Cured: A Doctor's Journey from Panic to Peace

A pioneering physician and health researcher recounts her perseverance and discovery. Anne McTiernan's memoir begins in 1982, shortly after she completed her PhD in public health research at the University of Washington at the age of twenty-nine. She and her husband are then the parents of a four-year-old and a three-month-old. Realising that working in her field is difficult, especially for women, Anne decides that the only option for their financial security is to become a doctor. Overcoming fear and a lifelong battle with ineptitude, she moves her family 3,000 miles to New York City to begin medical school. Within months of starting her new life, Anne is in serious trouble. She is overwhelmed by the competing demands of motherhood and medical training and feels isolated. Stress builds until Anne suffers a series of paralysing panic attacks that threaten her ability to function. She begins psychotherapy and embarks on a journey of self-discovery, realising that she must change to survive. Cured is a follow-up to her 2016 release Starved and differs from other doctors' memoirs in its themes of motherhood, mental illness and the doctor's perspective on how she turned adversity into strength.