Book Review: Sexy but Psycho - Dr Jessica Taylor

“Sexy But Psycho” is a fierce and necessary examination of how services and institutions label, silence, and pathologise women — particularly those who have experienced trauma. Jessica Taylor writes with clarity and conviction, exposing the long-standing tendency to view women’s distress as manipulation or madness rather than a response to harm.

This book invites us to look beyond diagnostic shorthand and see the context behind the coping. It challenges the reflexive use of terms like “attention-seeking,” “volatile,” or “borderline” — labels that often say more about system discomfort than the person standing in front of us.

Taylor’s argument is not anti-diagnosis; it is pro-humanity. She asks clinicians to be curious about what shaped someone’s patterns before deciding what those patterns mean. In doing so, she advocates for an approach many trauma-informed practitioners recognise instinctively: behaviour is communication, not pathology.

Where the book shines is in its unflinching critique of gendered responses to mental health. Women are often sexualised and punished for their pain, their resilience reframed as manipulation, their survival strategies treated as disorder. Taylor names this clearly, giving voice to many who have felt misunderstood — or harmed — by the systems designed to help them.

As a clinician, this book is a reminder that diagnosis without context is rarely care. It reinforces the importance of attunement, informed consent, and relational safety — especially when supporting people who have been dismissed or disbelieved in the past.

“Sexy But Psycho” won’t speak for every experience of mental health services, and readers may differ on aspects of its conclusions. But its core message is essential:

People are not their labels.

Their behaviours have origins — and often those origins are trauma.

Taylor’s writing encourages us to keep our minds sharp, our ethics firm, and our hearts open. For psychologists working in trauma, personality, and relational complexity, this book is not just relevant — it is a call to do better.