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Title: The Gift of Therapy : An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients by Irvin Yalom ISBN: 0-06-093811-0 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (16 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Pearls of Therapeutic Wisdom
Comment: This is a wonderful collection of short chapters, or at times paragraphs, of tips for therapists gathered from a long and illustrious career of an intelligent and thoughtful psychiatrist.
At times, one wonders if these aren't just common sense; why write about them? But if you're familiar with the sad state of American psychotherapy and its erosion by the modern label-em-and-packege-em health care system along with the frighteningly narcissistic and selfish crop of therapists being turned out, then you'll understand why Yalom's 'Open Letter' is in great need. Freudian psychology and all its subjective claptrap are certainly dead artifacts of the past century, but the compassionate rules of what WORKS in therapy have been captured by Yalom. He's done this before three decades ago in a heavier work called, "Existential Psychotherapy". Yalom deals mainly with the here-and-now, with the full compassion ('with'-'suffering') of another person in helping them find their own path. And as Thomas Paine said "...for what path could be better?"
Yalom brings smart humanity and humbleness to the art of therapy. His little stories are quite enjoyable even if you are not interested in the technique of therapy. His "Open Letter" could've easily been addressed to anyone.

Rating: 5
Summary: Validated, inspired, challenged and entertained
Comment: Twenty years ago when I read Irvin Yalom's Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, I knew that I wanted to be a psychotherapist. These 20 years later, reading The Gift of Therapy, I am reminded that I made an excellent choice.

Irv Yalom's "open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients" speaks to three essential aspects of myself: the psychotherapist, the human being, and the writer.

As a psychotherapist I am validated for thinking outside the traditional boxes and challenged to keep learning with every client I see. Yalom offers everything from specific suggested questions to ask clients to the wisdom of his experience such as "therapy should not be theory-driven, but relationship-driven," and "though the physicality of death destroys us, the idea of death can save us."

As a human being I am reminded that there is seldom --- if ever --- only one valid explanation for how we become who we are. And I am enlightened by Yalom's reminder of Paul Tilich's list of four "ultimate concerns" --- death, isolation, meaning, and freedom.

As a writer I am thoroughly entertained by how Yalom puts a sentence together. For instance, speaking of the importance of dream interpretation in therapy, he writes, "Pillage and loot the dream, take out of it whatever seems valuable, and don't fret about the discarded shell."

Most of all, as I close my now well-worn, underlined and dog-eared copy of Irv Yalom's new book, I am inspired by the man and the psychotherapist who has been, and remains, a hero of mine. (I suppose Irv would consider that literary transference.)

Bottomline: great book for therapists and non-therapists alike.

Rating: 5
Summary: Simple Tips for a Complex Field
Comment: Psychiatrist and Stanford Professor Yalom does it again in this existential psychotheraputic tip sheet designed for counselors and therapists (as well as therapists in training). With more than 80 one- to four- page "chapters" in just 250 pages, it's like having the "therapist's therapist" on your shoulder. This is Yalom's swan song and is grounded in more than thirty-five years of experience in facing life with clients in the here and now. Mazel Tov!

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