The Naked Lady Who Stood On Her Head: A Psychiatrist's Stories Of His Most Bizarre Cases (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Enlightening, enjoyable and entertaining. I liked the "in English" terms employed during diagnoses and the friendly, easygoing way the author had of telling the story; I was drawn in and completely captivated. There really weren't any dull moments for me. The tiny tidbits about his family, his own feelings, friendships, lessons, and growth were interesting and all added value to the story of his years as a psychiatrist. I'm tempted to seek out other books by Small. I had expected an in-depth medical treatise on some intriguingly bizarre psychological cases. Instead, "The Naked Lady..." is more of an overview of some of the (only slightly) odd psychiatric cases that have occurred in the career of UCLA's Dr. Gary Small. Sadly, as the majority of the book happens to take place long before 2000, it already feels like the multitude of these quirky stories are obsolete, and while they are just-this-side of abnormal they are also not all that amazingly humorous or bizarre: hypoglycemia, body dysmorphic disorder, pseudocyesis (hysterical pregnancy), polydipsia leading to hyponatremia (water intoxication), oniomania (shopping addiction), and agoraphobia are just some of the diagnoses of patients' whose stories appear within. The naked lady who stood on her head? Yeah, she's in here but her story isn't quite what you will expect!
What do You think about The Naked Lady Who Stood On Her Head: A Psychiatrist's Stories Of His Most Bizarre Cases (2010)?
LOVE THIS BOOK!!! So funny and good. Makes me want to be a psychiatrist even more now.
—kiki188
Meh. He's no Oliver Sacks.Also a tiny but ill-hidden bit of misogyny.
—Okidoki
