Creatures of a Day

November 17, 2014
Novelist and psychiatrist Yalom (The Spinoza Problem) offers 10 tales from his clients that illuminate the gifts of psychotherapy, particularly the hopeful lessons one can glean from it in the context of aging and death. He steers away from the riddle-like tales of strange human behavior found in comparable books like Stephen Grosz’s The Examined Life, and instead lingers on his patients and his reactions to them. The title, drawn from Marcus Aurelius, hints at the book’s primary concern, which is mortality. Ellie struggles with terminal cancer and wants to be a “pioneer of dying.” Rick, a successful businessman, enjoys a luxurious existence in a retirement community that only underlines the impending end of his life. Despite this focus on death, Yalom also has genuinely inspiring insights to share about the value of therapy, such as his certainty “that if I can create a genuine and caring environment, my patients will find the help they need, often in marvelous ways.” The stories Yalom offers of his patients’ failures and triumphs are frequently moving and will invoke the reader’s empathy. Agent: Sandy Dijkstra, Sandy Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Starred review from January 1, 2015

Psychiatrist Yalom (emeritus, psychiatry, Stanford Univ.; Love's Executioner; When Nietzsche Wept) here offers ten cases--five each, men and women, disguised for privacy--that illustrate his humane, straightforward approach to psychotherapy. Personal, honest, sensitive, and respectful, Yalom, now in his 80s, describes frustration and mistakes amid much success. His combination of confidence and humility shows how these qualities work in psychotherapy--a process too often burdened with theory and/or mystique. Rare is the therapist equally at home with art and science: "improvising...as I marvel at the complexities and unpredictability of human thought and behavior....if I can create a genuine and caring environment my patients will find the help they need, often in marvelous ways I could never have predicted." One chapter is titled "You Must Give Up the Hope for a Better Past." VERDICT This book will inspire therapists at any stage along with lay readers intrigued by the psyche, relationships, and the possibilities of change.--E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC

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