The Silent Patient

by Alex Michaelides

The real motivation was purely selfish. I was on a quest to help myself. I believe the same is true for most people who go into mental health. We are drawn to this profession because we are damaged—we study psychology to heal ourselves.

I’m very fond of Theo, as troubled as he is. Early on in the book, he says he became a psychotherapist because he was messed up. That was certainly my experience ― and I believe a lot of therapists are drawn to the profession because on some level they feel damaged and wish to heal themselves. Whether they are prepared to admit this or not is another question. I feel that Theo, like all of us, tries to justify himself ― everyone is the hero of their own story, after all. I think Theo’s motives, at least in his own mind, were benign: a wish to help Alicia heal, as he says. In a sense that is no different to the motive of any therapist, even if his methods were a little different.