Love's Executioner

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Sue Cully and Tim Bond 2004, Integrative Counselling Skills in Action, London, Sage Publications Ltd. The collection of ten absorbing tales by master psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter. In recounting his patients’ dilemmas, Yalom not only gives us a rare and enthralling glimpse into their personal desires and motivations but also tells us his own story as he struggles to reconcile his all-too human responses with his sensibility as a psychiatrist. Not since Freud has an author done so much to clarify what goes on between a psychotherapist and a patient. Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom – eBook Details If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! Essay Writing Service

Yalom himself felt guilty at the end of the treatment and he felt his belief that “he could treat anyone” let him down and embarrassed himself professionally. However, Thelma did not throw any blame on Yalom and remained secretive with the Research Group about the details of her therapy which certainly did not point the finger of failure at Yalom as a therapist, which leads the reader to believe that Thelma did not think the therapeutic process or therapeutic alliance was a failure. Thelma is a very interesting case though and there are several factors in the story which leaves you wondering if Thelma was just a person vulnerable to being fixated (she cannot accept the loss of Matthew) but this may not be a conscious thing. Her age is also important as she’s thinking of “the meaning of her life” and what’s it all about. As the reader I wanted to “fix” Thelma and this made me realise that it also brought out an exaggerated sense of responsibility in me – this is possibly from bringing up my kids as a single parent. Thelma was having a need met by attending therapy and at the end of the six months, there was no mention of suicide in the Research Report, she was happily meeting Matthew for coffee every month or so and her psychological issues and depression had improved. It certainly seems like the therapeutic process and therapeutic alliance did work. Jalem and Schutz further emphasize that another contrast between the two therapies is that the neurolinguistic psychotherapy uses analogue presentation and externalization of inner realities which are often found in practice (par. 16). Psychodynamic according to Cohn is often used loosely but it supports Walrand Skinner’s definition of psychodynamic as relating to a theory of interacting mental forces, operating within the psyche (p. 1). Cohn noted that psychodynamic is rooted in the psychoanalysis (p. 1). Psychotherapy is a well known type of counseling which is associated to psychoanalysis popularized by Sigmund Freud and other behavioral theorists whose work focused on behavioral analysis. Existential Psychotherapy came out in the work of four psychiatrists, they are: Karl Jaspers in Germany (1951, 1964), Ludwig Binswnger (1946, 1963), Medard Boss (1957, 1962, 1979), and Victor Frank. Emmy Van Deurzen in her article entitled “Existential Psychotherapy” explained that existential psychotherapy can only be truly existential if it involved the cultural, social, political and ideological context of a person’s existence. Deurzen noted that existential approach is a holistic approach examining the human condition and tries to figure out and investigate the individual’s experienced (Deurzen).Carl R. Rogers, 1967, On Becoming a Person, a therapist’s view of psychotherapy, U.K., Constable & Robinson Ltd. Existential model of psychoanalysis as explained by Ben L. Thomas, Sally Hardy, and Penny Cutting, focuses on the person’s experience in here and now with much less importance of the person’s past (p. 25), and as per existentialists are concerned, they believe that people despite of so many choices to choose, people tend to avoid being real which made them to offer in to other people’s demand. In the same way, in the rationalization pertaining to psychoanalysis, most of deviant or disrupted behaviours of adults are traced in their childhood as explained in psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud. Thus, to summarize the concept of existentialism and psychoanalysis, the authors presented a common idea that can help patients. Psychoanalysis theory believes that “objective observation of human behaviour was a great contribution of the psychoanalyst, as was the identification of a mental structure (Thomas, Hardy and Cutting, p. 21). On the other hand, existential therapeutic processes “focus on the encounter” (p. 25); this encounter according to the authors is the meeting of two or more persons and appreciation of the total existence of each other, which is a great help to the person concerned to accept and understand his or her experiences in the past and to live fully in the present (p. 25). Discuss the therapeutic process and therapeutic alliance as case studied in Irvin Yalom’s Love’s Executioner. Is the therapy working? Explain. Individual’s experience internal and external event through sensory modes including visual, auditory, kinesthetic olfactory and gustatory. Existential psychotherapy, psychodynamic principles and practices and neuro-linguistic are all basically therapeutic approaches which deal with human experiences, human behavioural patterns and verbal and non verbal reactions about the different problems the patients encounter and the impact of these experiences in their lives.

Hans W. Cohn noted that most of the forms of psychotherapy “keep within a framework derived from psychoanalytic concept” (Cohn, p. 1). Cohn pointed out that Sigmund Freud’s suggestion that the core of these psychoanalytic assumptions is the ‘instinctual’ wishes “which are experienced as threatening and unacceptable are repressed into an unconscious area of the psyche” (Cohn, p. 1). Cohn identified these instinctual wishes as various forms of disturbed behavior which attempt to re-enter consciousness that when they do, they appear as dreams and as symptoms, and as various forms of disturbed behavior (Cohn, p. 1). Cohn’s therapeutic process is an exploration of the client world design in its various dimensions – the physical, social and psychological (Cohn, p. 1). Shahar, Asaf Rolef Ben. “Comparative Evaluation and Criticism of Neuro-Linguistic-Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.” NLP & NLP Psychotherapy,

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PDF / EPUB File Name: Loves_Executioner_-_Irvin_D_Yalom.pdf, Loves_Executioner_-_Irvin_D_Yalom.epub Irvin Yalom in’ Love’s Executioner’ is nonfiction that tries to present existential approach to therapy of ill cancer patients. According to Windy Dryden, this story Irvin Yalom’s intention for writing this book was primarily to “discover methods deepening an existential approach to therapy” (Dryden, p. 47). This is because Yalom personally believed that many therapists employ many methods using existential insights. These insights are drawn from coherent, closely controlled and wide-ranging therapeutic approach. Irvin Yalom in’ Love’s Executioner’ Dryden further explained that “the existential approach is a valuable, effective psychotherapeutic paradigm, as rational, as coherent, and as systematic as any other (Dryden, p. 47). All behavior serves a purpose behavior that is negative in terms of results is dependent of the value of the individual. In view of theoretical concept, Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar explained the differences between the two therapies in terms of presupposition. According to him, the understanding underlying psychoanalytic theory is that “cure happens through bringing unconscious material into consciousness” (Sharar, par. 2), in which according to the author, unconscious forces are often bad or negative that results or poses danger to the integrity of a person. On the other hand, in Neuro-linguistic psychotherapy, curing through understanding is possible but not necessary (Sharar, par. 3). He explained that the legitimate processes in this kind of therapy require insight-based strategies and transference-interpretations and analyses which also serve as the only tools of this therapy. Thus, he stated that the main concern of psychoanalysis is finding the cause or simply answering the question why, while the nuero-linguistic psychotherapy is finding the right method among choices or simply answering the question how.

Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. View our services Principally, their aim is to help patients cope up with these challenges brought about by their everyday experiences which at one time they seemed unable to overcome. These circumstances in their lives force them to act differently which is quite deviant from the normal reaction which normal people do. Bateman, Pedder and Brown noted that there had some attempts to compare and contrast existential psychotherapy with psychodynamic practice and with other types of psychotherapy, but nothing substantial has come up yet. Therefore, this paper can only compare these two therapies in the light of their similarities and origin. I’m going to put forward an argument from the view point of both the client “Thelma” and the therapist “Yalom” that the therapeutic process and therapeutic alliance may or may not have worked. You, the reader can make up your own mind.This basic and fundamental concept of existential psychodynamic and psychoanalysis has some significance in the application of Neuro-linguistic psychotherapy. As what Cooper and Seal have stated, that NLP is not a therapy but a methodology in the counselling of patients with deviant and disrupted behaviour. We may conclude therefore that neuro-linguistic psychotherapy is a good and effective method of counselling that could be utilized after a thorough study of a particular case has been done using existential and psychoanalysis.