The Skeleton Cupboard--The Making of a Clinical Psychologist

January 1, 2015
A British mental health practitioner and media personality's absorbing account of the years she spent as a clinical psychologist-in-training.In 1989, Byron, then a graduate student at University College London, began the training necessary to qualify as a licensed clinical psychologist. Over the next three years, she worked in hospitals, clinics and private practices where she met individuals whose stories helped "to establish [her] thinking as a doctor." Among the most influential was her fierce, no-nonsense female mentor, Chris Moorhead. The author often found herself at bitter odds with this woman, who relentlessly pushed Byron to move beyond her own doubt and insecurity. The most compelling portraits, however, are those of the clients. In remembering the early days of her training, the author recalls the story of her first serious case, a man who seemed to be suffering from panic attacks but was actually a knife-wielding sociopath. This encounter, along with a case that soon followed involving a suicidal 12-year-old, terrified Byron and led to a temporary rupture with her mentor. While Chris refused to let Byron give in to her fears, she also refused to offer nurturing and support. In the meantime, the author fought to stay emotionally balanced and maintain her professional bearing around clients she especially loved, including a brilliant young anorexic woman struggling with an overly developed sense of responsibility for her parents and an AIDS-infected man trying to cope with his own imminent demise. Only gradually did the author learn to "put [her] own 'shit' aside" for the greater good. In the end, Byron realized that the inner journeys in which she participated with her clients were far more personal than she ever knew. By working with each person, she was in fact moving from "chaos to clarity" in her own mind and heart. A lucid and compassionate memoir.

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February 1, 2015
When she found her grandmother bludgeoned by a burglar, Byron, then 15, was thrust from libidinal teenager into a young woman who couldn't stop pondering a devastating question, Why do we kill those whom others love? She followed her question into a career as a clinical psychologist working with people with mental health difficulties. Now, nearly 25 years later, she highlights those cases she still thinks about todayImogen's, Martin Elise's, and morein a sometimes cheery, sometimes cheeky, but both troubling and touching narrative. With such titles as The Eyes Have It, Harold and the Nazis, and Dodging Stones, the tales she tells of disturbed souls often in tough situations are memorably related in a sparkling, youthful voice. As she notes, Often the key part of the journey from chaos to clarity is telling the story. Byron eventually helps not just many others but herself. Suggest this highly readable book to those considering the field of psychology or even just seeking a better understanding of what troubles the mind and what might be done for it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)