Book · 2019
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
by Lori Gottlieb
A therapist goes to therapy: Lori Gottlieb tracks four patients across a year while her own life cracks open on someone else's couch.
What does Reddit think of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone?
Twenty-eight of the book's 31 Reddit mentions come from r/therapists. That concentration says more about the book's actual audience than any cover copy could. It surfaces in recommendation threads alongside Yalom's The Gift of Therapy and Pete Walker's Complex PTSD — books therapists press on each other, not necessarily on clients. The two most-upvoted comments (↑72, ↑64) both gesture at a clinical experience prerequisite: one commenter says she couldn't have fully appreciated it without her own practice hours behind her. A ↑38 comment calls it a good exploration of therapy from both sides, which is the ceiling of the critical vocabulary in these threads — warm but measured. Mention volume peaked at 11 in 2023 and has held at 8 per year since. r/CPTSD, r/attachment_theory, and r/askpsychology each added one mention. This is not a book building momentum; it has settled into a professional canon slot and stays there.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Therapist-as-patient: Gottlieb's dual role as clinician and client runs through every chapter
- · Parallel case studies: four patients' arcs unfold alongside her own therapy
- · Clinical empathy: how personal crisis reshapes what a therapist can hold for others
- · Professional formation: what actually shapes a therapist's practice, told from the inside
- · Mortality and change: one patient's terminal diagnosis anchors the book's emotional stakes
Common praise
- + Clinicians in r/therapists pair it with Yalom as the two books that change how they relate to the work, not just think about it.
- + The memoir format moves clinical concepts past the reader without requiring a DSM background.
- + New therapists (↑72) cite it as an early-career read that prepares them for the emotional demands of the role before those demands arrive.
- + The four-patient structure gives the book enough narrative drive that it reads faster than its page count.
Common criticism
- − Readers without clinical hours report the book's payoff diminishes — the insider texture is most legible to working therapists.
- − The self-disclosure arc runs long in stretches, especially for readers who came for the patient cases.
- − Thirty-one mentions across seven years of Reddit tracking means it does not travel far outside therapy-adjacent communities.
Who it's for
New therapists and trainees get the most out of it — r/therapists is essentially unanimous on this, and the ↑72 comment from a new therapist who found it a great read confirms the pattern. If you're in therapy yourself and want a window into what your therapist might be carrying, the self-disclosure arc has genuine use. Readers with no clinical background can follow the memoir and patient stories, but expect some of the professional texture to slide past: one ↑64 commenter says she couldn't have appreciated it fully without accumulating clinical experience first. Yalom readers will find it a natural companion rather than a substitute.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Maybe You Should Talk to Someone?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. It’s been a great read as a new therapist.
“I really enjoyed “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb. It’s memoir form, but I find myself thinking about it all the time. Couldn’t have appreciated it as fully without my own clinical experience. And the Cognitive Processing Therapy manual is seriously so great. It changed the way I …
“Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb!! It is so nice to see the perspective of a therapist being in heartbreak and going to therapy. I also think Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (and Other Lessons from the Crematory) by Caitlin Doughty is a great read that didn't have much to do with therapy,…
“Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving - Pete Walker Polyvagal Pocket Guide - Stephen Porges What my Bones Know - Stephanie Foo Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb I definitely also echo Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning and I would also recommend Between the World and Me by T…
“I found the book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb to be a good and somewhat broad exploration of therapy from both sides.
“I loved “The Gift of Therapy” by Yalom, “On Being a Therapist” by Kottler, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat” by Oliver Sacks, and “Letters to a Young Therapist” by Mary Pipher. The one I’m reading right now is honestly great too, it’s “Maybe You Should Talk To Someone” by Gottlieb. It’s suc…
“Lori Gottlieb - Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
“Your patient sounds like John in Lori Gottlieb's book "Maybe You Should Talk To Someone": Phenomenal book. Lori says John is offensive to everyone to keep them away, because if someone got close, he might have to reveal the incredible loss he carrie…
“Read Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb, she talks about a client just like this. Might give you some insights.
“Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb wrote this book about her own experience with being a therapist in her late 30’s/early 40’s and experiencing a breakup. Worth the read!!
“i couldnt get into TBKTS...my headspace at the time couldn't get past the prologue. I found Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb very meaningful, although it's not specifically a self-help book I saw myself in some of the scenarios. I've read it twice I like it that much. (FWIW my diag…
“I am so sorry for what you’re going through right now. I once read a book called “Maybe you should talk to someone” by Lori Gottlieb, it’s about a therapist who went through something very similar. Maybe it could help to not feel so alone in your experience. Sending you positive thoughts! You will g…
“The book maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb is a memoir by a therapist that explores what it was like to be a therapist while going through a breakup! A very good read for any therapist, but could be helpful for you to read and know you’re not alone. Sending you love, breakups are the…
“Lori Gottlieb’s maybe you should talk to someone. Yalom wrote a blurb on the back, endorsing it.
“I really loved "Maybe you should talk to someone" by Lori Gottlieb, it was a fun blend of her journey and the parallel process with her patients.
Convinced? Pick up Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Maybe You Should Talk to Someone — counted from the comments, not curated.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone — frequently asked
Is Maybe You Should Talk to Someone mainly for therapists or for general readers?+
Mostly therapists, based on where Reddit actually discusses it. Twenty-eight of 31 mentions come from r/therapists, where it circulates as near-professional reading. A ↑64 commenter says she couldn't have fully appreciated it without clinical experience behind her. General readers can follow the memoir arc, but the professional texture is real and it colors the whole book.
What does Reddit think of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb?+
Broadly positive in r/therapists, where it appears consistently in 'what should I read as a new clinician' threads alongside Yalom and Pete Walker. Nobody argues against it; the question is just how much you'll extract depending on where you are in your clinical or personal experience.
How does Maybe You Should Talk to Someone compare to The Gift of Therapy?+
They get paired in r/therapists threads — both appear in the ↑47 and ↑27 comment threads. Yalom is more philosophical and practitioner-directed; Gottlieb adds the self-disclosure layer, since she is in therapy during the events she describes. Readers who respond to Yalom tend to treat Gottlieb as a useful companion rather than a replacement.
Is Maybe You Should Talk to Someone still being recommended on Reddit?+
Yes, at a steady pace. It pulled 8 mentions in both 2024 and 2025, with the most recent sighting on December 9, 2025 in r/therapists. The peak was 11 mentions in 2023. It is not generating new momentum, but it has not faded either — it holds a stable slot in r/therapists reading lists without driving active debate.