--- title: Lena Dunham Not That Kind of Girl: Therapy Sessions New Yorker Excerpt description: The New Yorker excerpted Dunham's upcoming book canonical: https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-25T17:57:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:52.655Z og:title: Lena Dunham Not That Kind of Girl: Therapy Sessions New Yorker Excerpt og:description: The New Yorker excerpted Dunham's upcoming book og:url: https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc99bece3ad9d51ff/6986a0c5810bbb542dc93264/454064758.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Variety And Women In Film Annual Pre-Emmy Celebration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham Not That Kind of Girl: Therapy Sessions New Yorker Excerpt twitter:description: The New Yorker excerpted Dunham's upcoming book twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc99bece3ad9d51ff/6986a0c5810bbb542dc93264/454064758.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lena Dunham's New Book Takes You Inside Her Therapy Sessions  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 25, 2014 5:57 PM UTC  Actress Lena Dunham arrives at Variety And Women In Film Annual Pre-Emmy Celebration at Gracias Madre on August 23, 2014 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic) Actress Lena Dunham arrives at Variety And Women In Film Annual Pre-Emmy Celebration at Gracias Madre on August 23, 2014 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 25, 2014 5:57 PM UTC The _New Yorker_ premiered the first [excerpt](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/difficult-girl) from Lena Dunham’s upcoming memoir, _Not That Kind of Girl,_ on Monday. Fans of the _Girls_ creator and star knew before that she had struggled with mental health problems: her character’s O.C.D. on the show is based on her own personal experiences. But it looks like Dunham’s new book will give readers their first insight into the details of her therapy sessions. “The germophobia morphs into hypochondria morphs into sexual anxiety morphs into the pain and angst that accompany entry into middle school,” Dunham writes. She unpacks her many problems in various therapist’ offices, at school, with her parents and even in hushed tones over the phone with a therapist when lying next to a boy in bed. Dunham invites us, once again, to psychoanalyze her work. Whether it’s in print of on TV, she tempts audiences to judge her and moves defiantly forward when we do. I suppose she’s trying to teach us all a lesson. \[[_The New Yorker_](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/difficult-girl)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham's New Book Takes You Inside Her Therapy Sessions","datePublished":"2014-08-25T17:57:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:52.655Z","description":"The New Yorker excerpted Dunham's upcoming book","url":"https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/","keywords":["Living","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc99bece3ad9d51ff/6986a0c5810bbb542dc93264/454064758.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc99bece3ad9d51ff/6986a0c5810bbb542dc93264/454064758.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Variety And Women In Film Annual Pre-Emmy Celebration","caption":"Variety And Women In Film Annual Pre-Emmy Celebration","creditText":"Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3176381/lena-dunham-new-yorker-book-excerpt/","name":"Lena Dunham's New Book Takes You Inside Her Therapy Sessions"}}]}] ```