Being a psychiatrist/psychotherapist myself I really appreciate this book. A great feat of story telling while being loyal to the theoretical frame work of therapy and patients' confidentiality. Touching on existential themes of everyday life the author approaches them with relative ease, and make breakthroughs of therapy and interpretation seem very simple contrary to a very harsh reality.

Irvin Yalom is a very good writer. His style is engaging and has a literary, rather than fictional, quality to it. Here we are taken through an autobiographical short story, three non-fiction chapters on Dr. Yalom’s work with client (names and details changed), and two fictional stories that address themes that occur in psychotherapy. As a psychodynamic practitioner, some of Dr. Yalom’s views on therapy are difficult for me to assimilate. While I do believe that the relationship is primary in th...

“I explain to my patients that abused children often find it hard to disentangle themselves from their dysfunctional families, whereas children grow away from good, loving parents with far less conflict. After all, isn't that the task of a good parent, to enable the child to leave home?” I have a strange relationship with Yalom. On one hand, I find there's a lot of truth in his stories, on the other hand, he's kind of a pain to read as I find his writing style fairly tiresome. The pa

Irvin Yalom is one of the sweetest and most intelligent people in the world. The whole book felt like him telling me stories while I was sitting on the couch and drinking the tea he himself made for me.

This is my first book by Dr. Irv Yalom. I enjoyed reading the stories in the book, but the case studies of Psychotherapy were by far my favorite ones. I love the fact that Yalom is not the know-it-all therapist I've come to know these past years of reading Psychology books; he is vulnerable, self-critical, analytical, human. The chapters with Paula and Magnolia were top 3 stories in the book, but 'Seven advanced lessons in the therapy of grief' is the heart of the book, which taught me the most;...

I love Irvin, and his stories based on memories, I always find ways to attach him, and mostly to the way he thinks of life, of beliefs. The freedom he gives himself to be human, and the will to help people and himself during his life journey, being honest and sincere. The book made up of a couple of twisted stories, you will flow in the lines till the end.

Haiku ReviewSix Yalom storiesEntertain and educateLast one kind of weird.

After reading Love's Executioner for a class I learned that I love Yalom's style of writing and his candor about his own feelings, reactions, and inner thoughts toward his clients. I find I share similar philosophies about therapy being an environment that is created by therapist, client, and the relationship built between the two. I was not as intrigued by every chapter in Momma as I was with Love's Executioner, however there is a very detailed series of chapters on a client he worked with who

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Yalom's titular story in Love's Executioner, particularly this one line I keep circling back to: “Perhaps the function of the obsession was simply to provide intimacy: it bonded her to another—but not to a real person, to a fantasy.”So wanting to bask again in the author's wisdom, I took the plunge and started Momma and the Meaning of Life. In six enthralling stories drawn from his own clinical experience, Irvin D. Yalom once again proves himself an intrep...

Momma and the Meaning of Life, Irvin D. YalomPsychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom probes further into the mysteries of the therapeutic encounter in this entertaining and thoughtful follow-up to his bestselling Love's ExecutionerIn six enthralling stories drawn from his own clinical experience, Irvin D. Yalom once again proves himself an intrepid explorer of the human psyche as he guides his patients--and himself--toward transformation. With eloquent detail and sharp-eyed observation Yalom introduces u...

Such a good collection of essays about people in psychotherapy coming to terms with loss, death, relationships, mortality. Lots of valuable insight by Yalom who's ever present, vulnerable, thinking, even when analysing a cursed cat in an imagined tale.edit: Ревюто ми при препрочитането на книгата е тук: https://toest.bg/mama-i-smisulut-na-z...

Yalom's writing of his therapy cases is really addicting to me and quite rewarding. He writes in such a clear manner and isn't afraid of pointing his critical vision, not just at this therapists, but also toward himself.This was a varied collection of several non-fiction case studies that were quite enjoyable to read (I listened to the audio version which was good), followed at the end with 2 fictional accounts. In the author's afterword, he points out that the line between fiction and non-ficti...

While purchasing some books for holiday gifts, I bought myself a couple of books as well. “Momma and the Meaning of Life” was one. I had recently finished “Creatures of a Day” by Yalom, and was hungry for more. In case it isn’t well known, I think the world of Yalom’s writing. So this review might be biased.“Momma and the Meaning of Life” is another book in the vein of “Love’s Executioner” and “Creatures of a Day”. It is tales of this master therapist conducting therapy with clients. This book d...

This is my favourite book by Dr. Irv Yalom. He is a wonderful writer and teller of stories, but there are many books I enjoy for those reasons, what distinguishes this author? I enjoy reading Dr. Yalom because of the philosophical elements he wraps around the real-life stories of his patients. He makes their problems not only easily understandable, but you sympathise, you identify with their angst.Each chapter is a story of therapy that begins with his identification with his patient as being-al...

Interesting book overall. I suppose the level of interest depends on where the person is at in their life. For me chapter 4, the Seven Advanced Lessons in the Therapy of Grief, was the most relevant and useful chapter for me. Since experiencing my own grief I have a lot of vested interest in reading about how others experience and live the rest of life with grief. I constantly wonder if I handle my grief in a healthy way and then in another moment couldn’t care less how I handle it as long as I

It was about a year and a half ago when I first walked into the office of a gentle, aging psychotherapist, seeking his guidance, wisdom, and general comfort, as if it was a grotesque pilgrimage.A girl in her early twenties just trying to make sense of the world, and the retired healer worked together for a period of ten weeks in the fall, picking apart her anxiety and severe depression, her confusing dreams that flit around the room, restless even in her sleep. Every single session I left crying...

Six stories from Yalom’s life address his life experience as a therapist. I found the first story most profound, which I might subtitle “Who authors the meanings in your life?”

I always really enjoy reading Yalom's case studies of therapy, they simultaneously teach the therapeutic process whilst also being great stories in themselves. As a newly qualified psychotherapist full of self-doubt, I also really appreciate his honesty and sharing of his own anxieties that he doesn't always know what he's doing- no two patients/clients are the same and it's a constant learning process. This is a varied collection of stories, all touching on existential themes of every day life....

The book is good, intriguing but it’s not about parenting. I was expecting something else from it; even if I found it in the Parenting section of the book store and also recommend by a mom-blogger ... maybe they actually didn’t read it at all. Of course, there is always a connection with childhood and the relation with your mother has long lasting consequences but ... I didn’t have to pay for the this one to remind me that (when right now I’m interested in a different type of information)

I read Love's Executioner years and years ago and absolutely loved it. I was delighted to find out about a sequel recently and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was a little disappointed that there were fictional segments in the book; I really enjoyed knowing that these were nonfictional accounts of true therapy sessions between a gifted doctor and his patients. Actually, my favorite part of the book turned out to be one of the fictional segments -- the piece about Myrna and her accidental