Sunday, January 27, 2013

Book 38 - and some cool news!

Day 27:

Today was another reading filled day, and surprise of surprise I managed a regular sleep schedule! Hopefully this will continue. I also had a very exciting experience related to the book that I read and will recount it a little later on.

Book 38: The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients



Author: Dr. Irvin D. Yalom
Genre: Psychology
Pages: 268
Series: No, but the author of several other books
Purchased or Borrowed: Borrowed from the library through Marina
Date Read: January 27, 2013

4 stars
I liked this book by Dr. Yalom, a famed psychoanalyst, a lot better than his previous book that I read a few days ago. It was written later in his life and reflects his growth. The book is broken up into five sections: the nature of the therapist-patient relationship, from process to content, issues that arise in the everyday conduct of therapy, the use of dreams, and the hazards and privileges of being a therapist. It can read a bit choppy as most chapters are relatively short because each contains a different insight and examples from his time as a therapist, but this was acknowledged in the introduction due to the sheer nature of the novel. I found it very helpful, and actually plan to purchase this book for myself because it had so many great tips and things that I could really learn from as I proceed to become a therapist myself.

I was struck by a question regarding therapist self-disclosure, a personal interest of mine, when reading this book. It was a burning question in that I had to stop reading and pick up my computer as I had decided to email him in the hope of answering my question. I figured that if I received a response at all, that it would take a long time, perhaps weeks. Much to my surprise and excitement, Dr. Yalom emailed me back just FIVE minutes later and started a dialogue to my question that would expand over a few other emails. It was a very neat experience for me and I was very happy to hear from him and his response to my question :)

I began reading a very fat book today, nearly 700 pages. It's interesting but slow going and I'm only 250 pages in and it is due to the library tomorrow, so I'll have to be speedy about it then, but for now I shall rest.

xo,
Erin

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