1. The Examined Life Definition

'Grosz's vignettes are so brilliantly put together that they read like pieces of bare, illuminating fiction. It is this combination of tenacious detective work, remarkable compassion and sheer, unending curiosity for the oddities of the human heart that makes The Examined Life utterly captivating.' --The Sunday Times.

We are all storytellerswe create stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales; there must be someone to listen. In his work as a practicing psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behavior.

In The Examined Life he distills more than fifty thousand hours of conversation into pure psychological insight without the jargon. This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening, and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. Read information about the author Stephen Grosz is a practicing psychoanalyst—he has worked with patients for more than twenty-five years. Born in America, educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Oxford University, he lives in London. A Sunday Times bestseller, The Examined Life is his first book. Reviews of the The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves.

“All sorrows can be borne if you can put them into a story or tell a story about them.” – Karen Blixen Why are we the way we are? Why do we do what we do? How much can a person change?

In 31 brief chapters that recount the stories of patients he encountered during his 25 years of practice, by psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz offers us a deeply affecting look into the inner workings of the human mind. From jealousy and self-doubt to closure and change, Grosz masterfully weaves a portrait of the beauty and tragedy of humanity through the lens of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was developed by Sigmund Freud based on the belief that we can create change in our lives once we’re conscious of how our repressed emotions and experiences of the past unconsciously inform our present behaviour and motivations. “If we cannot tell our story, our story tells us,” writes Grosz. “We develop symptoms, or we find ourselves acting in ways we don’t understand.” Each story in offers an intriguing glimpse into the process of psychoanalysis without the jargon. The patient tells his or her story.

The Examined Life Definition

Grosz’s role is simply to be “alone with another person, thinking, trying to be present”. This often allows him to find connections between the patient’s past and present—the “a-ha!” moment of recognition that psychoanalysis is often associated with—which precipitates the patient’s ability to move forward and change. How are Francesca’s past experiences connected to her passiveness towards her husband’s infidelity? What does Peter’s pathological lying really mean?