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Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (text only) 5th (Fifth) edition by I. D. Yalom,M. Leszcz
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First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
Irvin D. Yalom
108 books9,910 followersIrvin David Yalom, 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 with a BA from George Washington University in 1952 and as a Doctor of Medicine 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, 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 and developing his model of existential psychotherapy.
In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In Everyday Gets a Little Closer 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. 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 Oskar Pfister Award (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).
Yalom has continued to maintain a part-time private practice and has authoried a number of video documentaries on theapeutic techniques. Yalom is also featured in the 2003 documentary Flight From Death, a film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences.
source: Colibri Bookstore
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 with a BA from George Washington University in 1952 and as a Doctor of Medicine 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, 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 and developing his model of existential psychotherapy.
In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In Everyday Gets a Little Closer 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. 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 Oskar Pfister Award (for important contributions to religion and psychiatry).
Yalom has continued to maintain a part-time private practice and has authoried a number of video documentaries on theapeutic techniques. Yalom is also featured in the 2003 documentary Flight From Death, a film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences.
source: Colibri Bookstore
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
December 27, 2010
Yalom came into my life just as I started serving as the sole therapist for two groups of child sex offenders. To put it mildly, some sage advice on being a group therapist was sorely needed. This volume is a must-read (yes, all bajillion pages of it) for anyone doing group work, which is the majority of folks in doctoral psychology programs. Yalom's tone is approachable, his sense of humor much appreciated, and his clinical wisdom boundless. I tend to think of books this hefty as in need of good editing, but in this case, there's just a lot to be said on an endlessly interesting subject.
January 13, 2008
Definitely a must have for any budding counselor. I can't argue with Yalom's ideas and thoughts on the subject. What I can't stand is Yalom's extreme narcissism that shines right through despite the fact that this is somewhat of a textbook. References to his other works come off as advertisements, and what warmth he created for group therapy (a wonderful thing in and of itself) he degrades with his own unintentional tone. But many people disagree.
January 9, 2024
Took me 2 years?
January 6, 2011
THE group therapy book. There is really nothing else to say but this laid the groundwork for the basics while support my clinical experience in the group setting. Yalom's stages of group development work with all sorts of groups, not just therapy groups. So after reading this book and applying it in a clinical setting I feel more equip to run therapy and report on group activity!
February 17, 2021
This book made me want to do group therapy, both as a participant and as a therapist.
January 3, 2024
1/2023-5/2023
Updating as I’m reading the 6th Edition: Am glad I invested in the new edition which has some timely updates including information about Telehealth. My students (PMHNP students) tend to struggle with this kind of intensive reading, but they do get enough out of it that I continue to use it. We meet as a small group and in a traditional group work format discuss the book and then students take turns leading the group and then receive feedback. It’s my favorite class to teach and I always find something new each time I read this book.
REVIEW FROM 1/2022 5th Edition:
This is my second time reading this book. I read it almost 10 years ago as a graduate student in a Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing program.
This time I reading it as it is assigned reading for a course I’m teaching about Group Therapy Skills.
It’s amazing that this, the 5th edition, was published in 2005. It still offers page after page of wisdom about forming groups, leading groups and working with content and process.
I’m enjoying the re-read as well as hearing from my students about what they are finding of interest in the reading.
Dr. Yalom has brought so much of value to the field and I’m always inspired by his writing.
Updating as I’m reading the 6th Edition: Am glad I invested in the new edition which has some timely updates including information about Telehealth. My students (PMHNP students) tend to struggle with this kind of intensive reading, but they do get enough out of it that I continue to use it. We meet as a small group and in a traditional group work format discuss the book and then students take turns leading the group and then receive feedback. It’s my favorite class to teach and I always find something new each time I read this book.
REVIEW FROM 1/2022 5th Edition:
This is my second time reading this book. I read it almost 10 years ago as a graduate student in a Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing program.
This time I reading it as it is assigned reading for a course I’m teaching about Group Therapy Skills.
It’s amazing that this, the 5th edition, was published in 2005. It still offers page after page of wisdom about forming groups, leading groups and working with content and process.
I’m enjoying the re-read as well as hearing from my students about what they are finding of interest in the reading.
Dr. Yalom has brought so much of value to the field and I’m always inspired by his writing.
April 12, 2023
3,5 ⭐️
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fajne, takie nie za długie 🫠🥲
•
fajne, takie nie za długie 🫠🥲
March 31, 2020
This was the text used for my master's level group therapy course at an Ivy League Univ. Overall, Yalom is insightful and provides a solid foundation of how to facilitate and process groups, however, it is far too lengthy and overdone. This book is traditionally Yalom, as in he writes continuously when the context could have been so much more concise and digestible. I took away appropriate knowledge, but truly despised the form in which it was written.
April 12, 2023
Ale to było satysfakcjonujące!
*Teraz niech się to przełoży na ocenę z kolosa*
*Teraz niech się to przełoży na ocenę z kolosa*
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April 24, 2025Yalom, what a guy.
I have become a (surprised) advocate for group therapy.
I have become a (surprised) advocate for group therapy.
November 24, 2022
the issue i always had with self-help books were the infinite amount of platitudes and anecdotes. i read this book because i wanted to learn more about interpersonal relationships not from some dudebro who just came back from a """""spiritual""""" vacation or some survivorship bias girlboss, but rather, an established professor of psychotherapy.
the book can be sloggish and at times, dry as one can expect from a textbook. with human psychology being an ever complex and changing field, that can be forgiven. the authors did succeed in emphasizing the values of self and interpersonal emotions and the value of hot processing emotions. what really stood out to me was the psychotherapeutic approach of working through one's issue instead of working around. this doesnt mean going on an emotional binge, but rather, process ones own emotion and explore any biases as to why one feels such a way and to correct any distortions that may have resulted from previous negative experiences. this book is intended for an academic audience, however, i feel many can benefit from a summary or brief overview of why group therapy is so rich and how it offers many aspects that individual psychotherapy may not.
tl;dr: thick book but with the purpose of self and interpersonal exploration.
the book can be sloggish and at times, dry as one can expect from a textbook. with human psychology being an ever complex and changing field, that can be forgiven. the authors did succeed in emphasizing the values of self and interpersonal emotions and the value of hot processing emotions. what really stood out to me was the psychotherapeutic approach of working through one's issue instead of working around. this doesnt mean going on an emotional binge, but rather, process ones own emotion and explore any biases as to why one feels such a way and to correct any distortions that may have resulted from previous negative experiences. this book is intended for an academic audience, however, i feel many can benefit from a summary or brief overview of why group therapy is so rich and how it offers many aspects that individual psychotherapy may not.
tl;dr: thick book but with the purpose of self and interpersonal exploration.
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March 12, 2018Although Yalom is the guru of group therapy, I did not find the book to be particularly helpful. It comes from a very psychodynamic orientation, and although the author mentions other orientations or discusses how certain concepts are understood across the different orientations, readers should be aware that the book addresses how to conduct process group therapy. So if that is your aim, this is the book for you. However, I found it far less applicable for use in more structured groups (e.g., substance abuse, DBT). Additionally, I found the author to be quite verbose and to reference literature and plays for no real reason other than to demonstrate his superior intelligence. One thing I will give him is that he tries to give readers a "heads up" about parts of his book they may wish to skip and recommends just reading summaries and to not read the research he cites. However, I can't imagine anyone other than a psychology student/psychologist would read this book, and they should be reading the research, not just reading chapter summaries. All in all he does give good recommendations, but they could all easily fit in a book that is merely 50-100 pages in length.
July 27, 2017
Required reading during graduate school. Didn't really care for it then and still don't but it does serve as an excellent source for facilitating my students' awareness of Dr. Yalom's existential approach to groups. Probably quite a bit longer than it needs to be to adequately address the topic.
July 2, 2024
The magnum opus in many respects when it comes to the research, creation, and management of interpersonal group therapy - and group therapy more generally - Irv's The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy is instrumental in the instruction of clinical and/or counseling students in graduate programs.
In its sixth iteration, this book provides a detailed exploration of the 12 therapeutic factors instrumental to the effective therapeutic work in group: instillation of hope, universality, imparting information, altruism, corrective recapitulation, social technique learning, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis, and existential factors.
The book begins with an exploration of these first six factors, then dives into more depth with the remaining ones. From there, it discusses the creation and maintenance of a therapy group - under the general interactional, interpersonal group type - along with the various and countless challenges and opportunities that must be utilized by the therapist to ensure a therapeutic and helpful experience for the group members. It finishes with unique types of groups that challenge the norms set in the rest of the book, and covers internet group therapy research and opportunities. Peppered throughout, there are various vignettes to explore and clarify a number of important aspects of group therapy, though, there are markedly fewer examples than are seen in other books by Irv, such as The Gift of Therapy, which I sorely missed. The book is filled with research to help provide substantive evidence to the efficiency and benefit of group therapy, providing all clinicians plenty of fodder against claims of its uselessness.
Among critiques, the book carries a few absurde words that, though perhaps helpful, nonetheless feel needless in having to heave out a thesaurus to understand what they mean. Many may find some of the vignettes brash and offensive, and not just due to the characters presented in them, but also the way in which some members are portrayed, largely in sweeping, generalizing terms that seem to limit their humanity. In addition, some of the nomenclature of the book needs revision (such as replacing "schizophrenic" with "patient with schizophrenia"). For some readers, they will certainly find it repetitive in some places, while not elaborating issues in others. Likewise, it is largely a gatekeeper of a book and, as far as I can surmise, not readily enjoyable with the everyday citizen - though, perhaps it was never intended to be.
Irv's tome, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy is no less an extremely helpful and informative tool for the introduction and continued exploration into group therapy and continues, after all of these years and editions, to be the go-to for learning in this area of psychology. May Irv be enjoying the wealth - financial and otherwise - afforded from this book.
In its sixth iteration, this book provides a detailed exploration of the 12 therapeutic factors instrumental to the effective therapeutic work in group: instillation of hope, universality, imparting information, altruism, corrective recapitulation, social technique learning, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis, and existential factors.
The book begins with an exploration of these first six factors, then dives into more depth with the remaining ones. From there, it discusses the creation and maintenance of a therapy group - under the general interactional, interpersonal group type - along with the various and countless challenges and opportunities that must be utilized by the therapist to ensure a therapeutic and helpful experience for the group members. It finishes with unique types of groups that challenge the norms set in the rest of the book, and covers internet group therapy research and opportunities. Peppered throughout, there are various vignettes to explore and clarify a number of important aspects of group therapy, though, there are markedly fewer examples than are seen in other books by Irv, such as The Gift of Therapy, which I sorely missed. The book is filled with research to help provide substantive evidence to the efficiency and benefit of group therapy, providing all clinicians plenty of fodder against claims of its uselessness.
Among critiques, the book carries a few absurde words that, though perhaps helpful, nonetheless feel needless in having to heave out a thesaurus to understand what they mean. Many may find some of the vignettes brash and offensive, and not just due to the characters presented in them, but also the way in which some members are portrayed, largely in sweeping, generalizing terms that seem to limit their humanity. In addition, some of the nomenclature of the book needs revision (such as replacing "schizophrenic" with "patient with schizophrenia"). For some readers, they will certainly find it repetitive in some places, while not elaborating issues in others. Likewise, it is largely a gatekeeper of a book and, as far as I can surmise, not readily enjoyable with the everyday citizen - though, perhaps it was never intended to be.
Irv's tome, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy is no less an extremely helpful and informative tool for the introduction and continued exploration into group therapy and continues, after all of these years and editions, to be the go-to for learning in this area of psychology. May Irv be enjoying the wealth - financial and otherwise - afforded from this book.
June 21, 2017
For school
June 23, 2023
It was a good read and have great info, however it was EXTREMELY long winded, and some of the therapist's opinions were odd to me and my professors.
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July 12, 2023Chs 1,2,5-7, 9-12
June 21, 2025
3/5 - Boy, do these two men love to yap. Did it really need to be 600+ pages??? Besides that it was a fine read and gave a lot of good insight into group therapy as someone new to it!
August 12, 2025
holy grail of group counselling and just interpreting group dynamics in general. has actually changed the way i see group interactions in every day life. love love love
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October 19, 2025I don't rate books for school!! Text me or talk to me if you want to know what I thought!
June 27, 2024
No mogłaby być krótsza 🫠
August 2, 2022
Un des livres les plus complets sur la thérapie de groupe à mon avis. Bien que Yalom soit humaniste, se livre se veut d’approche intégrative, ce qui en soit est très pertinent!
April 18, 2025
If you want to practise group therapy this is excellent a thousand times over.
March 11, 2022
I genuinely enjoyed reading this for my Group Therapy class, so much so that I bought the newest edition for myself to keep. It’s a wonderful feeling and probably a good sign for my career that this book has inspired me to read more literature on the subject of therapy, and has reignited the excitement in me to begin this line of work. Yay therapy!
March 5, 2013
I used this book when I was a graduate student in the counseling psychology program back in the day, I have the third edition. Bar none, the best text book/ case book about group therapy ever written. I would read this book, out of personal interest and pleasure, regardless of whether it was part of a curriculum. Yalom is a humble and incredibly articulate man, he doesn't act omnipotent and writes in plain and understandable language. Do believe he's a Professor Emeritus from Stanford. He is open and warm and sharing. This book goes outside of the realm of simply group therapy, it touches upon the human condition and a possible remedy. He's also a fine writer of fiction, without question my favorite psychotherapist out there.
November 4, 2011
Holy crap, I finished this.
Several things come to mind as I slowly digested this book.
First, how the heck did he get his patients to stay in groups long enough to deal with all these interpersonal issues? I think most clients would get fed up with "that annoying person in group" and just leave. Second, how the heck does he deal with all the members' issues with authority?
That being said, I did use a little bit of insight each time in my own work, so it was definitely worth the reading.
Several things come to mind as I slowly digested this book.
First, how the heck did he get his patients to stay in groups long enough to deal with all these interpersonal issues? I think most clients would get fed up with "that annoying person in group" and just leave. Second, how the heck does he deal with all the members' issues with authority?
That being said, I did use a little bit of insight each time in my own work, so it was definitely worth the reading.
July 12, 2024
I realized I knew nothing about group therapy before reading this book. It seems to be a common misconception that group would not be as effective as individual, but in fact sometimes it can be more effective depending on the presenting problem. The way group works in the “here and now” and uses interpersonal relationships in the group in order to bring resolution, personal insight, and a mirage of personal and interpersonal skills within the context of what’s happening in real time - I feel intimidated and excited about this.
February 10, 2012
I enjoy Yalom's writing style and the personal examples and stories he includes. This book is an essential resource to any therapist who wants to lead therapeutic groups. A therapeutic group acts as a social microcosm and can lead to individual change as group members relate and challenge one another. Yalom's book delves into the topic of groups as well as ways to structure, lead and troubleshoot these therapeutic communities.
March 30, 2012
A classic. Before reading this book, the idea of group therapy was deeply unappealing to me. Now, I am intrigued by (if not completely sold on) the potential of groups to provide insights and healing that one-on-one therapy alone can't. Readers will also learn some basic things about group dynamics that can apply to all collective/communal experiences. Yalom is not only an insightful clinician, he is a wonderful writer.
July 6, 2016
Fantastic! Highly recommended as a comprehensive text on the subject. Only complaints: too much on existential psychotherapy (anyway, better to see his other text by the same title), and not enough on characterologically difficult clients.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews