How Do You Feel?
One Doctor's Search for Humanity in Medicine
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A “thought-provoking exploration of healing and compassion in the face of adversity” (Jen Gunter, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Menopause Manifesto) following one psychiatrist and four of her patients as they deal with the unspoken physical and mental health costs of caregiving—perfect for fans of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and The In-Between.
In How Do You Feel? Dr. Jessi Gold offers a deeply personal and poignant memoir that explores the hidden tolls of taking care of others. As an assistant professor, practicing psychiatrist, and university wellness leader, Dr. Gold was accustomed to a life of constant busyness, always putting the needs of her patients, colleagues, and loved ones before her own. But when an unthinkable error during a patient session forces her to confront her own mental health, she begins a journey of self-discovery and reevaluation of the medical system that trained her.
Through the eyes of her health care worker patients—a resident with OCD, a pregnant nurse with PTSD, an aspiring medical student with crippling test anxiety, and an overwhelmed ER physician—Dr. Gold examines the pervasive issues of burnout, perfectionism, and the emotional burden of working in health care. These compelling narratives, combined with her own personal therapy sessions, reveal the shared struggles of maintaining humanity in a field dedicated to serving others.
Expertly weaving her research expertise with unforgettable stories and raw emotions, Dr. Gold’s memoir is at once deeply personal and utterly universal. How Do You Feel? demonstrates the unbridled capacity for connection, learning, and growth, reminding us all that in order to care for others, we must first remember to care for ourselves. This book is a must-read for anyone in the caregiving profession or for those who want to understand the profound impact of mental health on our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychiatrist Gold discusses how she neglected her own mental health while caring for others at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in her touching and raw debut. Long considered a close listener and empathetic friend, Gold found psychiatric medicine a natural fit. Over the years, however, she came to realize that her focus on others was "as much a way to distract myself from my own feelings and struggles as... an act of selflessness and meaning." She traces her journey toward better self-care and more stable mental health while providing a behind-the-curtain peek at the life of a therapist, sharing how she and her colleagues stay alert on off days and highlighting her work with several clients during the pandemic, including a medical resident who obsessively worried that he'd contract Covid and a nurse scarred by the death of one of her patients. Candidly illustrating both the hard work of talk therapy and the toll it can take on practitioners, Gold admirably exposes her own failings (she was late to several Zoom meetings and called patients by the wrong names during the peak of the pandemic). It's an eye-opener.
