This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“But even more intriguing was the riddle of why he chose to revisit Philip. Of all his old patients, why choose Philip to lift out of deep memory storage? Was it simply because his therapy had been so dismally unsuccessful? Surely there was more to it than that. After all, there were many other patients he had not helped. But most of the faces and names of the failures had vanished without a trace. Maybe it was because most of his failures dropped out of therapy quickly; Philip was an unusual failure in that he had continued to come. God, how he continued! For three frustrating years he never a missed session. Never late, not one minute – too cheap to waste any paid time. And then one day, without warning, a simple and irrevocable announcement at the end of an hour that this was his last session.” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 3, Page 29
“”There’s no true contradiction,” Philip replied instantaneously. “One can be a competent therapist and supervisor even though one fails with a particular patient. Research shows that therapy, in any hands, is unsuccessful for about a third of patients. Besides, there’s no doubt I played a significant role in the failure – my stubbornness, my rigidity. Your only error was to choose the wrong type of therapy for me and then persist in it far too long. However, I’m not incognizant of your effort, even your interest, in helping me.“” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 9, Page 67
“Gill, you’re not going to like my answer. But here it is. I can’t tell you what to do: that’s your job,
your decision, not mine. One reason
you’re here in this group is to learn to trust your own judgment. Another reason is that everything I know
about Rose and your marriage has come to me through you. And you can’t avoid giving me biased
information. What I can do is help you
focus on how you contribute to your life predicament. We can’t understand or change Rose; it’s you
– your feelings, your behavior – that’s what counts here because that’s what
you can change.” – Irvin Yalom, Chapter 11, Page 90
Is This An Overview?
Julius is a therapist who received a grave diagnosis. Having at best one year of health left,
Julius evaluates one’s life. Evaluates
whether Julius was an effective therapist.
Although there were those who improved with the guidance of Julius,
there were those who Julius could not help.
One person in specific, Philip, was the worst of Julius’s failures. Julius could not help Philip even after
spending years in therapy. Wanting
feedback, connects with Philip who seems to have been transformed. Philip confirms that Julius’s therapy did not
help, but that the transformation was caused through the philosophy of
Schopenhauer.
Phillip believes that Schopenhauer’s philosophy can also
provide comfort for Julius’s metal state.
Julius wants to consider Schopenhauer, while Philip needs professional
supervision hours to become licensed.
They make a contract that Julius will supervise Philip, and Philip will
provide guidance on Schopenhauer to Julius, under the condition that Philip
first attend Julius’s group therapy sessions.
The reason for the condition, is that Julius cannot accept Philip’s
impersonal methods of therapy. Can Julius’s
group therapy help Philip or is Philip’s Schopenhauer cure the better type of
therapy?
Caveats?
This book relies on psychology and
philosophy. No background knowledge of
the fields is required, but interest in those topics depends on the
reader. Most of the book takes place in
the therapy group, the discussions that the group has. The experience and effectiveness of group
therapy can differ for everyone.
