Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics) [Paperback]

Irvin D. Yalom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000 | Series: Perennial Classics

The collection of ten absorbing tales by master psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter.  In recounting his patients' dilemmas, Yalom not only gives us a rare and enthralling glimpse into their personal desires and motivations but also tells us his own story as he struggles to reconcile his all-too human responses with his sensibility as a psychiatrist.  Not since Freud has an author done so much to clarify what goes on between a psychotherapist and a patient.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 10 tales of personal transformation related by the psychotherapist author, each patient makes some headway in overcoming compulsions, depression, hypertension or whatever--yet each also comes face fo face with larger problems such as the inevitability of death or the existential need to give one's life meaning. "Yalom's humanism shines through in these wise, moving stories," commended PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Irvin D. Yalom, M.D., is the author of The Schopenhauer Cure, Lying on the Couch, Every Day Gets a Little Closer, and Love's Executioner, as well as several classic textbooks on psychotherapy. When Nietzsche Wept was a bestseller in Germany, Israel, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, and Brazil with millions of copies sold worldwide. Yalom is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University, and he divides his practice between Palo Alto, where he lives, and San Francisco, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060958340
• ISBN-13: 978-0060958343
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Therapist, Patient, or Humanist, May 29, 2001

By 

Elderbear (Loma Linda, Aztlan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anybody either undergoing psychotherapy or providing it. Irvin Yalom uses his experience with ten clients to illustrate how people change in therapy. Sometimes the change comes out of brilliant insights, sometimes it comes from the therapist's mistakes. Either way, Yalom's integrity in relating these vignettes helps the reader understand the process better.

If you're not in therapy, perhaps this book will help you understand yourself and your internal processes a bit better. Which of Yalom's patients do you identify with? Which to you totally reject? Either of those patients, and Yalom's treatment of them, has something to teach you.

If you are in therapy, notice how Yalom treats his patients, how he thinks about them. How does this compare to your relationship with your therapist? Do you experience the same challenges, the same caring, the same dynamic? Or do you just show up and whine for an hour?

As a therapist, I found Yalom's work particularly brave. Who would write a book about their mistakes? Yet, from his mistakes, I find myself learning--and also better enabled to learn from my mistakes. Reading Love's Executioner helped to keep me from sitting on that God-like Throne and remember to be a human being with my clients; a fellow sufferer, an ally in the healing process.

And if the idea of therapy seems not to apply to you, then you may simply find this book a fascinating story about how a thoughtful and insightful man deals with the sorrows, wounds, and needs of other human beings. These stories impart a powerful understanding of human relationships, whether you're involved in therapy or not.

Five stars for candor and courage. Five stars for a sharp writing style that holds attention better than most "case studies," and five stars for choosing stories that speak to the depths of people's hearts.

(If you'd like to discuss this book or review, click on the link above to drop me an email. Thanks!)

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love's Executioner, June 14, 2002

By 

Jennifer Barnes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

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!

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a Note, April 6, 2000

By 

"jechlin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love's Executioner, and Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Paperback)

Just wanted to add that I'm sure therapists can learn more about the therapy process by reading this book, and clients can benefit not only from relating to the patients presented in the book -- but _also_, the added insight from getting a feel for the "big picture," of what the therapist is trying to do, can be very helpful to those in the recovery and healing process. One also leaves the stories with a great sense of admiration for Yalom. Yalom does a great job of verbalizing the process of counseling, with its infinite nuances.