Married to a Psychiatrist: A memoir

From on-line reviews:

• "It is funny, shocking and one of the most openly vulnerable stories I've ever heard from a male author."
• "I highly recommend for anyone who wants to have a good laugh and also get a free therapy session!"
• "Find yourself a comfy chair and a cup of coffee or tea and be prepared to, in turns, laugh out loud and stop to ponder your own road to authenticity."

When Dan married a psychiatrist, he didn't expect a crash course in self-awareness...

I was 40 years old. I had life experience. I was a decorated cop with an excellent service record. I was one of those get-it-done kind of guys who got-it-done before anyone asked. Hell, I'd even been chosen as SWAT team leader! I wasn't the type of guy to stumble my way through life; I was a winner. So how on earth did the petite, bleached-blond, Harley riding psychiatrist that I was just about to meet on a dating website end up turning my life around, most notably, in a positive direction?

She explained it like this. Intelligent people are often the hardest ones to treat. Their clever minds create intricate defense mechanisms that serve to rationalize their dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors. This is why some of the most successful and educated people, who appear to have everything one could want or need, end up leading unhappy and unfulfilled lives.

I like the way she phrased that: intelligent people, clever minds, intricate defense mechanisms. She's describing a special dysfunction exclusively reserved for smart people, which means I must be smart... let's go with very smart.

However, as I reflect on the lessons I've learned, the issues I've confronted don't exactly resemble the construct of a genius. Instead, my dysfunctions look like a child's sandcastle, and my defenses like the three-inch moat built to protect it, which then begs the question, if my dysfunctions were so simplistic and poorly defended, then why hadn't I noticed them before?

It's not an easy question to answer, which is why I wrote this book.

Told with unflinching honesty, raw humility, and a healthy dose of hilarity, Married to a Psychiatrist follows Dan's inspiring journey as he discovers the nasty things that happen when you sacrifice the person you are, to become the person you think you should be.