the examined life Stephen Grosz
William Leith
10 January 2014
“I want to tell you about a patient who shocked me,” says Grosz, an American psychiatrist who works in Hampstead.
The man who shocked him was Peter, a patient who faked his own death. Grosz examines Peter’s case, and explains that he “was possessed by a story that he couldn’t tell”.
This is such an excellent way of understanding psychological disorder it made me stop and think, and it has stayed with me.
Grosz is a superb storyteller and tells lots of his patients’ stories with sensitivity, but also with great acuity. You might keep thinking you recognise things about people you know.