Girlhood, Translated

“Understanding girls today is impossible without seeing the culture that shapes them. ‘Therapy speak’ has puzzled parents (me included)—and the impulse to dismiss or overreact is real. Dr. Garfinkle-Crowell explains what it means, why it’s happening, and—importantly—how to respond with nuance and care. She brings seasoned medical guidance, keen cultural insight, and a deep reverence for the girls she treats. This is a voice you can trust and a resource you will rely on throughout your daughter’s young adulthood.”—Rachel Simmons, New York Times bestselling author of Odd Girl Out

“In this excellent book, she weaves together the history of girls and mental health with how girls see and talk about themselves now. Only someone who truly knows young women could write a book this insightful—and she helps the rest of us actually hear what girls are trying to tell us.”—Rosalind Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of Queen Bees and Wannabes

“This fine book by an excellent therapist and writer offers readers a deep understanding of the internal and external problems of girls today. Garfinkle-Crowell takes on the current issue of diagnosis as identity and, with vivid examples, unpacks old problems and new. Best of all, she gives us ideas of how to help girls explore who they truly are and learn to tell their stories with their own true voices. I recommend this book to all who have contact with teenage girls.”—Mary Pipher, New York Times bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North

“Girlhood, Translated is both a brilliant decoding of therapy speak and a compassionate reckoning with what gets lost when the language of mental illness becomes the only language young people have for their inner lives.”—Rachel Aviv, New York Times bestselling author of Strangers to Ourselves

“Smart, compassionate, and bracingly clear, Girlhood, Translated distrusts quick labels while honoring real suffering. It gives parents, teachers, clinicians—and girls themselves—language more spacious than diagnosis. This is the book I want in every home and staff room: case stories with a novelist’s eye, a scientist’s care, and a translator’s ear.”—Peter Fonagy, PhD, award-winning coauthor of Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self

“Girlhood, Translated zaps into focus something you have both known and not known all along. Garfinkle-Crowell writes with respect and care about the complexities girls face, even as she dissects how ‘therapy speak’ undermines the ability to effectively address them. In both insight and action, this book is absolutely indispensable for anyone raising or working with teen girls.”—Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex

“This is a phenomenal, brilliant book, written in a voice that is a delightful trio of funny, wise, and compassionate. It is essential reading for anyone who works with or cares about girls. Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell is in the pantheon of Carol Gilligan, Mary Pipher, and Lisa Damour.”—Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD, author of The Big Disconnect

“A smart, compassionate study of the dangers ‘therapy speak’ poses to youths still learning to articulate their inner worlds . . . Readable and insightful, the book offers much-needed guidance on how girls can move from misunderstood objects to empowered subjects of their own narratives.”—Kirkus Reviews