case studies

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a collection of short essays by psychiatrist Gary Small describing the "most bizarre cases" he dealt with over decades of practice. The first essays are from encounters at Massachusetts General during Small's days as a resident. From there, we follow Small back to his native California where he continues to treat patients, conducts research, and settles in as a geriatric specialist.

If judged by its subtitle alone ("a psychiatrist's stories of his most bizarre cases"), readers may be disappointed. Any casual student of psychology will not be impressed by stories about shopping addicts, psychopathic husbands with second families, and stress-induced sudden blindness. The subtitle draws in the reader by promising shock value (it happened to me!) and just doesn't deliver.

The value of his book is beyond Small's "craziest" patients. I think this book would have been better if it was framed as a personal memoir, or of a physician's reflections as he looks back on his career. The patient stories are framed by conversations with Small's colleagues, friends, and family, where he gives us context of where he was in his career at the time and how he has grown as a physician since then. He recognizes several times that his response as a young psychiatrist would be vastly different from his response today, as a professional with years of experience. It was fascinating to read about how how Small worked through challenging diagnoses, and how his professional interactions with his patients shaped his personal interactions with friends and family, and vice versa: how his personal life affected the way he treated his patients. Those passages were what I liked best about this book - self-reflection.

Dr. Small is a brilliant physician, and I would have liked to read more about his method as a psychiatrist and less about his house calls to wealthy patients. Hopefully in the future he will give us that book! ( )

I really enjoyed reading about all these unusual psychiatric cases, told with sensitivity and empathy, and explaining how the patients were helped in each case. ( )

This book consists of psychiatrist's most bizarre cases distributed from 1970s to today. It is a great book that keeps you guessing till the diagnosis is revealed. And for the most cases it surprises you.

It is also interesting to see how Dr. Gary's life evolved around his job too. From young, excited intern to director of UCLA longevity center was quite a journey.

Do not expect to find something from yourself. Most of these cases are uniquely bizarre :) ( )

Gerçek hikâyeler kurgudan çok daha tuhaftır, Dr. Gary Small da bunu gayet iyi biliyor. Psikiyatriyle ve insan beyni üstüne çığır açıcı araştırmalarla geçen otuz yıl içinde Dr. Small pek çok şey görmüş. Şimdi ofisinin kapılarını açmaya ve kariyerinin en gizemli, ilginç ve tuhaf hastalarını anlatmaya hazır. Bu kitap bir psikiyatristin zihnine ve onun giderek gelişim gösteren mesleki yaşamına yapılan aydınlatıcı bir yolculuk. Aynı zamanda bu branşın ve daha önce görülmemiş, tanısı koyulmamış çeşitli akıl hastalıklarının perde arkasına da bir bakış… Kitabı okurken kendinizi, bizi insan yapan şaşırtıcı tuhaflıklar üstüne düşünürken bulacaksınız. Sıkça komik, kimi zaman trajik ve daima etkileyici Dr. Small, sizleri kariyeri içinde Boston’un kalabalık acil servis koridorlarından başlayıp ülke elitlerinin multimilyon dolarlık kayak localarına dek uzayan bir geziye çıkarıyor. Bu gezi sırasında birbirinden tuhaf gerçek karakterleri anlatırken, bir yandan da esrarengiz histerik körlükle, penisinin küçüldüğüne inanan bir adamla, gizli sürdürülen çifte hayatlarla ve ürkütücü derecede psikotik romantik arzularla baş ediyor. Akıl hocası kendi hastası olduğunda Dr. Small’un kariyeri ve kişisel hayatı tam bir döngüyü tamamlıyor ve Small’un kimsenin zihinsel araştırmanın ötesinde olmadığını anlamasını sağlıyor; kendisinin bile…