Psicoterapia existencial y terapia de grupo (Psicologia, Psiquatria, Psicoterapia / Psychology, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy)

by Irvin D. Yalom

Desde el principio de su carrera en su esfuerzo por comprender y ensenar la psicoterapia Irvin D. Yalom se sintio fascinado por dos de las principales aproximaciones a la cuestion: la terapia de grupo y la terapia existencial. Primero, como medico y cientifico, sus textos se basaron en la investigacion empirica. Mas tarde, a medida que exploraba el campo de la terapia existencial, empezo a pensar que las preguntas esenciales en torno a la vida humana no se prestan a la investigacion empirica. Sin embargo, su trabajo anterior a ese descubrimiento continua siendo esencial en el campo en cuestion, como demuestra la recopilacion de ensayos recogida en este volumen, complementario de otro titulado Psicologia y literatura, tambien publicado por Paidos, y dedicado a las relaciones del autor con las artes narrativas. Y es que desde el principio de su carrera Yalom supo que la mejor contribucion que podia hacer a la psiquiatria seria como narrador. De ahi que los textos que conforman este libro, aun no siendo especificamente literarios, utilicen el relato como terapia, tanto desde el punto de vista del profesional como del paciente. De la adiccion al alcohol a las enfermedades terminales, pasando por la ansiedad provocada por el miedo a la muerte, cada uno de los capitulos explora, desde una rigurosa perspectiva clinica a su vez profundamente literaria, algunos de los temas mas importantes de la condicion humana.

Genres: Psychology

312 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Irvin 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

Reviews

[Iván Leija · Rating 4 out of 5]

La terapia de grupo se presenta como un espejo de la vida interpersonal de los pacientes. No solo se comparten experiencias en un grupo de psicoterapia: los pacientes, aunque inician todos desde la misma posición en el nacimiento del grupo, actúan dentro de él como actúan en su vida social.
El libro, que en realidad es un fragmento, ofrece una descripción precisa de los beneficios de la psicoterapia grupal y ejemplos de grupos específicos. Además incluye un fragmento de Psicoterapia existencial, una excelente obra.