When the literary persona, Lori, enters therapy as a patient with Wendell, Gottlieb invites us to view her as both a therapist with some experience and as a patient who is dealing with layers of issues that slowly come to the fore. Structuring the book in this way, so that her persona benefits from experiencing both sides of the therapeutic process, Gottlieb achieves two things: First, she shows us how much she has learned and developed though working with her patients, and how that work informs her own process of therapy in a way that makes her appreciate both roles. Second, she helps us understand that therapists are ordinary human beings who experience life the same way we do, and in this manner, she dispels some of the societal mystery and fear surrounding the process of therapy and the persona of the therapist as someone who is an invader of our personal space.

The theme of mutual participation in therapy also brings awareness to the therapist’s experience during the process. People frequently see therapy as being taxing on the patient, or that individuals in therapy cannot cope with life or reality (in many societies, going to psychotherapy is still stigmatized, signaling to others that there is something unhealthy about people who decide to enter the process).