Shahar, Asaf Rolef Ben. “Comparative Evaluation and Criticism of Neuro-Linguistic-Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.” NLP & NLP Psychotherapy,

Perhaps the function of the obsession was simply to provide intimacy: it bonded her to another—but not to a real person, to a fantasy.”

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Love's Executioner is one of those rare books that suggests both the mystery and the poetry of the psychotherapeutic process. The best therapists are at least partly poets. With this riveting and beautifully written book, Irvin Yalom has joined their ranks' Erica Jong When Yalom first met Thelma, he disregarded 20 years of experience/evidence at the outset that Thelma was a poor candidate for psychotherapy. He may have ignored his “hunch” not to treat Thelma because she did present to him in crises and he wanted to help her as she was so vulnerable. It’s important to note that all clients are vulnerable when they embark on therapy. This hunch Yalom had does seem like a negative at the onset. 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.

the fear of death is always greatest in those who feel that they have not lived their life fully. A good working formula is: the more unlived life, or unrealized potential, the greater one’s death anxiety. (c) My attention was riveted to her. I went through a turmoil of emotions reading her story, and came out of it with a changed perspective of my own. It was such a wild ride that in the end I felt like both the doctor and the patient being treated. The longest piece, deservingly so.

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Irvin D. Yalom is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. As well as an award-winning psychiatrist and psychotherapist, he is an extremely prolific author. His many other works include The Gift of Therapy, Staring at the Sun, When Nietzsche Wept, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychiatry, The Schopenhauer Cure, Lying on the Couch, Momma and the Meaning of Life, Existential Psychotherapy, I'm Calling the Police, Inpatient Group Psychotherapy, Every Day Gets a Little Closer and The Spinoza Problem. In comparing Existential Psychotherapy and Psychodynamic practice, there is little difference between these two as it only concerns with clinical intervention. Bateman, Pedder and Brown said, differently named therapies are not distinct with each other, contrary to the popular “yet erroneous belief that they differs from one another” (Bateman, Pedder and Brown, p. 83). 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. There is no adventure more exciting, nothing so wonderful and frightening, and so fraught with danger, as delving into the mind of a human being.