Group How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

Christie Tate — 2020

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK 'Every page of this incredible memoir by Christie Tate had me thinking, “I wish I had read this book when I was 25. It would have helped me so much!”' Reese Witherspoon ‘This unrestrained memoir is a transporting experience and one of the most startlingly hopeful books I have ever read. It will make you want to get better, whatever better means for you.’ Lisa Taddeo, New York Times bestselling author of Three Women For fans of Three Women and Everything I Know About Love comes a refreshingly original memoir about self-discovery, loneliness and love. A guarded young lawyer reluctantly joins a psychotherapy group where she has to share her innermost thoughts with six complete strangers. In turn she finds human connection, and herself. “What’s going to happen to me when I start group?” “All of your secrets are going to come out.” Christie Tate has just been named the top student in her law school class and seems to finally have got her eating disorder under control. So why is she driving through Chicago fantasising about her own death? Desperate, she joins Dr Rosen’s psychotherapy group, and through his unconventional methods, he challenges everything she thought she knew, about herself and others. In group, secrets are not allowed. This means telling a group of strangers everything – about her struggle with bulimia, her failed sex life, her overwhelming sense of loneliness and acute longing for a relationship. And as she keeps sharing her thoughts and feelings and listens to the others doing the same, her life slowly begins to change. This is a deliciously compelling read, and an intimate journey through the daring, exhilarating, painful, and hilarious journey that is group therapy – a process that breaks you down, and then reassembles you so that all the pieces finally fit. Praise for Group ‘This book will remind you how to come back to yourself even when you want to give up, make you laugh, make you cry, help you breathe. This book will save lives’ Lidia Yuknavitch ‘Real transformation is not for the faint of heart, and in these pages Christie Tate captures her evolution in all its misery and hilarity, along with the beauty of bearing witness to one another as we grow.’ Sarah Hepola ‘Christie Tate takes us on a journey that's heartbreaking and hilarious, surprising and redemptive – and, ultimately, a testament to the power of connection.’ Lori Gottlie

Reviews

brooke lynn@brooke1997

Sep 22, 2022

as a social worker who has studied some of yalam. this book and christie’s life work into her therapy is sooo inspiring to see how much the theory works in real life. something that stuck with me was how if we cannot say no to someone we cannot be intimate. loved how raw and true to her story she kept this. obsessed.

Nadine @intlnadine

Feb 17, 2022

I’m not exactly sure how I picked this one up but I’m letting it go. Life is too short for this type of excruciating navel gazing where from the first few pages you want to give her a big shake and then tell her to go an volunteer in a soup kitchen or do something that involves anyone besides her self-absorbed self. I then googled her & saw she loves controversy and putting her & her family’s lives on social media despite their protesting... enough said. It’s just not interesting enough

Julia@juliawreads

Feb 3, 2022

4.5

Devin Mainville@bookishandbored

Oct 13, 2021

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding this book, – a memoir about the author’s experience with group therapy – especially from the mental health professionals’ community. Mostly, the argument is that the therapy discussed within its pages is unethical at best and perhaps criminal at worst. I am not a mental health professional so I can’t speak to that, but I do find it interesting and encourage anyone who reads this book to seek those critiques out for a fuller picture. I can only speak to this as a book and a memoir and on both those fronts, I found it fascinating. Regardless of where you land on the legality of the practices described, it is a window into a world I will likely never see and that’s one of my favorite types of books to read. If you’re looking for something along self-help lines, this isn’t that, but if you’re interested in a shockingly frank look into one woman’s journey then it’s perfect.

Sharon Steinman@aurorareads

Oct 4, 2021

I did enjoy reading his book and read through it quickly. It doesn't really feel like a memoir it really felt like more of a fiction book than a memoir. I feel like some of really was fictional and didn't necessarily resonate as a full truth.