The Heart Is My Beat

Have you ever wondered what really goes on in psychotherapy? What a therapist thinks while the client is pouring out his feelings? What kind of person is drawn to doing this work, and what life experiences go into the making of a therapist? In these stories and essays, Dr. Gregg E. Bernstein reveals the answers to those questions. With warmth, humor and humanity, he takes you inside the office (and the life) of a psychotherapist and candidly shares a lifetime spent unraveling the mysteries of his clients, as well as the challenges he faced on his journey to becoming a healer.

Have you ever wondered what really goes on in psychotherapy? What a therapist thinks while the client is pouring out his feelings? What kind of person is drawn to doing this work, and what life experiences go into the making of a therapist? In these stories and essays, Dr. Gregg E. Bernstein reveals the answers to those questions. With warmth, humor and humanity, he takes you inside the office (and the life) of a psychotherapist and candidly shares a lifetime spent unraveling the mysteries of his clients, as well as the challenges he faced on his journey to becoming a healer. In pulling back the curtain, he illuminates what is meaningful about therapy—both providing it and partaking in it. Most of all, he explores what is so beautiful, heartbreaking, absurd and glorious about pursuing this privileged profession.

Gregg E. Bernstein, PhD has been a practicing psychologist in Oakland, California for over forty years, specializing in intensive psychotherapy with a sub-specialty in "whatever works." He has worked with individuals, couples and groups to deal with virtually every type of psychological challenge—from addictions, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, life transitions and challenging relationships to the need to build a self from the ground up. Whether seeing children in rural Tennessee or Nobel Prize winners, he has always focused on the humanity that unites us all and finding the humor that hides in the pain.