The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients
by Irvin Yalom
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The culmination of master psychiatrist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom's more than thirty-five years in clinical practice, The Gift of Therapy is a remarkable and essential guidebook that illustrates through real case studies how patients and therapists alike can get the most out of therapy. The bestselling author of Love's Executioner shares his uniquely fresh approach and the valuable insights he has gained - presented as eighty-five personal and provocative "tips for beginner therapists," including: show more Let the patient matter to you; Acknowledge your errors; Create a new therapy for each patient; Do home visits; (Almost) never make decisions for the patient; Freud was not always wrong. A book aimed at enriching the therapeutic process for a new generation of patients and counselors, Yalom's Gift of Therapy is an entertaining, informative, and insightful read for anyone with an interest in the subject. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is the latest book by Irvin Yalom, whose books I've been following over the years. From the very first page of the introduction, Yalom's writing is gripping & right to the point. He mentions turning 70 years old, which has made him feel a need to "pass on" his knowledge & some of his experience to younger generations of therapists & patients. This is what he tries to do in this substantial book, a book of tips, long on technique & short on theory (as Yalom himself says).
Each "tip" that Yalom gives comes from years of experience & in most cases, makes perfect sense. Something that should be noted is that his book is not written, I think, for the non-psychologically trained reader. It's aimed towards psychotherapists, & tries to show more steer them in the direction of good choices & good therapeutic work with clients / patients. Most tips may seem like common sense to most psychologists / psychotherapists, but if you think a little bit more about them, most of them are not used as often as they should be. Also, apart from the more obvious tips, Yalom offers a whole range of extremely innovative (& maybe some times controversial) pieces of advice. These chapters alone are, in my opinion, well worth the price of the book, since they make you sit down & think.
All in all, a great reference book for psychotherapists which comes alive through wonderful, clear writing, & lots of lively clinical examples. show less
Each "tip" that Yalom gives comes from years of experience & in most cases, makes perfect sense. Something that should be noted is that his book is not written, I think, for the non-psychologically trained reader. It's aimed towards psychotherapists, & tries to show more steer them in the direction of good choices & good therapeutic work with clients / patients. Most tips may seem like common sense to most psychologists / psychotherapists, but if you think a little bit more about them, most of them are not used as often as they should be. Also, apart from the more obvious tips, Yalom offers a whole range of extremely innovative (& maybe some times controversial) pieces of advice. These chapters alone are, in my opinion, well worth the price of the book, since they make you sit down & think.
All in all, a great reference book for psychotherapists which comes alive through wonderful, clear writing, & lots of lively clinical examples. show less
THE GIFT OF THERAPY is the culmination of master psychiatrist Dr Irvin Yalom's thirty-five years' work as a therapist, illustrating through real case studies how patients and therapists alike can get the most out of therapy. Presented as eighty-five 'tips' for 'beginner therapists', Yalom shares his own fresh approach and the insights he has gained while treating his patients. Personal, and sometimes provocative, Yalom makes some unorthodox suggestions, including: Let the patient matter to you; Acknowledge your errors; Create a new therapy for each patient; Make home visits; (Almost) never make decisions for a patient; and Freud was not always wrong.
This is an entertaining, informative and insightful read for both beginners and more show more experienced therapists, patients, students and everyone with an interest in the subject. show less
This is an entertaining, informative and insightful read for both beginners and more show more experienced therapists, patients, students and everyone with an interest in the subject. show less
An interesting perspective on therapy. Critical of CBT, a defense of Freud, and a guide for practitioners seeking to develop a meaningful human connection with their patients, while also plugging in his own method of existential therapy. With formal training as a cognitive scientist and as a sociologist, part of me rankles at the lack of any systemic basis for his method of therapy (because without that how do you know when you can do better?), but it's a remarkably charming read, nonetheless.
I don't know if I agree with Yalom all the time. Everyone who does this line of work (being a therapist) has their own way of practicing therapy, and needs to have their own way of doing it, at least to the degree that they are being themselves.
That said, this book is full of gems. All the angles are covered. There is nuance to the ideas that are presented, but not without occasional pieces of direct, spot on advice. I'd highly recommend it to any therapist at any point in their careers, or to anyone who is thinking about going to therapy for themselves.
That said, this book is full of gems. All the angles are covered. There is nuance to the ideas that are presented, but not without occasional pieces of direct, spot on advice. I'd highly recommend it to any therapist at any point in their careers, or to anyone who is thinking about going to therapy for themselves.
Quick read about the practice of psychoanalysis. I love taking little peeks into other people's professions and this was perfect for that.
My first Yalom book, and it's clear that he writes with great insight from many years of experience. The advice in here - a series of letters and notes to Clients and therapists alike - are rooted in a profound understanding of the relationship between two people in a room, one of whom is seeking 'answers', the other seeking to help. Practical and engaging.
Interesting in places and humourous in places, Yalom manages to impart his wisdom with an easy writing style.
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Irvin D. Yalom was born in Washington, D.C. on June 13, 1931, of parents who immigrated from Russia shortly after World War I. Yalom entered into medical school intent on studying the field of psychiatry. His first writings were scientific contributions to professional journals. His first book, "The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy" was show more widely used as a text for training therapists. It has been translated into twelve languages and spawned four editions. "Existential Psychotherapy" followed, which was a textbook for a course that did not exist at the time, and then "Inpatient Group Psychotherapy," a guide to leading groups in the inpatient psychiatric ward. In an effort to teach aspects of Existential Therapy, Yalom turned to a literary conveyance and wrote a book of therapy tales called "Love's Executioner", two teaching novels, "When Nietzsche Wept" and "Lying on the Couch" and, "Momma and the Meaning of Life," a collection of true and fictionalized tales of therapy. These books went on to be best sellers, and "When Nietzsche Wept" won the Commonwealth Gold Medal for best fiction of 1993. They have been widely translated,each into about fifteen to twenty languages, and have had considerable distribution abroad. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Epigraph
- It is dark. I come to your office but can't find you. Your office is empty. I enter and look around. The only thing there is your Panama hat. And it is all filled with cobwebs.
- First words
- My patients' dreams have changed.
- Quotations
- The therapist's worldview is in itself isolating. Seasoned therapists view relationships differently, they sometimes lose patience with social ritual and bureaucracy, they cannot abide the fleeting shallow encounters and smal... (show all)l talk of many social gatherings.
test - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We therapists are part of a tradition reaching back not only to our immediate psychotherapy ancestors, beginning with Freud and Jung and all their ancestors - Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard - but also to Jesus, the Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Galen, Hippocrates, and all the other great religious leaders, philosophers, and physicians who have, since the beginning of time, ministered to human despair.
- Disambiguation notice
- Liebe, Hoffnung, Psychotherapie contains only Part 2 of The Yalom Reader and should not be combined with the complete edition.
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- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 616.8914 — Applied Science & Technology Medicine & health Diseases, Allergies, Skin Conditions Nervous Disorders: Autism, Anorexia, OCD Mental disorders: bi-polar/schizophrenia Therapy Psychotherapy
- LCC
- RC480 .Y35 — Medicine Internal medicine Internal medicine Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry Psychiatry Therapeutics. Psychotherapy
- BISAC
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- 19 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Portuguese (Portugal)
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- ISBNs
- 47
- ASINs
- 10