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  • Published: 13 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9789815144062
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • RRP: $29.99

Rethink The Couch

Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist




Get a gripping glimpse into the therapy room and most powerful boardrooms in Asia in this first-ever self-help collection of essays by an expatriate therapist from New York City

In more than a decade as a psychotherapist to some of Asia’s most powerful couples and businesspeople, expat New Yorker Allison Heiliczer has seen it all.
In Rethink The Couch: Into the Bedrooms and Boardrooms of Asia with an Expat Therapist, Heiliczer brings readers into her therapy room and engagements with such clients: the Singaporean maneater with a portfolio comparing the endowments—physical and financial—of her expat lovers; the wealthy Chinese litigator in thrall to a feng shui master; the entrepreneur trying to treat his own ADHD; the Indonesian-Chinese businessman who faced a reckoning when his multiple unzipperings were exposed, and many others.
But, this is no exposé. Part East-meets-West expat journey, part self-help deliberation, this collection of personal narratives explores the influence cultural backgrounds have on work and relationships and sheds light on stigmas that still surround divorce, therapy, mental health, and more today in Asia. Asia may lag the West in this regard—for now—but there is a quiet revolution afoot and Heiliczer is at the vanguard.
From toxic offices and complex relationships, boardroom power and bedroom failure, doomed marriages and ill-advised affairs, workaholism, loneliness, lies; these are struggles more common than many of us care to admit. Heiliczer lays them all bare through the prism of culture and is expert in understanding what makes those embroiled in them tick.
This book aims to encourage readers to face their pain and goals, leaving them feeling seen, understood, and transformed.

  • Published: 13 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9789815144062
  • Imprint: PRH SEA
  • Format: Paperback
  • RRP: $29.99

About the author

Allison Heiliczer (Edited by Sylvia Yu Friedman)

Allison Heiliczer is an American therapist who has been living in Asia for over a decade. She works with individuals and couples in person in Singapore and clients around the world virtually. Heiliczer was the former Head of Corporate Psychology at OT&P’s clinics in Hong Kong.

While the hundreds of individuals and couples she has supported in clinical and private practice settings face various challenges, the common thread is they are navigating relationship and work issues. She also specializes in guiding through intricate cultural layers with couples, corporates, and individuals.

She graduated summa cum laude from New York University (NYU) with a Bachelor of Science, a master’s also from NYU, and a second Master’s in Counselling from Monash University (Australia). Heiliczer is the first therapist in Asia to be certified in Relational Life Therapy (RLT), a transformative form of couple’s therapy, pioneered by New York Times bestselling author Terry Real. In addition, she is an ICF-certified coach and has offered extensive coach trainings with executives and at leading multinational corporations.