The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy [Hardcover]

Irvin Yalom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1975

Hailed by Jerome Frank as "the best book that exists on the subject, today and for the foreseeable future". Yalom's The Theory and Practice of Group P sychotherapy has long been the standard text in its field. In this completely revised and expanded third edition, Dr. Yalom presents the most recent developments in the field, drawing on nearly a decade of new research as well as his own broad clinical wisdom and experience. In addition to entirely new material, the author has updated the style and content of the chapters, while retaining valid research and clinical observations. Illustrating the text are cases from nearly 2,000 group sessions that he has led over the past decade. "Lucid, focused, and in a word superb!"--Myron F. Weiner, Univ. of Texas Health Sciences Center. Tables, Notes and Index.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Extremely reader-friendly...an almost automatic recommendation for the person about to conduct his first group'. British Journal of Psychotherapy 'A delight to read: a most important and enriching book for anyone practicing group therapy or counselling on either side of the Atlantic'. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling" --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Irvin D. Yalom, M.D., is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was the recipient of the 1974 Edward Strecker Award and the 1979 Foundation's Fund Prize in Psychiatry. He is the author of When Nietzche Wept (winner of the 1993 Commonwealth Club gold medal for fiction), Love's Executioner, Every Day Gets a Little Closer (with Ginny Elkin), and the classic textbooks Inpatient Group Psychotherapy and Existential Psychotherapy.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 529 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 2nd edition (October 21, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046508446X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465084463
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,520,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Group Therapy "Bible", June 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (Hardcover)

No lengthy explanation needed here. I am a graduate counseling psychology student with a particular interest and experience in groups. We refer to this particular Yalom book as the group therapy "bible," since it pretty much contains everything you could ever need to know about the basics of running therapy (and even support) groups. This is one of very few books I've had to read for school that I actually couldn't STOP reading--it's that good. My professor for this course has been doing groups for over 20 years and says she still refers back to this book for insight when leading her groups. Also check out Yalom's book on existential therapy! There is some case study overlap with the group book, but it's another favorite. And don't let the size of this book intimidate you. You won't be able to put it down! Yalom is the man . . . Happy reading!

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, July 11, 2001

By 

MISTY ALLEN (Monrovia, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (Hardcover)

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!

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless, January 18, 2005

By 

Sophia Bezirganian "Bibliosophy" (NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (Hardcover)

Yalom's techniques are timeless, as long as human nature and how it plays out in social interactions transcends time and place. Thus, decades after publication, this book of group therapy lives on, whereas others, more faddish, are either narrowly focused on sufferers of the "disease of the year", or, in the case of "pragmatic", short-term "manual-based" groups which insurance companies favor, assume that all one has to do is give the patient the right recipe and 8 weeks to practice it, and they'll be cured of life-long ingrained pathological behaviors.
Anyone who thinks this book is "out of touch" or demonstrates a lack of empathy by Yalom, probably has a pet style of group therapy, and an axe to grind. Often, seemingly more empathic therapists, run groups in which everyone takes turns getting sympathy, distress is "validated", whereas the patient's contribution to it is ignored, and the premise is that sufferers are misunderstood victims of a neglected disease who are finally in the hands of someone who "gets it". Usually therapists who lead such groups, don't only wish to empathize, but are driven by a wish to feed their own vision of their specialness as the champions of the underdogs.
One of Yalom's greatest contributions is the effectiveness with which he used the group approach to exactly show patients how they cause their own distress--by creating a group atmosphere in which members play out their poor social skills, and get the powerful impact of peer feedback on this. He did so in a way which demonstrated genuine empathy in action: by steering members to identify (and empathize) not only with each others' misery, but with each others' strengths. Sympathy without a kick in the [...], is patronizing, and implies inequality. Sympathy with a kick in the [...] (always best given by peers), is sympathy with belief in your power--this shows respect for all of you, your strengths and your miseries. THIS is empathy. THIS is what empowers group members to overcome their problems. And this truth, will never go out of date.