Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life (2020) is American author Christie Tate’s debut memoir about her journey through group therapy, mental health, and self-acceptance. Throughout the memoir, Christie joins three therapy groups and works through childhood traumas, career transitions, and unsuccessful relationships in a supportive group setting. Group was a New York Times bestseller and appeared on Amazon and CNN’s Best Books lists of October 2020.Tate, a lawyer, attended 19 years of group therapy before publishing this memoir about her experiences.

Content Warning: This guide contains descriptions of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and disordered eating that are part of the original text.

This study guide uses the 2020 paperback edition.

Summary

To maintain consistency with the source text, in this study guide, “Tate” will refer to the author, and “Christie” will refer to her representation as the memoir’s protagonist.

Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life begins with a life-threatening situation. Christie Tate has learned that she is first in her law-school class and concludes that her intense focus on work means that she will die alone. She went into law to completely immerse herself in work because forming relationships was too scary.