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Meh:
Well writing a whole scientific? autobiography only to be torn up would be a de-motivator. Why not begin with that part that is going to be kept, grasp onto the area that was most compelling for you and make it the core, and build around that point pulling in the other pieces as needed. Or do whatever you feel like doing :) which appears to be taking a break from it :)

Worn:
Lighter, I really like your way of distilling what's really worth writing about.  I'm stealing this next time I need it. :-) 

Dr. Richard Grossman:
Dear Hops, ann3, Bones, lighter, Garbanzo, and Worn,

Thank you all for your encouragement and suggestions!  

Since your posts, I’ve thought about all of them:  a novel (Hops and Bones), a prose poem (ann3—I’ll take a look at the Prather book…), the autobiography as I would write it today (Garbanzo), or brainstorming the obvious ideas out of my head (lighter—I enjoyed the idea of doing that!).  And ann3, thank you for your idea and encouragement on the “Voiceless in the doctor’s office” thread: writing a book in the style I have been writing here.

I’m not sure yet in what direction I’m going to go.   I have long been convinced that the book I’m interested in would be best written from the other side of the room, i.e. the patient side, showing, via thoughts and feelings, the slow evolution/brain changes that are involved in going from being alone in the world to feeling heard and understood—in essence, going from one to two.  I have never read a therapist’s book that captured this process adequately.  Sure, one can talk about “attachment,” and even how one goes about achieving it—but to me it never feels real because I am never in the room watching in detail how it happens.   And certainly, the relationship between patient and therapist is all in the details, many of which are subtextual.

Which brings me to another point and another reason why it’s so hard for me to write a book on the subject.  From the therapist side, I’m not sure it’s a job for which graduate students/residents can be trained.  In a sense, one either has the ability to make this kind of relationship or one doesn’t.  And very, very few people have the ability.  It took almost a decade (my 20’s) to throw out most if not all of the training I did have.   And in the course of interacting with 100’s of therapists in the Harvard Medical School system/ Mass. General Hospital, looking back, there was not one who could have helped me in part because the training they did have got in the way of who they were.  So, if such abilities are largely born in/genetic, what is the point of writing a book no one can learn from?  I’m overstating things here, perhaps, but often I have this thought/feeling.

I’ll stop here for now…

Richard

Hopalong:
Ahhh. I didn't realize your aim was a book that would CHANGE things.
No wonder you feel such a burden to get it right.

I think you'll do better if you EJECT the idea that you are writing this book to change things.

Instead write it to share experience and tell a human story**!
I love the idea of therapist-as-patient-narrator.

Unique. That's not been done, far as I know.

I'd say just go for it in whatever inside-YOU voice you are ready to hear.
That voice will do the narrating. (You just type.)
And then you'll find out (rather than pre-decide) what kind of a book it is.

**Literature changes things. The voice that comes from the story.

BTW, I just read an extraordinary book about voiceless people.
I can't imagine a more-apt title to recommend to you right now.
Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Untouchable-Scott-OConnor/dp/1935562509/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427503904&sr=1-10&keywords=untouchable

luck,
Hops

lighter:
Doc G:

I'd like to see a book that follows many patient's journeys...... early experiences leading up to the decision to seek T, and how that works out...... the T's POV and history as well.  Perhaps some experiences of people in the main character's orbits that provides expanded understanding of how pd's effect entire groups, and organizations, the good and the bad.  I'm particularly interested in following the responses of the third party entity, and how that plays out in the lives of the main characters.  

If the information gives society the vocabulary to help identify, and name, their most confusing experiences, that would really be amazing.  

Ignorance isn't bliss, and pd's flourish in the dark.

A book/play/screenplay that sheds light, along with providing entertaining characters we care about, might be just what the doctor ordered, IME.

Lighter

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