The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head

A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases

By: Gary Small M.D., Gigi Vorgan

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

True stories are more bizarre than any fiction, and Dr. Gary Small knows this best. After 30 distinguished years of psychiatry and groundbreaking research on the human brain, Dr. Small has seen it all - now he is ready to open his office doors for the first time and tell all about the most mysterious, intriguing, and bizarre patients of his career.

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a spellbinding record of the doctor's most bewildering cases, from naked headstands and hysterical blindness to fainting schoolgirls and self-amputations. It is an illuminating journey into the mind of a practicing psychiatrist and his life in medicine as it evolves over time - a behind-the-scenes look at the field and a variety of mental diseases as they've never been seen or diagnosed before. You'll find yourself exploring the puzzling eccentricities that make us human.

Often funny, sometimes tragic, and always compelling, Dr. Small takes you on a tour of his career that moves from the halls of a crowded inner-city Boston emergency room to the multimillion-dollar ski lodges of the nation's elite. In between, Dr. Small introduces a strange cast of true-life characters and conditions, while dealing with mysterious hysterical blindness, a man convinced that his penis is shrinking, secret double lives, and frighteningly psychotic romantic desires. His career and personal life come full circle when his own mentor becomes his patient, making Small realize that no one is beyond mental exploration - not even himself.

©2010 Gary Small, M.D. (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

90% Useless Information

I was intrigued by the description of this book and I was looking forward to listening to psychiatric case histories. However, the author padded this book with so much useless content on topics such as the lives of co-workers, quality of life in Boston vs Los Angeles, and his personal morning routines, that I am convinced he was being paid per word. Also, the author relates case information starting from the 1970's but includes too many details about things like what newspaper his colleague was reading and what danish he ordered at a coffee shop. He lost credibility by adding all these details as they did nothing to advance the story and because it is improbable that anyone would remember such mundane minutia almost 40 years later.

Great book!

For anyone interested in psychology or psychiatry, this is a must read. As Dr. Gary Small reflects on some of his more interesting cases, the reader has the opportunity for a little self-examining. This is edutainment at its best!

interesting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes, to understand how interesting psychology is. And to prove that intuitions don;t work in psychology, and diagnosis and therapy can be very tricky.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dr. Small, who always takes the criticism on chin.

What three words best describe Marc Cashman’s voice?

clear, pleasant, not-monotonous.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes.

Any additional comments?

The name. I understand that the

So interesting, great stories.

If you could sum up The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head in three words, what would they be?

A great compilation of patient stories and the thoughts of the doctor as he grew from a young man "faking" it to a seasoned professional. You move along with him on his journey and you can come out the other side, at least a little better of a person than you started as.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!

Turns Medical Oddities into Universally Relatable Experiences

Thoughtful intertwining of an autobiographical narrative with an inside look at the medical decision making, and professional growth of psychiatrists. The author doesn’t water down or over simplify the neuropsychological aspects of this book in the patronizing way some doctors do. Nor does this story exploit his former patients in a gawking way. Rather, it tells tales that build compassion for both the subject and the narrator, in a way that makes you rejoice their successes and triumphs, and ache with sadness over their frustrating defeats.

The narrator aptly preforms, even changing pitch and other distinguishing characteristics to provide depth to each character during complex recitations of dialogue that could otherwise be a bit hard to follow.

My only complaint was that this book was far too short.

not good, not bad

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

not really. it is not a bad book, but has nothing to do with bizarre. I work in the field and the cases presented in this book are far from bizarre, they simply usual cases. it is not a bad read, but a common one.

I loved it.

This book was great. Very entertaining and intriguing. Learned a lot about mental illness and how to look out for certain habits/symptoms.

great listen

really enjoyed this book while on my drives to work or around the house, plus it taught me interesting things about our minds