Irvin David Yalom (b. June 13 1931 in Washington DC), M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist.
Born in a Jewish family in Washington DC in 1931, he grew up in a poor ethnic area. Avoiding the perils of his neighborhood, he spent most of his childhood indoors, reading books. After graduating from Boston University School of Medicine in 1956 he went on to complete his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency at the Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and completed his training in 1960. After two years of Army service at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, Dr. Yalom began his academic career at Stanford University. He was appointed to the faculty in 1963 and then promoted over the next several years and granted tenure in 1968. Soon after this period he made some of his most lasting contributions by teaching about group psychotherapy [1] and developing his model of existential psychotherapy [2]
In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Dr. Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In "Everyday Gets a Little Closer" [3] Dr. Yalom invited a patient to co-write about the experience of therapy. The book has two distinct voices which are looking at the same experience in alternating sections. Dr. Yalom's works have been used as collegiate textbooks and standard reading for psychology students. His new and unique view of the patient/client relationship has been added to curriculum in Psychology programs at such schools as John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
The American Psychiatric Association awarded Irvin Yalom the 2000 Oscar Pfister prize (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).[4]
Born in a Jewish family in Washington DC in 1931, he grew up in a poor ethnic area. Avoiding the perils of his neighborhood, he spent most of his childhood indoors, reading books. After graduating from Boston University School of Medicine in 1956 he went on to complete his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency at the Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and completed his training in 1960. After two years of Army service at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, Dr. Yalom began his academic career at Stanford University. He was appointed to the faculty in 1963 and then promoted over the next several years and granted tenure in 1968. Soon after this period he made some of his most lasting contributions by teaching about group psychotherapy [1] and developing his model of existential psychotherapy [2]
In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Dr. Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In "Everyday Gets a Little Closer" [3] Dr. Yalom invited a patient to co-write about the experience of therapy. The book has two distinct voices which are looking at the same experience in alternating sections. Dr. Yalom's works have been used as collegiate textbooks and standard reading for psychology students. His new and unique view of the patient/client relationship has been added to curriculum in Psychology programs at such schools as John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
The American Psychiatric Association awarded Irvin Yalom the 2000 Oscar Pfister prize (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).[4]
5 comments:
Why do you call him "love's executioner"? Does his work somehow analyze love logically and destroy the notion of love as something atomic and spontaneous and thus unanalyzable?
Frank
Dear Frank,
His famous collective essays titled "Love's Executioner", has a deep analyzing compasion and curing power over many pateints who had suffered from lost love, obsessive love, and sort forth...
As the title mentioned, he called himself, the Love's Executioner", who tried to lead his patients onto reality and find the meanings of thier existances in the world.
Sinerely,
Mindancer
Whoa: So this "Love's Executioner" moniker is what he called himself and not what others called him? Don't you think it's a little too harsh? I agree too much dreaming in love is eventaully hurting but love must ALWAYS have some kind of dream embedded in it to make it beautiful and worthwhile, right? That's why personally I think the title "Love's Executioner" is a little too strong for me.
I don't want to be his patient. :-)
In fact, he is the love savior, only that he helps you to see the reality of love. :)
I agree that seeing the reality of love is good as excessive expectations (and the ensuing inevitable disappointment) are the main reason for our unhappiness in love. So put in this light, his cruel-sounding moniker doesn't seem too bad anymore. :-)
Frank
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