Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery

Gildiner references several psychologists whose work is instrumental to the field of Psychology. Choose one and research their contributions to the field. How would this particular psychologist respond to one of Gildiner’s five patients?

The book takes its title from a greeting Madeline’s mother met her with each day. What was her mother’s intended meaning of this phrase? How did the phrase impact Madeline? What “monsters” are present for each of the other four patients that Gildiner profiles?

Although the five patients Gildiner profiles have unusually difficult lives and overcome extreme challenges, some of the techniques Gildiner teaches them are arguably useful to others in less extreme situations. Choose one or two of her techniques and explore how they might be applied to your own circumstances.

Parental abuse and neglect are common among most of the patients profiled. How does this create especially difficult challenges for the adult patients? What role does the book suggest parents play in the lives of their children when those children are adults themselves?

Gildiner begins the book with Laura—her first ever patient as a psychologist—and ends with Madeline—her last case. Does Gildiner handle these cases differently? What evidence exists to indicate the ways Gildiner has evolved as a psychologist?

The book hints at some of the ways in which mental health can impact physical health. Explore the mind/body connection, using one of Gildiner’s five patients as a case study.

In speaking of Alana, Gildiner says:

Anyone who contemplates suicide has to decide to be or not to be. Yet, at some level, don’t we all have to make that same decision? There are times when we’ve had to decide or change or remain the same. Will we be slaves to safe, mundane routines or break out and remake our lives the way we imagine them to be? Real change may entail risk, pain, probably anxiety, and hard work, but it’s a way ‘to be’ versus not being” (219).

To what extent do you agree with her assertion? Why?

Of the five patients profiled, which one did you feel the closest connection to? What aspects of this patient’s circumstances, discovery, or growth might you apply to your own life?