Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy

Rating:
Summary: Great Insight!
Review: As a therpast in training this book was great! I loved reading about Yalom's version of his therapy sessions. I also enjoyed the fact that he is painfully honest. He does not deny that he is human and is willing to discuss his prejudices and downfalls as a therapist. The stories that he includes are both interesting and touching. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Yalom's lack of self-awareness is appalling
Review: I think the "overweight" woman who Dr. Yalom had a hard time relating to should send him a bill for the "breakthrough" she helped him achieve.

I am reminded of the line from the movie, Dangerous Liasions, "Like most intellectuals, he's intensely stupid."

Rating:
Summary: physician, heal thyself, & look in the mirror too!
Review: i've read dr. yalom's book twice now. i couldn't agree more with the other reviewers who are taken aback by his disgust for his patients. different reviewers admired his "bravery," but i, as a humanist and also someone in the medical profession, think he uses his book almost as anintellectually masturbatory confessional.

i have always been fat and though it is "nice" to know the truth of the contempt that many people hold for fat people, it is difficult to read this coming from a psychotherapist who uses his overweight patient only, it seems, to massage his psyche. i expect more. i expect compassion, empathy, MATURITY, and the ability to accept and even enjoy people's differences. yalom missed the boat here. i wouldn't pay him a dime for analysis. there are so many better, more mature, less projecting, less narcissistic therapists out there. nu, you've been warned! :-)

Rating:
Summary: please? what is wrong with you people?
Review: If any of you reader-critic people think you're encountering a therapist or Doctor or friend who sees you without judgement--then you're simply fooling yourselves. Anyone who pretends they've got no judgement of you is selling you something. Even the holiest of humans judge--I'm sure of it. Get over yourselves--we are limited, we are not perfect. Yalom speaks the truth about his countertransference and that is a gift to all who are involved in the therapeutic enterprise. It is when we deny the shadow that we are in real trouble. Fat may not disgust everyone it is true--but this is Yalom's experience, and this is what he gives us unabashedly. Can you not find it within yourselves to allow him his feelings? Unconditional positive regard can only happen with full acknowledgement of all projections good and bad.

Rating:
Summary: please? what is wrong with you people?
Review: It seems that there's more than a bit of transferance occuring with some of the reviewers here. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions but some of the reviewers here seem to have either missed the point of Dr. Yalom's stories or are simply incapable of seeing past their entrenched prejudices and preconceptions.

Some readers are apparently unable to come to grips with one of the central theses of Yalom's book, which is that the therapist is just as human and prone to error and prejudice as his patients. If anything, Yalom is almost embarrassingly honest about his often extremely negative reactions to many of his patients. He doesn't candy-coat any of it. In this book we get Irvin Yalom, M.D., warts and all, just as he promises in his introduction.

The critics who cannot accept a "human" doctor are symptomatic of the greater societal damand that medical professionals should be (no, MUST be) above all emotion save those of the most magnanimous and saintly variety. We expect doctors to be godlike, above pettiness and messy "unseemly" thoughts and feelings. Bah. Hogwash.

Dr. Yalom's triumph here is the explosion of such myths. He is not St. Yalom, ministering from his pedestal of medical and moral perfection. He is Irvin Yalom the Man, as prone to judgment as any of us. His unflinching self-criticism and honesty -- with his patients, himself, and his readers -- is what makes this such a remarkable book and Yalom such a remarkable therapist.

If you're the sort who feels a psychic need to see doctors as superhuman this book will prove very disturbing to you. Those realistic enough to know this is ridiculous fantasy will be enlightening, entertained, and touched.

Rating:
Summary: Love's Executioner
Review: This book was written by a man of great courage. He has openly and honestly exposed all of his personal and professional weaknesses. As a therapist myself, it was refreshing to read an honest representation of what actually occurs in therapy rather than a self-serving and white-washed version of what happened. The strength of this book is in Yalom's ability to express the intricacies of the therapeutic process, the stages that each therapeutic relationship can go through, and its impact on both therapist and client. Another strength, is Yalom's willingness to openly expose his own therapeutic failures. I have learnt a great deal from him about what actually works in therapy. I have also re-learnt the value of not inflicting one's own biases on one's own clients. This problem can be solved by either resolving one's own issues, or referring the client to someone else who may better suit the client's needs. Yalom openly confronted what occurs when a therapist persists with a client, when they are unable to create an effective therapeutic relationship. No-one is perfect, not even the great Yalom. In exposing his own weaknesses, Yalom risks being misunderstood or even ridiculed. However, by taking this risk, Yalom offers the reader the opportunity to thoroughly examine the therapeutic process itself, what works and what fails for therapists and clients alike. It was a great read, I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This short book contains a lot. Mr. Yalom is well known for his limitless wisdom and research regarding group therapy. This book is very witty and entertaining. What I like most is that the author reveals some of his inner dialogue when working with clients. This is very revealing and refreshing; to know that even therapists have issues and, as any good therapist knows, regularly receive psychotherapy themselves. I would recommend this book to anyone. I don't recall there being any 'psychobabble' or terms that are used exclusively by therapists. Mr. Yalom very simply presents the lives of some very complex people.

Rating:
Summary: "Unconditional Positive Regard"
Review: While I thoroughly enjoyed Yalom's book, I must say I was shocked by his almost continous anger and disgust at his patients. Carl Rogers, father of "empathic listening", states that "unconditional positive regard" in the therapeutic relationship is imperative for the healing relationship. Yalom, on the contrary, finds everything from a woman's weight, to the way a patient licks her lips, as excuses to get angry and feel disgusted at her. Luckily, he is knowleagable enough to know this is countertransferance, and deals with it. Personally, I'd rather have a less judgmental man as a therapist. The book is well written and interesting though, if you can get beyond his own personal biases.