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Marie Campkin, Momma and the meaning of life: tales of psychotherapy. Irvin D Yalom. (254 pages, £7.99.) Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd, 1999. ISBN 0-7499-2103-X., Family Practice, Volume 18, Issue 1, January 2001, Pages 108–109, https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/18.1.108-a
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Extract
The title suggests the territory—American, Jewish and analytic—the subtitle ‘Tales of Psychotherapy’ seems to confirm it—are we in Woody Allen country here? Well, yes and no. Irvin Yalom, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, is a renowned author of textbooks, popular books for the general reader and novels, all based on his professional experience. He says he tries to be storyteller and teacher, and in this collection of psychological case studies he achieves both.
He is indeed a masterly writer, making of the stuff of psychotherapy at once a compelling narrative and a frank reflection on the underlying process of the encounter from the therapist's viewpoint. Entertaining and thought-provoking, much here is of relevance to doctors who meet with patients in the less rarefied atmosphere of general practice, where the same unconscious forces are no less at work for going largely unrecognized.
The writer does not spare himself in admitting his failings, showing how the therapist’s emotional ‘unfinished business’, even after a lifetime of personal analysis and professional practice, can still sometimes get in the way of the therapeutic process—but also that honest recognition and admission of mistakes can take things forward again.
