Disappointing and vaguely uncomfortable.
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I fell on yet another of Yalom's books when I saw it in the bookshop, even though the original publication date was 1974. I wonder if Yalom had any choice in whether it should be reprinted? Surely he would have at least attached a new foreword to this edition? I guess things were a lot more fluid in those days but I had real trouble coming to terms with the whole arrangement with Ginny. He waives payment in lieu of her submitting a write up of her thoughts after each session (itself an odd situation, or am I just jealous?. This costs him nothing because any cash payment would have gone to the organisation which pays him a full salary. So, really he is getting more out of this arrangement than he would if she paid cash and he is aware that he hasn't fully explained all this to Ginny). He also writes up each session and every six months they put the reports together and read them. Publication is obviously in his mind from the beginning though Ginny has the right of veto - supposedly. How likely is it that she would refuse him? The write-ups are headed 'Dr Yalom' and 'Ginny' further underlining the power difference. The part that feels most uncomfortable is that Ginny gets to read all his honest thoughts mid-therapy, and I'm not sure that it's always helpful to her. Neither does he take care to prepare her for things that may be hard for her to hear, for example, that he's already shown her reports to another therapist, albeit before finding out that she happens to know this person outside. The boundaries are confused here. And I'm not convinced (as he is) that she makes such enormous improvements. He decides on an appropriate time to terminate when he's going away for 3 months, but she has very little choice in the matter, and I don't think she would have finished there. The story I would like to read, 25 years on, is Ginny's reflective account on all this. Or at least Yalom's reflections. He comes across much more insightful in his other books, and much less self-serving. Maybe the value in this book is in comparison with his later work - we see how much he grew as a therapist?
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Step by step towards self-esteem
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This book and others by Yalom changed my life. I would suggest reading it to every person ( especially young women) having self-esteem problems. I find Yalom extremely intelligent,warm,subtle.He uses simple language to deal with the deepest topics.Since he is great,he does not need to use jargon.
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Interesting, but not one of Yalom's best.
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This is an interesting book that allows the reader to exprience the approach of a master therapist during the actual process of psychotherapy. I found Dr Yalom's summary especially useful. In this summary he describes the rationale of his therapeutic method and helps the reader see his therapeutic interventions in a new light. On the other hand, I found myself bored at various parts of the book, mainly due to the repetitiveness of the material.
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Fantastic Insight
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The story told from two perspectives was riveting and insightful. I couldn't put it down!
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A peek into a very private world
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For anyone who has ever wondered what it is like inside the therapy session of another person, or how successful psychotherapy works, this is an extremely satisfying book. For another wonderful book with answers to these questions, (for which Dr. Yalom wrote a foreword) read "Inside Therapy," which collects the writing of a number of author/therapists about what goes on in the therapist's mind, the patient's mind and how the process works.
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