear Julie and her boyfriend laughing and crying together, I could see Ruby’s art, and I could feel every emotion expressed throughout this amazing piece of work. Thank you so much for sharing Lori.

119 people found this helpful

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  • Debra
  • 2019-11-19

Don’t Bother Waste of Time

This book has no point. Rambling thoughts and stories of a jack of all trades and master of none. Failed marriage, failed engagement, and failed as therapist- but wait she now cons others by spilling patient stories for the price of a book. Can I get my money back?

104 people found this helpful

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  • appreciative reader
  • 2019-07-23

Mixed Bag

The author had interesting insights into how therapy works and how therapy sessions play out. But the cloying feel good stories of each of her patients were not credible and seemed almost superficial. I lost patience when each of her patients had sudden shifts in perspectives and “happy” endings. Relating the joyful funeral or the busy executive’s new appreciation for his family or the older woman’s ridiculously enriched life- just seemed contrived and rather ridiculous. Why does the author feel the need to tie up convenient closure for each of these patients? I prefer a more realistic (and just as uplifting) exposure of therapy’s benefits.

100 people found this helpful

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  • Client d'Amazon
  • 2023-03-30

Emotional and self thinking

These stories reflect some of your personal experiences. Couldn’t stop crying at the end. A must read/listen book.

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  • Alexandra Rodrigues
  • 2023-02-09

Émotion et bonne « lecture »

Émouvant et très agréable.
Ce livre nous laisse une idée de deux côté de la thérapie et c’est là la merveille de cette lecture.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-05-13

Fantastic and soul-touching.

Found myself still thinking about it two months later. Absolutely recommend to anyone and everyone

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  • turbigo2
  • 2021-03-11

Great story and narrator

I really liked the book, a behind the scenes of therapy, and the narrator was great!

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  • Michelle
  • 2020-12-20

Loved this book!

So inspiring, funny and clever! I was sad when it was over, I wanted to keep listening to more.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2020-09-23

So Human

So refreshing to here so much honesty. I just started seeing a therapist and this book is a support during this process. I appreciate seeing how each person evolves and moves through their emotions.

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  • Lilith
  • 2020-06-19

Maybe, just maybe, YOU should talk to someone...

I finished this book yesterday and I don’t know what to say. It deals with so many issues that I am not sure where to start. First things first, this is a memoir and not usually my kind of literature. I have read some and loved them, but I don’t usually read them.

Anyway, I saw a youtuber talking about this book and how it made her cry, so I decided to buy it. And I don’t regret it a bit. I loved this book. Deeply. Lori tells not only her stories but the stories of her patients as well, and because she cares genuinely about her patients, it made me care for each one of them. Gosh, I saw a little bit of myself in each one of them, after all, the human experience is universal. The quest for connection, for a deeper meaning in life, for love, for fulfillment, these things are universal. Trauma is universal. In whatever way it presents itself. Fear is universal. Fear of death is universal. Regret is universal. I saw myself a lot in Charlotte. We don’t share the same story or the same personality, but we share some behaviors like auto sabotage. I found myself sharing the same feelings as Rita, even though she is 70 years old. Gosh, I loved July. I loved her family, her husband. I loved her deeply and I would have loved to have met her. I would have loved the chance to hug her. I know she didn’t need my hug; I know she was loved until the end, still, each time Lori would talk about her, all I wanted to do is to hug her deeply and to tell her that I love her. And John, with his perfect teeth and his narcissistic behavior, a way he found to deal with the pain he had gone through. And Wendell, well, he was the best, wasn’t he?

This story is about Lori, but it’s bigger than that. It’s about the humanity within all of us. The human experience, our mortality and human connection. How we all crave for connection even though some of us don’t know how to respond to it, where to find it. Most of us don’t know how to love or how to be loved. How to let someone love us. Because we are struggling to love ourselves. We are all struggling with something. Our past, our future, our present. Our childhood, our mortality, our health, our fears, and all of these things are intertwined.

Being alive is hard. Dealing with the overwhelming emotions and feelings tied up with our humanity is hard. And not dealing with them is harder. I wanted to make a list of quotes, but I was so immersed in the story, I didn’t even remember that.

Life is a trip to Holland. It really is. You aren’t prepared for it. It just happens and you are forced to deal with whatever comes. But maybe you don’t have to do it alone. Maybe you should ask for help, you should cry, you should be afraid, you should be vulnerable…maybe you should talk to someone.

This was also my first audiobook. I loved the narrator. She is amazing.

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  • Thomas Joshua Jackson
  • 2020-04-16

Fantastic book

Fascinating, gripping, and illuminating stories exploring the human condition. We all can use therapy to understand ourselves better and help the future generations move toward a reconciliation with themselves, each other, and the world around them.