Love's Executioner

I devoured this book and its main premise: that to be a therapist is a great art and a deep discipline. Yalom is the inspiration for many psychology and psychotherapy students and trainees, and for good reason. He is the kindly, wise father many of us wish we had.

I adored this book for its insights into psychotherapy and the therapy room and for the tenderness with which Yalom treats his patients. He was also one of the first professionals to openly and publicly share his own emotions and thoughts about his patients and being a therapist. He powerfully puts… show more.

An obvious influence on the style and format of my book is Oliver Sacks, whose example looms large over anyone seeking to explain the mind and brain primarily via story and narrative.

But a writer who provided as big an influence for me in writing this book is the psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, and his 1989 book, Love’s Executioner. The book contains several tales from Yalom’s practice in psychotherapy, and the title story concerns a story of obsessional and unrequited love that must be dispelled – Yalom must be the executioner of the misplaced affection.

The human ability to create… show more.