Its a near-universal experience among mental health practitioners: a patient drops a bombshella critical disclosure that moves the treatment forwardon their way out, with a hand on the doorknob. This doorknob moment creates a stressful dilemma for clinicians, especially when the patient is distraught. Should the clinician end the session on time, or run over and be late for the next patient?

Here, seasoned psychiatrist Daniela V. Gitlin provides clinicians with a clear, evidence-based answer. By conceptualising the functional differences between patient and therapist in the treatment relationship as a metaphor for the functional differences between right and left cerebral hemispheres, Gitlins argument yields a comprehensive explanation for why doorknob moments occur, why they are necessary to prevent treatment stagnation, and why ending on time makes patients feel safer to deliver them.