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The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients
Books: Text Books: Psychotherapy: Item 7
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The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patientsby Irvin Yalom
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107 of 109 people found the following review helpful: Bite Sized Therapy Nugs, November 18, 2005 Reviewer:Marc S. Libman (Brookline, MA) - Psychiatry residency is challenging in a different way than other medical specialties. Medical school prepares you for the medical aspects of psychiatry, specifically the neuroscience and pharmacology. But for therapy, medical schools barely touch on it. Things that help are being in therapy yourself, or having at least been in therapy, as well as seeking out really good supervision. Good books help too. But picking up those first couple patients is scary and the PGY-2 year is too exhausting to spend hours and hours reading up on the art of therapy. Yalom's "The Gift of Therapy" was given to me by one of my chief residents during my PGY-2 year and was very helpful. I've since had time to read more of Yalom's works and have enjoyed many of his therapeutic tales as well as his group therapy primer, but for where I was at that time, "The Gift of Therapy" was just what the doctor ordered. The key is extremely short chapters. It's a book that can be by the bedside (or stuffed in a white coat pocket if that's your style) and read just a couple of pages at a time. Some chapters focus on nuts-and-bolts everyday issues but what is particularly helpful are the chapters that give the flavor of the process. Many of the chapters help to reinforce the `it's all grist for the mill' notion, that there are few true mistakes, that almost anything you do in therapy creates opportunities and provides data on how the patient reacts and relates. This is an important concept and also, for me, alleviated some of the anxiety of being a new therapist. It's much better to approach outpatients with enthusiasm as opposed to angst, and no doubt patients can feel that difference as well. I also very much appreciate Yalom's attitude about not adhearing to a particular model or modality of therapy, but the recognition that different situations call for different approaches, that flexibility is the greatest tool for the therapist. Nothing turns me off more than hearing analysts knock cognitive behavioral therapy or vice versa, just to pick an obvious example. Before my medicine days, I studied Anthropology, and it was this very same kind left me bored and disenchanted. The majority of people's energy went into "deconstructing" other people's ideas rather than contributing something positive and helpful. Yalom emphasizes that certain discrete symptoms are best treated with CBT type approaches, some questions call for an existential approach, sometimes analytic techniques are best, and so on. Especially in training, the focus should be on acquiring as many tools as possible, staying flexible, and maintaining an open mind. He also models the importance of continually refocusing on the here-and-now and counter-transference. These may be rudiments, but early on in training it can't be overemphasized. Especially coming from a western medical model, these fundamental concepts tend not to come naturally. So this book is exactly what you need as a PGY-2: good, light reading that is also helpful, instructive, and helps generate some confidence and enthusiasm towards outpatient work.
Product Review
Speaking directly to the current generation of counselors, The Gift of Therapy lays out simple suggestions that blend personal experience with professional objectivity. This is a book that will remind you why you entered the field in the first place. With tips on avoiding diagnosis (except for insurance purposes), when to disclose personal information, and why it's important to leave time between patient appointments, the recommendations are aimed at therapists, but they may be useful to patients who want to know what to expect from their counselors. Some references to the DSM-IV may be a little over the layperson’s head, but in general the writing is clear and understandable for lay readers as well as professionals.
Each chapter is just a few pages long, a nice format for busy folks whose reading time occurs in snippets. A single topic is addressed in each chapter, and author Irvin Yalom doesn't waste any time in getting to the point. Many of the sections revolve around balancing the "magic, mystery, and authority" that come with the job of freeing your clients of their reliance on you.
From when to offer an occasional hug to finding the perfect time for deeper questioning, Yalom's experienced observations will help you achieve even greater professional effectiveness while avoiding some of the more obvious traps in this HMO-directed age of mental health care. --Jill Lightner
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
If the future of psychotherapy lies in psychopharmaceuticals and the short-term therapies stipulated by HMOs, argues Yalom, then the profession is in trouble. Yalom, the recipient of both major awards given by the American Psychiatric Association, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Stanford and the author of both fiction and nonfiction volumes about psychotherapy, writes this book in response to that crisis. Based on knowledge gained from his 35 years of practice, the resulting book of tips (a "gift" for the next generation of therapists) is an enlightening refutation of "brief, superficial, and insubstantial" forms of therapy. Yalom, who references Rilke and Nietzsche as well as Freud's protege Karen Horney and the founder of client-centered therapy, Carl Rogers, describes therapy as "a genuine encounter with another person." He suggests that therapists avoid making DSM IV diagnoses (except for insurance purposes), since these "threaten the human, the spontaneous, the creative and uncertain nature of the therapeutic venture." He also encourages psychotherapists to use dream analysis, group therapy and, when appropriate, wholly inventive forms of treatment. Traditionalists will probably squirm at some of his suggestions (particularly "Revealing the Therapist's Personal Life" and "Don't Be Afraid of Touching Your Patient"). Other tips, though, such as "Never Be Sexual with Patients" are no-brainers. Although the book dies somewhat in the second half, and not much here is new, the wise ideas are perfectly accessible. (Jan.)Forecast: Yalom has explored many of these ideas before. His followers will certainly be charmed, and newcomers patients as much as therapists may be won over by his openness and tender tone.
Copyright 2001 Cahners business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Shop Bookstores:
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