Quick Advice in a Shrink Rap
Godfather Freud aside, the advent of psychotherapy has many Jews to thank. The invention of the therapy party (think speed dating, but with advice-giving gurus) also finds a Jew at the helm.
“I always say my shrink is my rabbi,” said author and teacher Susan Shapiro, who, when throwing a party for her debut novel, “Speed Shrinking,” decided to make talk therapy its focus.
In the book, a recovering addict turned addictions specialist discovers that her only habit left to kick is a $200/hour shrink. She sees eight therapists in eight days (at a paltry $25 a piece under new insurance) while hankering for a match.
A bevy of guests — mostly media and publishing folks, and former students — descended on the Knickerbocker Bar and Grill in Manhattan on August 3 for three-minute shrinking sessions, with sounding boards that included authors, relationship experts and even a Jungian astrologist. All the female gurus, including Shapiro, gave women hoping to marry the same advice: “Keep your clothes on for three months.”
Shapiro will host more shrinking parties in August and September.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.