Interview with Niamh Fitzpatrick, author of Tell Me The Truth About Loss: A Psychologist’s Personal Story of Loss, Grief and Finding Hope
Niamh Fitzpatrick, author of Tell Me The Truth About Loss: A Psychologist’s Personal Story of Loss, Grief and Finding Hope, recommends some important books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Niamh's book:
Review from Book Depository:
A beautiful and hopeful book for when life isn't what you expect it to be.
In March 2017, Niamh Fitzpatrick's life fell apart overnight. Her beloved sister Dara was killed in a helicopter crash. Soon afterwards, Niamh's marriage disintegrated, and she feared she would lose her house, beside her remaining family. Life as she knew it had ended and the cumulative loss, in terms of impact, was staggering.
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Tell Me The Truth About Loss: A Psychologist’s Personal Story of Loss, Grief and Finding Hope
A psychologist for many years, Niamh guides clients on their journey to overcome the worst of times in their lives. She had to draw on this skillset herself, first to survive and then, in time, begin to thrive after such significant loss. Tell Me the Truth About Loss documents a psychologist's journey through loss, grief and the hardest of times, finding hope along the way.
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Book Depository €14.05
Waterstones £14.99
Wordery $17.05
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
Asking me to choose my favourite smart thinking book feels like asking me to choose which of my loved ones I love the most, it feels impossible! But I'll give you the book that has had the greatest impact on me: Man's Search for Meaning, by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. This is a raw and moving account of Frankl's time spent as a prisoner in concentration camps in WWII, detailing his observations from those experiences. I read it as a young psychology student more than thirty years ago, and the learnings from this powerful book have been a thread woven through the fabric of both my professional and personal life ever since. There are many significant take aways from this book, a central one being the concept of choice; understanding that even under the most extreme situations imaginable, "the last of the human freedoms is the ability to choose our own attitude, to choose our own way" (Frankl). This is a difficult, but also an important and inspiring read, one of the true 'must reads' in my opinion.
Review From Book Depository: A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that he and other inmates coped with the experience of being in Auschwitz. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances.
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Man's Search for Meaning
The sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Only those who allowed their inner hold on their moral and spiritual selves to subside eventually fell victim to the camp's degenerating influence - while those who made a victory of those experiences turned them into an inner triumph.
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Book Depository €6.67
Waterstones £8.99
Wordery $10.13
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I'm currently re-reading The Body Keeps the Score, by psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk. I find this a most impactful read and I've dipped in and out of it several times in my life, particularly in the past few years with the sudden and traumatic death of my sister. For me, the mix of individual stories and clinical observations make for a thought provoking and insightful read about how trauma impacts us; I can highly recommend it.
Review From Book Depository:
Dr. van der Kolk's masterpiece combines the boundless curiosity of the scientist, the erudition of the scholar, and the passion of the truth teller' Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery
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The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
The effects of trauma can be devastating for sufferers, their families and future generations. Here one of the world's experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for treatment, moving away from standard talking and drug therapies and towards an alternative approach that heals mind, brain and body.
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Book Depository €9.46
Waterstones £10.99
Wordery $13.55
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
I'm an avid reader and have been since childhood, I buy books like other people buy shoes, so there are many books to vye for the title of my favourite childhood book. But The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett stands out as being a page turner for me during my younger years.
Review From Book Depository:
Rediscover the favourite childhood classic.
What little girl can turn a whole household upside down and breathe new life back into a strange, old manor? The wonderfully contrary, strong-willed, angry, misunderstood Mary Lennox.
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The Secret Garden
When Mary Lennox is sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody says she is the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It is true, too. Mary is pale, spoilt and quite contrary. But she is also horribly lonely. Then one day she hears about a garden in the grounds of the Manor that has been kept locked and hidden for years.
And when a friendly robin helps Mary find the key, she discovers the most magical place anyone could imagine...
EXTRA ACTIVITIES INCLUDED: Take our quiz, learn about the plucky author and find out about the real secret garden. This beautiful edition includes fantastic extra educational resources.
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Book Depository €6.42
Waterstones £6.99
Wordery $9.52
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
I prefer a paper book. I love the feel of a book in my hands, I love the smell of the ink on the pages, I love the sound as each page turns, I love the sight of a big juicy novel on my bedside table. However, I do also use both Kindle and audiobook on occasion, as each brings portability to the reading experience.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
I love all bookshops, they are far and away my favourite type of retail outlet, and in normal times I love to while away the time browsing, taking my time to choose before leaving with a big pile of fiction and psychology books to read. Dubray in Stillorgan is my go to bookshop, I've been going there for years. They have a great range of books, their ordering service is second to none, and their staff are friendly and as passionate about books as I am and they give great recommendations.
Huge thanks to Niamh for recommending a some important books! Please don't forget to check out her book Tell Me The Truth About Loss: A Psychologist’s Personal Story of Loss, Grief and Finding Hope.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Gill (Tell Me the Truth About Loss), Vintage Publishing (Man's Search For Meaning, The Secret Garden), Penguin Books Ltd (The Body Kepps The Score).
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