How Do You Feel?

“A psychiatrist shines a much-needed light on the mental health challenges that healthcare workers face. With clarity and compassion, Jessi Gold reveals how we can do a better job caring for caregivers.” –Adam Grant, PHD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of HIDDEN POTENTIAL and THINK AGAIN, and host of the podcast WorkLife“Raw and touching… It’s an eye-opener.” -Publisher’s Weekly“In How Do You Feel? Jessi Gold, M.D., opens a compassionate, intelligent portal into the lives of the healthcare workers struggling with their own mental health. Gold’s deep-dive into the human psyches of those who serve others in the healthcare industry illuminates how difficult it is for the helpers among us to get help for themselves. With the perfect blend of stories from her practice, science, and personal narrative, Gold sheds light on the price healthcare workers pay for neglecting themselves and breaks through the stigma that keeps so many of them silent. This book is a salve for anyone facing burnout in any field, and Gold is the best kind of guide: warm, witty, and genuinely invested in other people’s lives. ” —Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group“In this honest, wise, and heart-filled memoir, Jessi Gold reveals what it takes to retain the humanity that medicine so often forces doctors to set aside, and what it means to help yourself while helping others. I loved this book, both as a journalist who has tried to provide a similar kind of service and as a patient who has sought help from therapy.” — Ed Yong, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of An Immense World“How Do You Feel? is a compelling, courageous, and portrait of a psychiatrist.  I’ve never read such an open-hearted and honest account of what it takes to work in mental health care today. This is an ode to the art of clinical care—a paean to empathy. Jessi Gold is a true healer and this book is a gift.“ —Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire“Raw and touching… It’s an eye-opener.” -Publisher’s Weekly“If you’ve ever said “I’m fine” when you weren’t. If you’ve ever been so many things to so many people that you became unavailable to yourself. If you’ve ever believed you were too much, not nearly enough, or somehow, inexplicably, both at once. This book is for you. For us. Jessi Gold’s How Do You Feel? is one of the most human, most reassuring books I’ve ever read about the intersection of mental health, work, medicine, and culture. What a gift.” —Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful“This book will make you laugh, marvel, reflect and grow. Most of all, it will make you feel seen. Whether you’re a healthcare worker, someone who loves one, someone who sees one, or someone who is struggling, Dr. Jessi Gold’s words — and the many intimate stories here, including her own — will be a balm and a guide.” —Lucy Kalanithi, MD, Clinical associate Professor of medicine, Stanford university, and widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air“How Do You Feel? is a thought-provoking exploration of healing and compassion in the face of adversity. Guided by Dr. Gold’s keen insight and sharp writing, we are afforded a rare glimpse into psychiatry’s inner sanctum. Dr. Gold has an extraordinary understanding of the human condition, and her empathy emanates from the pages. A must-read.”—Jen Gunter, MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Menopause Manifesto and The Vagina Bible “In How Do You Feel, Dr. Gold manages the seemingly impossible. She gently brings healthcare workers into conversation with our sometimes complicated inner worlds, and does this with wisdom, humor and candor. She lovingly nudges us to awareness and acknowledgement of the immense emotional load we’ve carried and holds space for our collective reflection. Ultimately she calls on us to do the most radical thing imaginable: to care for ourselves even as we care for others. A true game-changer, moving conversations about caregiver mental health into an exciting, new and generative space.” —Rana Awdish, MS MD Author of In Shock“This is an important book…for healthcare workers, especially physicians, to read and understand that their messy internal lives are normal…and because Dr. Gold’s, dare I say, Jessi’s humanity, and by extension, the humanity of healthcare workers everywhere, is apparent, relatable, and just so likeable.   This book pierces the armor of the white coat to the very human heart beating within.” –Stef Simmons, MD, CMO, Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation

Jessi Gold, MD, MS, is the Chief Wellness Officer of the University of Tennessee System and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She is a fierce mental health advocate and highly sought-after expert in the media on everything from burnout to celebrity self-disclosure. Dr. Gold has written widely for the popular press, including for The New York Times, The Atlantic, InStyle, Slate, and Self. In her clinical practice, she sees health care workers, trainees, and young adults in college. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (with a degree in anthropology), the Yale School of Medicine, and the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, she spends her free time traveling with her friends, watching live music (especially Taylor Swift) or mindless television, and on walks with her dog, Winnie. Find her on X, Instagram, TikTok, or Threads @DrJessiGold.