
Twelve Cases
A Psychiatrist's True Stories of Mental Illness and Addiction (and Other Human Predispositions)
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Patrick Lawlor
About this listen
Are you curious about the shadowy parts of the human psyche? Join Dr. Daniel Mierlak, a psychiatrist for 25 years, on a journey to the stranger corners of human experience. Here you'll meet: Tony, chauffeur to the fabulously rich, who overcomes crippling anxiety only to find himself descend into a homicidal rage following a botched cosmetic procedure. Amanda, hospitalized for mania, who sees a change to her medicine as an assassination attempt, and then stalks her doctor for a year after discharge. James, a schizophrenic hearing voices telling him to kill himself, whose piano playing leads to a shocking secret about his past. Psychiatric treatment is normally a private encounter and often misunderstood.
In describing 12 of his most challenging cases, Dr. Mierlak brings you into his sessions, into his patients' lives, and into the world of psychiatry. Get ready for some surprises.
©2018 Daniel Mierlak, MD, PhD (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Decoding Madness
- A Forensic Psychologist Explores the Criminal Mind
- By: Richard Lettieri
- Narrated by: David Mack
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dealing with some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Lettieri gives a behind-the-scenes look at criminal psychology through case studies from his over 30 years of experience as a court-appointed and privately retained psychologist.
-
-
well presented
- By Sherise on 06-19-24
By: Richard Lettieri
-
Good Morning, Monster
- A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Deborah Burgess
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: A successful, first-generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster". Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years.
-
-
some things shouldn't be consumed
- By Jess on 12-28-22
-
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head
- A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases
- By: Gary Small M.D., Gigi Vorgan
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
True stories are more bizarre than any fiction, and Dr. Gary Small knows this best. After 30 distinguished years of psychiatry and groundbreaking research on the human brain, Dr. Small has seen it all - now he is ready to open his office doors for the first time and tell all about the most mysterious, intriguing, and bizarre patients of his career. The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a spellbinding record of the doctor's most bewildering cases.
-
-
90% Useless Information
- By Think B4 Eating on 10-01-10
By: Gary Small M.D., and others
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- By: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
I Get it, You Were an Addict
- By Jim Thompson on 10-16-19
By: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Trauma and Recovery
- The Aftermath of Violence - from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
- By: Judith Lewis Herman MD
- Narrated by: Alison Mathews, Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war.
-
-
Answers to many "why" questions.
- By Bruja on 06-21-22
-
The Body Remembers
- The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment
- By: Babette Rothschild
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is now thought that people who have been traumatized hold an implicit memory of traumatic events in their brains and bodies. That memory is often expressed in the symptomatology of post-traumatic stress disorder - nightmares, flashbacks, startle responses, and dissociative behaviors. In essence, the body of the traumatized individual refuses to be ignored. While reducing the chasm between scientific theory and clinical practice and bridging the gap between talk therapy and body therapy, Rothschild presents principles and non-touch techniques for giving the body its due.
-
-
Really bad voice
- By Fudulu on 12-04-21
-
Decoding Madness
- A Forensic Psychologist Explores the Criminal Mind
- By: Richard Lettieri
- Narrated by: David Mack
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dealing with some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, forensic neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Lettieri gives a behind-the-scenes look at criminal psychology through case studies from his over 30 years of experience as a court-appointed and privately retained psychologist.
-
-
well presented
- By Sherise on 06-19-24
By: Richard Lettieri
-
Good Morning, Monster
- A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Deborah Burgess
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: A successful, first-generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster". Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years.
-
-
some things shouldn't be consumed
- By Jess on 12-28-22
-
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head
- A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases
- By: Gary Small M.D., Gigi Vorgan
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
True stories are more bizarre than any fiction, and Dr. Gary Small knows this best. After 30 distinguished years of psychiatry and groundbreaking research on the human brain, Dr. Small has seen it all - now he is ready to open his office doors for the first time and tell all about the most mysterious, intriguing, and bizarre patients of his career. The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head is a spellbinding record of the doctor's most bewildering cases.
-
-
90% Useless Information
- By Think B4 Eating on 10-01-10
By: Gary Small M.D., and others
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- By: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
I Get it, You Were an Addict
- By Jim Thompson on 10-16-19
By: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Trauma and Recovery
- The Aftermath of Violence - from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
- By: Judith Lewis Herman MD
- Narrated by: Alison Mathews, Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war.
-
-
Answers to many "why" questions.
- By Bruja on 06-21-22
-
The Body Remembers
- The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment
- By: Babette Rothschild
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is now thought that people who have been traumatized hold an implicit memory of traumatic events in their brains and bodies. That memory is often expressed in the symptomatology of post-traumatic stress disorder - nightmares, flashbacks, startle responses, and dissociative behaviors. In essence, the body of the traumatized individual refuses to be ignored. While reducing the chasm between scientific theory and clinical practice and bridging the gap between talk therapy and body therapy, Rothschild presents principles and non-touch techniques for giving the body its due.
-
-
Really bad voice
- By Fudulu on 12-04-21
-
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog
- And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook -- What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
- By: Bruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz
- Narrated by: Chris Kipiniak
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does trauma affect a child's mind—and how can that mind recover? In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry explains what happens to the brains of children exposed to extreme stress and shares their lessons of courage, humanity, and hope. Only when we understand the science of the mind and the power of love and nurturing can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.
-
-
Nice to see some good come to those abused/neglect
- By C. Turner on 06-07-19
By: Bruce D. Perry, and others
-
The Psychopath Whisperer
- The Science of Those Without Conscience
- By: Kent A. Kiehl
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We know of psychopaths from chilling headlines and stories in the news and movies - from Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy to Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan. As Dr. Kent Kiehl shows, psychopaths can be identified by a checklist of symptoms that includes pathological lying; lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse; grandiose sense of self-worth; manipulation; and failure to accept one’s actions. But why do psychopaths behave the way they do? Is it the result of their environment - how they were raised - or is there a genetic component to their lack of conscience?
-
-
An autobiography with splatter of neuropsychology.
- By DORIS H. on 08-16-14
By: Kent A. Kiehl
-
Making a Psychopath
- My Journey into Seven Dangerous Minds
- By: Mark Freestone
- Narrated by: David Wayman
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Mark Freestone has worked on some of the most interesting, infamous, and disturbing cases of psychopathology in recent years. His expertise has led to a consultant role on several TV series, helping them accurately portray their fictional villains. Now, he shares his phenomenal insight into the minds of some of the world's most violent real-life criminals.
-
-
Okay...a little too sympathetic
- By lissa on 03-05-22
By: Mark Freestone
-
Dangerous Personalities
- An FBI Profiler Shows You How to Identify and Protect Yourself from Harmful People
- By: Joe Navarro, Toni Sciarra Poynter
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dangerous Personalities, former FBI profiler Joe Navarro shows listeners how to identify the four most common "dangerous personalities", and analyze how much of a threat each one can be: the Narcissist, the Predator, the Paranoid, and the Unstable Personality. Along the way, listeners learn how to protect themselves both immediately and long-term - as well as how to recover from the trauma of being close to such a destructive force.
-
-
A Bad Conscience
- By Mel on 10-29-14
By: Joe Navarro, and others
-
With the Devil's Help
- A True Story of Poverty, Mental Illness, and Murder
- By: Neal Wooten
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of The Glass Castle, Educated, and Heartland, Neal Wooten traces five decades of his dirt-poor, Alabama mountain family as the years and secrets coalesce.
-
-
From knock to knock, it will keep you wondering!
- By Scotty Baker on 02-25-23
By: Neal Wooten
-
Unmasking Narcissism
- A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life
- By: Mark Ettensohn Psy.D
- Narrated by: Tom Pile
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether the narcissist in your life is a boss, coworker, relative, or romantic partner, the exercises and advice in Unmasking Narcissism will help you set healthy boundaries and make sense of this complex and often painful issue. In this groundbreaking guide from clinical psychologist Mark Ettensohn, PsyD., you will gain insight into narcissistic behaviors, symptoms, and relationship dynamics. Dr. Ettensohn provides exercises designed to help you clarify your own values and goals for the relationship, whether that means immediate separation or long-term relationship management.
-
-
Very Confirming
- By Verlene Henry on 05-28-19
-
The Evil That Men Do
- FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood's Journey into the Minds of Sexual Predators
- By: Stephen G. Michaud, Roy Hazelwood
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-two years in the FBI, 16 of them as a member of the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit. Roy Hazelwood, like many investigators, has seen it all. But unlike most, he's gone further into the dark and twisted psyches of serial killers and sadistic sexual offenders and has emerged as one of the world's foremost experts on the sexual criminal. Acclaimed true-crime writer Stephen G. Michaud takes you into the heart of Hazelwood's work through dozens of startling cases, including those of the Lonely Heart Killer, the "Ken and Barbie" killings, and the Atlanta Child Murders.
-
-
Always learning!
- By T. Barrett on 09-10-19
By: Stephen G. Michaud, and others
-
Love's Executioner
- By: Irvin D. Yalom
- Narrated by: C.M. Carlson
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The collection of 10 absorbing tales by master psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter. In recounting his patients' dilemmas, Yalom not only gives us a rare and enthralling glimpse into their personal desires and motivations but also tells us his own story as he struggles to reconcile his all-too-human responses with his sensibility as a psychiatrist.
-
-
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
- By Espanolish on 11-02-16
By: Irvin D. Yalom
-
Letters to a Young Therapist
- By: Mary Pipher
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary Pipher's groundbreaking investigation of America's "girl-poisoning culture," Reviving Ophelia, has sold nearly two million copies and established its author as one of the nation's foremost authorities on family issues. In Letters to a Young Therapist, Dr. Pipher shares what she has learned in 30 years as a therapist, helping warring families, alienated adolescents, and harried professionals restore peace and beauty to their lives. Letters to a Young Therapist gives voice to her practice with an exhilarating mix of storytelling and sharp-eyed observation.
-
-
Has much to offer, however..
- By Meghan on 10-18-21
By: Mary Pipher
-
An Unquiet Mind
- A Memoir of Moods and Madness
- By: Kay Redfield Jamison
- Narrated by: Kay Redfield Jamison
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.
-
-
It Says Unabridged. That is incorrect.
- By Casey Wagner on 10-17-11
-
Brain on Fire
- My Month of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: At the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
-
-
A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
By: Susannah Cahalan
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
What listeners say about Twelve Cases
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Janae G
- 02-01-23
Great story telling
As a undergrad psych major, this book opened my eyes to a lot of the abnormalities in the brain. The retelling of the stories were intriguing and left me with a desire to find out more. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the psyche
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jbrown_leo
- 02-17-24
Trying too hard to be funny
Basically the author seemed to be trying too hard to be funny using vocabulary that was more complicated than it needed to be. It’s an irritation of mine when an author writes as if the only people who are going to read his book have the education level of a doctor. This book had that a few times AND he was trying to be funny so it came across as arrogant. I still gave it 4 stars because there definitely were funny parts and the person who read the book did a great job.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shane
- 07-27-24
wow love it
i dunno if he meant this but wow it was quite funny. i loved the stories. so true to life. talking with a coworker it felt like and i loved that. the self doubt, problem solving, sudden ends, definitely true to my expereince in counseling
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. Ciulla
- 03-24-25
Insightful therapy cases
The author takes you through 12 cases of clients from a Psychiatrist’s viewpoint. I found it to be interesting and thought-provoking. Some cases were more relatable than others, but on a whole it was very well written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!