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Summary: Entire Premise Skewed Toward Extroversion
Review: As a former hospital chaplain, mental health therapist, and one-time patient, I am greatly put off by the author's assumptions and arrogance concerning group therapy. His attempts to "bring out" and "socialize" Highly Sensitive Personalities, Introverts and those with Schizo-social disorders borders on criminal. Starting with p.231, the author spins a rather slanted bias in favor of extroversion, brashly assuming that introverted patients need "fixed" if they are to be productive and happy in a group therapy environment. Such gross insensitivity and ignorance is unfortunate, misleading, and inexcusable in a scholarly text such as this.
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Summary: A Veritable Masterpiece!
Review: Dr. Yalom's book is not only a veritable masterpiece, but a tour de force that deals with everything you ever wanted to know about group psychotherapy. Comprehensive without being pedantic, thorough without being dense, Dr. Yalom puts the group process under a magnifying glass and, in straightforward easy-to-understand language and conceptualization, gently guides the student through all of the subtlties and nuances of group work. I had to purchase this book for use as the main text in a group process course, but this book will remain on my shelf long after I have taken the course. Dr. Yalom's keen insight into not just how/why groups behave and function the way they do, but also his insight into basic human nature, has made this book very enjoyable as well as educational.
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Summary: A very informative book
Review: I am currently using this for class and it is a very good book. Yalom, explains the process of group work and what aspect of the process works and what doesn't. You will be able to use what you read in this book with your own groups. Expects some laughs because there's a lot of humor also. You won't be bored.
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Summary: A valuable resource
Review: I have used Irvin Yalom's text for three years as a companion to a process-oriented ten week group experience for undergraduate psychology students. The students have complained of Yalom's exceptional vocabulary and historical and literary allusions, but some have apparently managed to read the parcels I've assigned and have reported appreciating the wonderful vision and breadth of Yalom's novel-like presentation.
I enjoyed this book immensely as a graduate student of counseling and have found it to be a wonderful resource. It has been very enjoyable to watch my students see Yalom's principles get played out in our demonstration group and it has been gratifying to see these forces affect my clients therapeutically even with the limitations of managed care. In fact, I would say that Yalom's existential leanings are very consistent with strength-based, solution-focused psychotherapy.
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Summary: The 'bible' of group therapy
Review: I read this book for one of my college courses (group therapy) and cannot express my gratitude for having come across this book. Mr. Yalom dissects and explains nearly all imaginable aspects of group process, from before the first meeting to well after termination. Beyond that, he provides wonderful insight into human behavior. This information is invaluable to me. I agree that it should be required reading for anyone seeking a profession in human services. Yalom is the man!!
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Summary: BORED TO TEARS
Review: It is about time Yalom stopped expending his already out of touch books on group therapy. His first edition was an asset in the beginning development of group therapy but his many editions are just another way of selling books. In many cases his more recent editions give graduate students an unrealistic and often out of touch perspective on group psychotherapy. One only has to watch one of Yalom's group therapy videos to really see the detachment and lack of feeling this man produces in his work. The book was a bore but there will always be those groupies through cognitive disonance who will aplaud its great contribution. I feel sorry for the clients who come to their groups if they model themselves after Yalom. Sort of similar to all those Benjamin Spock babies running around after their mothers raised their kids by his book and are now completely neurotic.
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Summary: A Very Simple Review
Review: Nobody should do group psychotherapy without reading this book.
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Summary: A learning experience
Review: Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy by Dr. Yalom is an excellent book from which to gain knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of group process and also and essential piece of literature to keep at hand as a valuable reference book. This is the book that should be part of the therapy room equipment. I found this book to be pretty comprehensive and well written. Each chapter unfolds in a refined, detailed, manner providing depth in understanding every step of the process of group therapy. Yalon goes beyond reminding us of the importance of the therapeutic environment to provide a safe and warm place to facilitate sharing and disclosing. He expands from his theoretical framework to explain group dynamics in practical, concrete, ways through the use of terminology from other philosophical views and perspectives. He also stresses the need for therapists to strive to create a therapeutic culture in which the group and individual members can begin to take the roles they play in their natural environments. His whole approach to the process of group therapy is existential emphasizing on the "Here and now" and focusing on what is going on in the immediate present of the group. Evidence of his existential approach can be seen throughout the book with his consistent theme of interpersonal learning, self-exploration, self-growth, and taking responsibility for changing one's behavior to enhance personal life. Yalon provides answers to the questions he anticipates his readers may have. Questions such as regarding the creation of a group, and probable problems encountered during the course of different phases of group therapy. He goes on to explain in a detailed, specific manner, different variables that may influence the success of the group. He also provides possible solutions to these problems and transmits to the reader a sense of faith on the success of the group, and the process of the group learning experience. An important aspect, that yalon neglected when writing this book, is cultural diversity. It appears that the results of the research mentioned in his book can not be generalized to populations other than white, middle class adults, who are at a certain intellectual level of functioning, and who are motivated to work to change. Other than that, this book is an excellent resource book "To keep and to hold till'..." another better book comes along and "Do us apart"..
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Summary: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
Review: This book is one that every graduate student in psychology or beginning therapist should read and have on their shelf. Yalom covers and discusses many important aspects of group therapy such as interpersonal learning, basic thearpist tasks, the idea of working in the here-and-now, therapist transference and transparency, selection of patients, creating a group, problem patients and training the group therapist. Yalom addresses this book to new therapists just starting out, as well as therapists who have been in the field for some time. Yalom presents the new therapist with the many considerations that need to be looked at when forming a group and actually leading a group and he assists the therapists who have been in the field for some time with ways in which to sharpen or improve their skills. Yalom's book appears to be based on highly functioning upper middle class individuals who seem to have good jobs and relationships with their family, friends and spouses. One may gather this assumption from the clinical vignettes and cases that Yalom presents throughout the entire book. Yalom incorporates much of his own practical experience with individuals in the groups that he has led himself, which makes his book feel like you are reading a novel and not a textbook per se. Although Yalom based his book on highly functioning upper middle class individuals, he never addressed the idea of group therapy with children or individuals of different ethnic backgrounds, which seem to be two important areas in today's society, especially within the realm of therapy. Yalom incorporates a rigorous research base within his text, such as discussing some of the current treatment modes and the diagnostic criteria for managed care, which other authors tend to maybe leave out or not touch upon, in essence leading the reader to believe that what Yalom speaks about is true, factual and practical when referring to group therapy. Although Yalom conducted an extensive amount of research on the area of managed care, I do not think it is possible for an individual to be covered by a managed health care or insurance company for a group that is conducted over a one to two year period, as Yalom presents in some of his clinical vignettes. One thing that I think Yalom has done that other authors have not is present the reader with twelve variables that he refers to as "therapeutic factors," (i.e. instillation of hope, universality, altruism, and group cohesiveness) which in essence are the driving tools and elements that assist therapy groups with rectifying individual character distortions. Yalom's book assisted our graduate psychology class in gaining an immense amount of insight and depth into the area of group therapy in such a short amount of time. Yalom's book is one that should be included in all graduate programs in psychology!
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Summary: The Master of Group Psychotherapy
Review: Yalom's revolutionary book is essential reading for the graduate student in counseling. It provides a comprehenive guide to the group experience, form the beginning to the end, and everywhere in between. It includes how one would create a group, problems to expect and practical solutions to these problems. The book does not read as a typical textbook, but as a novel.The authors style is informative but not laden with jargon. The high readability is also due to the fact that Yalom includes real-life examples throughout the entire book. This helps the reader to apply theory to situations that will be encountered in the course of conducting group therapy. Each chapter is outlined explicitly, which helps with future referencing. The most practical knowledge gained from reading this book is the emphasis on the here and now process of group therapy. This is an aspect often overlooked by new group therapist. The explanation of group process demystifies the group experience and explains how groups are beneficial to the members participating in them. This book is also practical in that it gives an explanation of all possible pitfalls encountered in the group setting, including problem patients and attrition in the group. The author helps the reader to know what to expect and how to handle problems when they arise. While this book was an extraordinary guide to the group experience, there were a few shortcomings. First of all, the book was based on outpatient groups that Yalom led and supervised at Stanford University, which might not be applicable to all of the population. The reader is advised to take this into account when reading the book. Also, the groups were all long-term, sometimes lasting several years. In reality, this may not be a practical occurrence, as therapist may have trouble finding members that will commit themselves to such a long term group. There were two major aspects of group therapy that needed more attention in the book. First, cross cultural issues were not discussed. This is an extremely iimportant aspect of all therapy, and it was not addressed here. It is questionable that all the results presented in this book would apply to multi-cultural situations. In addition, brief therapy groups were rarely mentioned in this book. in reality, therapists will probably conduct homogeneous brief therapy groups much more often in the course of their careers. The author included a chapter on the encounter group that was popular in previous decades but is rarely used anymore. It would have been more fruitful to address the brief therapy group and omit the encoounter group. Despite these shortcomings, this book is of extreme value to the new therapist. It includes all aspects of group behaviior and answers the readers' questions before the are even asked. It should be mandatory reading material for all graduate students before they lead their first groups.
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