This memoir should be required reading for anyone with a connection to the field of psychology. Dr. Lockman shares stories from her intern year in pursuit of a doctorate in psychology, and along the way she describes serious weaknesses in the way psychology (specifically as it relates to talk therapy, whether or not medications are involved) is represented in a hospital context. Dr. Lockman's background in journalism allows her to choose the most important details to tell her stories, and her background in psychotherapy moves her to share humbling personal responses to the challenges of her internship.

I approached this book as someone pretty familiar with psychiatry. My brother is a psychiatrist, I've seen a psychiatrist in the past, and my work as a public defender brings me into close contact with many people who take medication for mental health problems. When it comes to psychology as pursued by Dr. Lockman, though, I realized quickly that I was reading about a fascinating new world. Parts of it were familiar (I love the section about forensic psychology, since I work with forensic psychologists frequently and haven't really considered their perspectives often enough), but most was new for me.

Parts of this book will likely frustrate the reader. Dr. Lockman presents herself as (occasionally) an astoundingly bad employee (in any field, really, when your future boss asks to meet you before your first day of orientation, the correct response is never, "But you're all the way across town!" If you do respond this way, though, you should be ready for a difficult first few weeks on the job). She also comes across as whiny at times when frustrated by the way a fast-paced hospital doesn't carve out space for long-term talk therapy. I think these frustrations speak to Dr. Lockman's skill as an author, though. I suspect that Dr. Lockman now knows exactly how unprepared she was for her task, and while she never quite states that openly, she also doesn't engage in defensive justifications for her bad decisions and powerless grumbling. Her interest is sharing an honest look into the mind and heart of an actual intern, and that means presenting the good with the bad.

At the end of the book, I am not convinced that hospitals need to do more to accommodate long-term psychotherapy (beyond providing referrals for patients as they leave). I respect Dr. Lockman's arguments, though, and I love the incident she shares near the end of the book, where a busy psychiatrist offers a prescription for medication that has absolutely nothing to do with the psychology of why a rape victim becomes promiscuous - and Dr. Lockman, with her background in psychology, steps in to provide real hope and understanding to the patient. It's the most beautiful of many beautiful scenes in this book, and an example of why this memoir is so valuable, no matter the reader's ultimate opinion on Dr. Lockman's systemic arguments.

(I received my copy for free from the Amazon Vine program)