Exploring the Human Mind: Uncovering the Stories of Psychotherapy in Creatures of a Day

Giulia: Es gib kein Buch von diesem Autor, welches ich nicht gerne gelesen hätte.
Auch davon war ich begeistert.

Germany on Dec 29, 2023

CP: Love Irvin Yalom's books. read them all. Takes you on the client's journey through the therapeutic process. An honest look at their issues, reflected adeptly and honestly by Yalom.

United Kingdom on Jul 02, 2023

Christina: Quick and easy to read short stories about the psychiatrist and his clients. Very engaging and well written.

Canada on Apr 17, 2023

Oliver Page: Having read Love’s Executioner I was already familiar with Yalom’s (or Irv’s) style and approach to writing, and this book allowed me to settle back into that same extraordinary directness and wisdom through his encounters with ten psychotherapy patients in critical moments of their lives. What most strikes me is his genuine attempt to address the deepest and most painful aspects of life (or rather death) in language that allows anybody to access it. The experience is like meeting Irv the man reflecting on his own journey alongside other human beings, talking the reader through those extraordinary professional experiences with the eyes and heart of Irv the man. Absolutely recommended to anyone.

Italy on Jan 09, 2022

LENY: I have looked at many existential therapy books recently and feel this one really goes to another level by including and really only giving us the interactions with specific clients. I think this makes this book very theory- free, and comprehensible on a much deeper level than descriptive texts can be.

Japan on Jul 28, 2017

Ken Stofft: Like with all Yalom's novels, he gives us tidbits of himself in terms of self-revelations, but like all of his novels he goes head on into some heavy dialogues about life and the meaning it has or doesn't not have with his "patients". He learns perhaps at times more about himself than the "patients" reveal about themselves, at times the catharis is anything but what Yalom had expected or searched after, but via circumstances out of his "relationship" with them, they discover what it is they were seeking. Happenstance? A seed from the 'dialogue' between therapist and patient had been planted, only to be harvested in its own due time? Yalom certainly does provoke self-reflection, at least in this reader. Would that Yalom would actually have the courage to do more self-revealing about his own inner workings, his own emotional state(s) as he grows older and toward eventual death. But, he refrains from such disclosures just when it seems he is about to pull the curtain to show himself (kinda like the Wizard of Oz, but there is no Toto to do the pulling for him). His intellectual acumen, his analytical mind, his creativity is evident in all his novels, and particularly in this series of...

United States on Jun 29, 2015

Lisa Mitchell, MFT, ATR: Dear Irv Yalom,

This letter is a declaration of gratitude for your newly published book, Creatures of a Day, and the artful legacy you’ve bestowed upon the field of psychotherapy. In the era of fast technology and mass production, your attention to relationship and the handcrafted nature of therapy is a life line. In all of your 50 years as a psychotherapist, you didn’t sell out for clinical blueprints and formulaic approaches. Instead, you opted to stay true to what you knew--the here and now, the importance of the therapeutic relationship, and your own internal thoughts and experiences as essential elements for your work with clients. Creatures of a Day waves a flag and asks us to take notice. It invites us back into the mystery of our work and reminds us to celebrate our humanness. Your masterful story telling allows us to see you and your clients in action, mistakes and vulnerabilities included, and shares pivotal moments that will provoke thoughtful learning for generations of therapists. So thank you for this.

You show us your mistakes

You see, your books (especially Love’s Executioner and Creatures of a Day) let us into your thoughts and...

United States on Mar 31, 2015

L. Daniels: Though I knew of Irvin Yalom's books, I somehow missed reading any of them before, during or after my licensure as a mental health professional. "Creatures of a Day" is my first Yalom book, but with certainty, I can say that it won't be my last. For if his previous books are half as good as this one... they'll all be worth reading.

Creatures of a Day contains ten "portraits" of clients and Yalom's work with them. Portraits is the right word since the descriptions are so vivid and compelling that one might actually feel they're in the room watching Yalom and the clients do the dance of therapy. The topics of death and meaning in life connect the stories as one might expect from a humanist/existentialist therapist. More than one of the stories were sadly sweet and brought tears to my eyes as I read... yet I could not put down the book and read it within just a few sessions.

As a therapist, who also eschews diagnosis and manualized treatments, seeing a master therapist at work was invaluable. And surprisingly, Yalom doesn't gloss over the "mistakes" he makes or focus only on his expertise. This book more than anything shows the power of moments that matter, the healing...

United States on Mar 03, 2015