Finding balance and regulating emotions sounds pretty straight-forward for most people. But Lou Grainger isn't most people... Monkey Tricks is a fictional story that follows main character Lou on her journey of life with anxiety. In this book I've included and visited a lot of relatable (and difficult) experiences with a good sense of humour. It all begins with a letter that she has written to her younger self, which she was recommended to do by her therapist. Although she was pretty reluctant, thinking the whole thing was silly and a waste of time, she was also desperate to get control of her mental health. However, when her therapist tells her the problem is that she has a monkey in her head, she wonders whether she's sitting on the right side of the clip-board. It sounds crazy, but it's actually true, metaphorically anyway. It controls her thoughts and emotions and generally just causes chaos to her life which she could do without. Learning to rein it in and get control of it instead so she can live her life more freely and with less worry is the goal. Monkey Tricks is a heart-warming story of self-discovery and overcoming life's struggles with the help of 'her people' and an awful lot of gin!

A TIME magazine Must-Read Book of the Year Ever wonder what your therapist is thinking? Now you can find out, as therapist and New York Times bestselling author Lori Gottlieb takes us behind the scenes of her practice - where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she). When a personal crisis causes her world to come crashing down, Lori Gottlieb - an experienced therapist with a thriving practice in Los Angeles - is suddenly adrift. Enter Wendell, himself a veteran therapist with an unconventional style, whose sessions with Gottlieb will prove transformative for her. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her own patients' lives - a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen who feels she has nothing to live for, and a self-destructive twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys - she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very questions she is bringing to Wendell. Taking place over one year, and beginning with the devastating event that lands her in Wendell's office, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone offers a rare and candid insight into a profession that is conventionally bound with rules and secrecy. Told with charm and compassion, vulnerability and humour, it's also the story of an incredible relationship between two therapists, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious inner lives, as well as our power to transform them.