Overview

"A therapist creates moving portraits of five of her most memorable patients, men and women she considers psychological heroes. A therapist creates moving portraits of five of her most memorable patients, men and women she considers psychological heroes. Catherine Gildiner is a bestselling memoirist, a novelist, and a psychologist in private practice for twenty-five years. In Good Morning, Monster, she focuses on five patients who overcame enormous trauma--people she considers heroes. With a novelist's storytelling gift, Gildiner recounts the details of their struggles, their paths to recovery, and her own tale of growth as a therapist. The five cases include a successful but lonely musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her and her siblings in a rural cottage; an Indigenous man who'd endured great trauma at a residential school; a young woman whose abuse at the hands of her father led to a severe personality disorder; and a glamorous workaholic whose negligent mother had greeted her each morning with ""Good morning, Monster."" Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years. They seek Gildiner's help to overcome an immediate challenge in their lives, but discover that the source of their suffering has been long buried. It will take courage to face those realities, and creativity and resourcefulness from their therapist. Each patient embodies self-reflection, stoicism, perseverance, and forgiveness as they work unflinchingly to face the truth. Gildiner's account of her journeys with them is moving, insightful, and sometimes humorous. It offers a behind-the-scenes look into the therapist's office and explains how the process can heal even the most unimaginable wounds."

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Praise for Good Morning, Monster: These compelling, heart-in-throat stories prove no one is damaged goods. I'm in awe of the five patients and of Gildiner's exceptional creativity as she guides each one toward emotional freedom. --Rona Maynard, author of My Mother's Daughter and former editor of Chatelaine Like Oliver Sacks, Catherine Gildiner loves her patients and Good Morning, Monster is her entertaining account of helping five of them save themselves and in the process teach her a thing or two about being a psychologist. Gildiner is a master of shoot from the hip nonfiction--funny, direct, and honest about what she sees in others and what she sees in herself. Highly readable! --Susan Swan, author of The Wives of Bath and The Dead Celebrities Club In these riveting case studies, Catherine Gildiner takes the reader on five voyages deep into the hell of monstrous misbehaviour by mothers, fathers, and institutions, and shows us the scarred child victims who turn into heroes of survival. These stories are almost mythic in their power and veer close to tragedy, but eventually lead to redemption with the help of a therapist who acknowledges her own mistakes and seeks to know herself better as well as the patients she is treating. I couldn't put this book down. --Antanas Sileika, author of The Barefoot Bingo Caller and Provisionally Yours This is a compelling and compressed journey through years of psychotherapy for each of these five people, with crystalline moments of connection and meaning. Along the way, some essential elements of both psychological theory and practice are made clear--as are fragments of Gildiner's life and persona. She is no blank slate. She's astute, active, pragmatic, and hopeful. She is unafraid to be directive or unconventional and not shy about expressing happiness when her patients' lives improve--because she cares not simply about how they think and feel but also about how they function and live. She is also--as is known by anyone who has read her earlier books--very funny. Humour in psychotherapy can be dangerous; in her hands, it is a respectful example of shared humanity. Her wit and wisdom are gifts shared with these five people--and now with all of us readers. --David S. Goldbloom, Senior Medical Advisor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Co-author, How Can I Help? A Week in My Life as a Psychiatrist If you ever doubted that unconditional love from a parent to a child was the most important component in the development of a happy, fully-functional adult, Good Morning, Monster puts that notion to rest for good. Catherine Gildiner reflects on five of the most interesting subjects she treated as a clinical psychologist and describes in detail the journeys they took to recovery. Whether it was sexual abuse or traumatic neglect, the results were the same for Laura, Peter, Danny, Alana, and Madeline. Whether it was an Indigenous man who was a victim of the residential school system, or a rich and successful business woman from a privileged background, psychological trauma played no favourites. Dr. Gildiner describes in detail her successes and mistakes in terms that anyone can understand. Written for the general public, this book shows that there is hope for even the most damaged among us. --Don Lynch, Six Nations Public Library Ms. Gildiner provides an extraordinary look at the process of psychotherapy in ways that offer the reader insights into her patients and candidly into her own process. We come to understandings about developmental challenges, trauma, and the moments that bring about change with these resilient characters. This is captivating re-telling from a master storyteller. --Eric King, clinical social worker and former clinical director at both J.D. Griffin Adolescent Centre and Pine River Institute

Author Information

CATHERINE GILDINER has been a clinical psychologist in private practice for twenty-five years. Her bestselling memoir Too Close to the Falls was published in Canada, the US, and the UK to wide acclaim in 1999. It had two sequels- After the Falls and Coming Ashore, also bestsellers. Her novel, Seduction, was a national bestseller. She lives in Toronto.

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