Cured

Anne McTiernan begins her second memoir in 1982 at age twenty-nine, soon after completing her doctoral training in public health research at the University of Washington. She and her husband are now parents to four-year-old and three-month-old girls. Realizing that jobs in her field are scarce, especially for women, Anne decides the only option for their financial security is to become a medical doctor. Overcoming her fear and life-long struggle with inadequacy, she moves the family 3,000 miles to New York to begin medical school. Within a few months of starting this new life, Anne is in deep trouble. She is overwhelmed by the competing demands of motherhood and medical training and feels isolated. The stress builds, until Anne suffers a series of paralyzing panic attacks that threaten her ability to function. She begins psychotherapy and starts on a journey of self-discovery, realizing she has to change to survive. Cured differs from other physician memoirs in its themes of motherhood, anxiety disorders, and the perspective of a female physician on how she turned adversity into strength and a set of skills.