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418 reviews for:
The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients
Irvin D. Yalom
4.24 AVERAGE
418 reviews for:
The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients
Irvin D. Yalom
4.24 AVERAGE
Yalom is able to express himself in a way that is unique and touching. His books are always enlightening and never disappointing. I hope to be able to make an impact on my clients (and them an impact on me) in the way that Yalom describes in this book. Therapy is a personal experience that does not lend itself to therapists who are focused on being impersonal. This book gives me hope for our generation of therapists!
4.5 stars. Bursting with insight, inspiring words, and practical examples.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book has profoundly rocked me and influenced my aspiring career as a clinical psychologist. I feel grateful to my friend for showing me and Yalom's approach is something that I strike to achieve.
This was my first time reading Yalom, who has always been considered one of the modern therapy gods within the psychotherapist world. I loved how honest he is when discussing the every day concerns and queries that therapists deal with and reminds you of the normalcy of it. I gave it four stars, due to some of the idealistic ideas I read of his. Currently in 2021, if a therapist sought out to make an effort to physically touch their clients, as he mentions I can certainly see a patient making a complaint to the board. There’s reasons why very few therapists (none, that I presently know) have their office connected to their house anymore, due to boundaries and the fear of being stalked by a client. In other words, it reminded me of a very 80’s-90’s way to deal with clients which would now be considered taboo and frowned upon in the counseling world.
This book is great for anyone who is entering the field of counseling or social work. I found the information in here to be useful and could see myself utilizing a lot of the techniques introduced in the future.
Enjoyable book, even if I'm not a psychologist and I've never visited therapy. Well written, to the point and easy to read. I'll definitely check some of his other books out.
There are a lot of points in this book that really resonate with what I have felt has helped me as a patient to have a great experience in therapy. It is well written, with fantastically succinct chapters that are grouped by themes and treatment times.
That being said, I don't think I would have finished this book if not for it having been assigned to me for schoolwork. Yalom's examples are reminiscent of those you would find in a self-help workbook, and his desire to guide therapists with an oddly end-all and preachy tone irks me.
Good book, perhaps better for someone who is much more interested in the traditional model of psychotherapy.
That being said, I don't think I would have finished this book if not for it having been assigned to me for schoolwork. Yalom's examples are reminiscent of those you would find in a self-help workbook, and his desire to guide therapists with an oddly end-all and preachy tone irks me.
Good book, perhaps better for someone who is much more interested in the traditional model of psychotherapy.
Totally unlike his other collections of therapy-related stories, this is a fairly practical, list-like book of tips for practicing psychotherapists. There aren't as many case studies and much of the advice is boring to a patient or lay person -- how much time to leave between clients, how to take notes on a patient, etc. -- but it's an interesting look into the mind of a therapist.
Since I'll be entering the field of therapy someday, I picked this up just to get a perspective on how to go about treating patients. Yalom is a great writer as well so that made it even more interesting. I feel like a lot of the stuff could be applied to everyday life when dealing with friends and family. Definitely want to pick up some of his other books.