I Think My Therapist Hates Me

A Memoir

By: Chris Olsen

Narrated by: Chris Olsen

Social media phenomenon and mental health advocate Chris Olsen invites readers into his therapist’s office—and into the story he’s spent years trying to understand—in this raw, fearless, and darkly funny memoir.

For much of his childhood, Chris Olsen believed his family was ordinary, even idyllic. Then, at thirteen years old, everything changed. When his mother revealed she was an alcoholic, the foundation beneath him cracked open, exposing secrets, struggles, and generational wounds that would shape the course of his life.

Years later, determined to make sense of a story that often felt written for him rather than by him, Chris returns to the moments that defined him. Guided by conversations with his therapist, Lizzie, he revisits the memories he’s spent years avoiding: hiding his sexuality from the people he loved, navigating his parents’ tumultuous divorce, surviving toxic relationships, watching his mother cycle through treatment centers, and eventually confronting his own addiction.

With the same sharp humor, emotional honesty, and magnetic storytelling that have won over millions of followers, Chris peels back the layers of his public persona to reveal the messy, complicated truths underneath. As he reckons with the gap between the version of himself the world came to know online and the person struggling, grieving, and growing behind the screen, he asks a universal question: Who are we when no one is watching?

By turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and deeply hopeful, I Think My Therapist Hates Me is a personal exploration of the stories we inherit, the identities we construct, and the courage it takes to face ourselves honestly. It’s a heartfelt reminder that self-discovery is messy, recovery is hard-won, and becoming the author of your own life begins with telling yourself the truth.

Bet on It

I Think My Therapist Hates Me had me laughing, hurting, reflecting, and furiously adding notes to my phone. I genuinely took more notes for this review than I ever have for a memoir. The early 2000s pop culture references were EVERYTHING, especially Chris’s love of High School Musical. The fact that he was hiding his HSM posters from people as a child because he was afraid of what they would think broke my heart. And then watching a Lady Gaga music video to prove he wasn’t gay actually killed me. 💀

But underneath all the humor, this book is incredibly vulnerable. Getting to hear the conversations with his therapist felt so intimate, and you can tell Chris really wants you to know him. The good, the bad, and the parts where he was absolutely the villain. His honesty about addiction, relationships, coming out, family, social media, and the ways he hurt people was one of my favorite things about this memoir.

I also loved reading about growing up in the early 2000s and being thrown headfirst into the social media boom with basically ZERO safeguards. Ask.FM being mentioned sent me straight back to a deeply cursed era of the internet. 😂 But some of the experiences Chris shared genuinely gutted me. It was weird reading a memoir by someone the same age as me. At first I was like um am I old?? Then I was like no Chris has just had to live a whole lot of life in a short amount of time.

The intervention, rehab, and everything his family did to get him the help he needed were incredibly difficult to read, but also some of the most powerful parts of the book. And I loved that he was honest about the fact that rehab didn’t magically fix everything. Recovery, relationships, and life are messy after, and he never pretended otherwise.

I Think My Therapist Hates Me also feels like a love letter to therapists. My therapist knows more about me than almost anyone in my life, yet most of the people I love will never meet her. There’s something so strange and special about that relationship, and I loved seeing Chris put words to it.

I’m SO GLAD this book exists. Chris was incredibly brave to put all of this out into the world, and I hope this memoir gets every bit of love and hype it deserves. 💗

I need Chris Olsen to know that I have been cheering him on for a LONG time. Back in 2022, I was in NYC with some friends when Chris posted about getting his first Times Square billboard. We literally stood there waiting for his picture to pop up, and when it did, we CHEERED. A random man smoking a blunt nearby was like, “Is that your friend or something?” and we said yes. Obviously. That’s our friend and he’s on a billboard. 😂 So Chris, I hope you feel the love in this review, your book tour and the general reception because WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU in life. 🫶

Should you read this book? To quote the great Troy Bolton: “Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it.” 🏀🎤