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Existential Psychotherapy | 
 enlarge | Author: Irvin D. Yalom
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $54.00
Buy New: $45.90
You Save: $8.10 (15%)
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Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 20063
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 524
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 0465021476
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.89
EAN: 9780465021475
ASIN: 0465021476
Publication Date: December 7, 1980
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The noted Stanford University psychiatrist distills the essence of a wide range of therapies into a masterful, creative synthesis, opening up a new way of understanding each person's confrontation with four ultimate concerns: isolation, meaninglessness, death, and freedom.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 educational and fun December 17, 2008
whj
Mr. Yalom is a talented writer and in this book, he makes this rather serious sounding subject easily understandable and fun to read. His psychotherapy is very patien-oriented and humanistic, no nonsense type. I have read several of his books including fictions, and all of them are quite poignant.
 A Classic in the Field August 11, 2008
Dan Herak (South Florida, U.S.A.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first thing that must be said about EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY is that it is not merely for professionals. The books is packed with insights and intelligent ideas for anyone with a bit of introspection. Irvin Yalom also has a very readable writing style. This should not be a surprise, as he has written both fiction and non-fiction books for the lay audience.
Yalom follows in the footsteps of Rollo May, the father of American existential therapy. May, however, did not view the existential perspective to be inconsistent with Freudianism. Indeed, May was, for years, the director of the William Alanson White Institute in New York City, a psychoanalytic institute. Yalom breaks with May on this point, establishing existential psychotherapy as a theoretical paradigm substantively distinct from psychoanalysis. Yalom does an excellent take down of Freud in this section, re-analyzing Freud's own case studies along existential lines to demonstrate that existentialism does a better job than traditional psychoanalysis of explaining certain patient's neurosis and dysfunction.
EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY explores four `givens' of existence, all of which press upon and influence our personalities, for better or worse. Of these, Yalom clearly sees the inevitability of death as the most fundamental. Several chapters of the book are devoted to man's knowledge that, at some point, we die. And although we may have individual beliefs about what may happen after death, they are exactly that - beliefs. We simply do not know if we continue past that point or not.
A second theme Yalom explores is isolation. There are several types of isolation, but, for instant purposes, the most relevant is existential isolation. No matter how close one is to another human being, no matter how many emotions or thoughts are shared, each one of us is, ultimately, alone. Alone to face his own death. Alone to take responsibility for his own life. Yalom taps into the works of various theologians for his exploration of this concept and the implications for our lives.
Next we have responsibility, which is inseparable from existential freedom. A distinction is drawn between existential freedom and political freedom or other types of freedom. Certainly, many aspects of our lives are not the result of free choice. At the most basic level, none of us chose to be born a particular race or sex. None of us would choose to be put into a concentration camp. But we are free to take responsibility for those choices that we have had up to this point in our lives, and we are also responsible for the stance we take towards our lives. This freedom is more psychologically deep than many people may think of when they think of responsibility. Of the four themes Yalom explores, this is probably the hardest one to really grasp.
Finally, we have meaninglessness. Life does not present us with its meaning (if there really is one) on a silver platter. Rather, we must construct meaning itself. Of course, for many, this takes the form of religion. But a secular meaning to life is also possible. Yalom borrows heavily from psychiatrist Victor Frankl in these sections, who considered the search for meaning to be of such importance that he named his system of therapy after it. (On a related note, an excellent fictional account of someone suffering from a lack of meaning in his life can be found in The Sunset Limited, a short play by Cormac McCarthy.)
EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY is as readable as it is thought provoking. There are many classics to choose from in man's exploration of the mind. This book is among the best.
Essential Reading for Philosophers, Parents and Psychology Students August 10, 2007
E. Grey
I first picked up this book for a university assignment on Irvin Yalom and was amazed that I had got through an undergrad degree in psychology without hearing about him. This book is so interesting and accessible and I immediately clicked with his ideas and approach. Yalom comes across as very knowledgeable, explaining and challenging theories of psychology and how they support or contrast to the existential approach. He offers much practical advice and food for thought. The book is very enlighting for parents in regards to how children perceive and deal with death. There has not been enough written on that subject. I have almost finished reading the book and when I do I plan to start reading it all over again.
A psychotherapy practice could be built on this book! October 5, 2006
Jorge Munoz-Bustamante (Miami, FLorida)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have recommended this book to one client who found it extremely useful as a means of managing his fear of death. Yalom's idea that the fears associated with the existential concerns of isolation, freedom, death, and sense of purpose form part of our subconscious-conscious dynamics is brilliant and original. He makes the argument that the anxieties associated with these concerns form a very early part of our experience and that they're repressed when the newborn is taught that it is not OK to experience these fears because he/she is either "special" or protected by a higher power, such as God. He states that the existential crises challenge these defenses creating depression, panic attacks, and other disorders. He develops these and many other useful notions all throughout the book. It is a long but fairly easy and clear read. If you're stymied by the length of the book you could start with his "The Gift of Therapy". Enjoy!
Not morbid in the least September 27, 2006
Roy W. Zornow (New York, NY USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Yalom points out that people often use one of two opposite methods for quelling death-anxiety: the "myth of specialness" in which a person places themselves outside of humanity so as not to die, and the myth of an ultimate rescuer, where a person clings to the idea of a savior to whom they can be subjugated. Both are dysfunctional. Other than saying that love ameliorates but does not eliminate death-anxiety, Yalom fails to offer a construct for balancing inward and outward-directed methods of dealing with that most terrible of all prospects, one's personal annihilation.
Although Dr. Yalom addresses existential guilt, defined as the guilt from failing to lead a self-actualized life, he does not address the emotional fallout that may stem from the human situation of needing to "kill to live", the fact that on some level the natural state of man's existence incorporates murdering other creatures. I would also have enjoyed learning more about how, on a personal level, one can overcome the isolating forces inherent in a competitive society, and why no less the direct experience of another's death is, in many cases, insufficient to motivate movement towards a more integrated way of functioning in the world.
The fact that Dr. Yalom has stimulated these critical thoughts is a tribute to the rich quality of insights his book offers. Throughout the book he intersperses valuable bits of wisdom. I paraphrase: "exhortation rarely works with a patient", "typical of a person who claims to feel unloved is an unwillingness to love", "when a patient begins to make an important revelation, the best way to encourage it is to make a meta-comment on the circumstances that surround the revelation, for example how it makes the patient feel, rather than on the subject matter itself."
"Existential Psychotherapy" does what all great books do, it intimately brings the reader into an environment they might not otherwise be able to visit, in this case his conversations and therapy sessions with dying patients. Despite the "morbid" nature of the topic, I closed the final page enriched.
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