Reviews
Reviews
Personally riveting, academically provoking! Gunn and DeCarlo’s gutsy, alluring Bare reveals the vulnerable and honest inner thoughts of an experienced psychotherapist. Bare is clinically relevant to clinicians at all levels of training and accessible to anyone curious about the therapeutic process.
Matthew Rofofsky, LCSW-R
Director of Clinical and Counseling Services, Hetrick-Martin Institute, Home of the Harvey Milk High School
Academic Advisor, Columbia School of Social Work
Private Practice, Manhattan
In Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped, authors Jacqueline Simon Gunn and Carlo DeCarlo take the reader into the mind and thoughts of a therapist in session. We learn as much about the dark depths of a therapist as the patients. And the journey does get personal — like when Dr. Gunn must tell her patients of her upcoming wedding. Awkward!
Starting with Dr. Gunn’s first days at the Karen Horney Institute as an intern, up to the time she was offered a position with them and beyond, Bare gets into the nitty-gritty of therapy. Gunn also shares her experiences with her own therapist. From neurotic housewives to drug dealers to patients who needed to be put in jail to sex slaves to runners to all forms of people in need, Bare takes you on a journey of discovery. She learns, her patients learn, and we as readers learn the most. Dr. Gunn makes an excellent case on the value of listening to her patients — but more important, hearing what they have to say. Highly recommended.
D.B. Gilles
Professor and Area Head of Television, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
Author of the nonfiction Writer’s Rehab and The Portable Film School, the novels I Hate My Book Club and Colder Than Death, and the plays The Girl Who Loved the Beatles and Inadmissable
Bare is unlike any other case study book I’ve read. It is interesting, funny and so emotionally compelling — at times, I almost forgot I was reading a book on psychology. Bare gives us a rare peek inside not only the mind, but the heart and motivations of a therapist during her sessions — something rarely done. It touches on themes so universal, any reader, even non-psychologists and psychotherapists, will enjoy this — and grow from it. Bare is certain to provide a ‘good read’ and is a wonderful addition to every personal library.
Helen A. Solomon, PhD
Professor of Clinical Practice, Fordham University
Clinical Consultant for Sexual Assault and Violence, Mount Sinai Medical Center
Private Practice, Manhattan
When I began to read Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped, I did not expect to read half the book in one sitting, only to finish it in another. With great readability, Bare provides an interesting look at a therapist’s perspective when she is treating patients — and how they have an impact on her, and cause her to think about her own reactions to things. Authors Simon-Gunn and DeCarlo create a frame in which readers journey through a therapist’s world, experiencing the complexities and individualities of each patient, and how each affects the therapist, both on a professional and personal level. Whether or not you’ve been to a therapist, this book is utterly fascinating — a glimpse of how people process emotions and why they might do what they do. It may even help you to discover information about your own behaviors and thought patterns.
Patricia Piroh
Associate Director of Broadcast and Media Operations for Montclair State University.
Co-producer, A Ripple in the Water: Healing Through Art
Insightful and titillating, Bare allows us a peek into the lives of folks as fascinating as they are likable, the author among them. This is a rare look into the therapeutic process and the mind of the therapist herself.
Don Corcoran
Author of the Voodoo Western Dime novels
Part psychological exploration, part memoir, Bare: Psychotherapy Stripped is fascinating, moving, funny — and surprisingly suspenseful. A terrific, compelling read.
Alison Gaylin
USA Today best-selling author of the Brenna Spector suspense series
Bare is a revealing glimpse behind the curtain at the psychotherapist-patient relationship. This is a compassionate, thought-provoking look at how patient behavior can profoundly affect a therapist. The stories are told with compassion and humor, making this a compelling read for anyone who’s wondered what it’s like to sit in the therapist’s chair!
Deidre Kolarick, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Psychology, New York University
Clinically sophisticated, heartfelt, and irreverent, Jacqueline Simon Gunn’s new book evokes the intimate daily adventures of the depth-oriented clinician. Rather than presenting a set of neatly packaged individual case studies, her candid narrative honestly shows the complex and ambiguous intertwining of professional skill and judgment, interpersonal relating, intuition, and personal self-care and development at the heart of the practice of psychotherapy.
Amanda B. Lowe, PhD
Outpatient Psychotherapist
Mercy Behavioral Health, Pittsburgh, PA
