Emotional minds all work alike. It's what's been fed to them that determines lives of either joy and satisfaction or frustration and anxiety - the markers of mental health. Academic knowledge and intellectual levels have little or nothing to do with emotional well-being, by the way, a reality often confounding to therapists.

The famous Talking Cure, the basis of all psychotherapy, is explained from two perspectives: the person lying on the couch and the other seated behind it. The author was both.

Psychoanalysts must be patients (for years) before they can practice. Joyce candidly discusses his personal analysis describing his emotional misfires and their causes. He then uses case studies from his practice explaining the meaning of dreams and the causes of neuroses, depression, relationship problems and other issues that plague the lives of many.

Joyce writes primarily for lay readers but professional therapists can benefit also. Call it a tune-up. Jargon is used sparingly and, when used, is simply explained. Psychoanalysis is mostly common sense.

Talking to the right person, at the right time and about the right topics can be wonderfully transformative, even curative. Joyce's easy to read prose makes that clear.