he's done it again...yalom has an amazing insight into human nature and the healing components of therapy of any modality. to fully appreciate this book, as well as his other works, you have to at least be okay with the notions of existentialism, as his conceptualization and methodologies are built on the basic premises of this theory. i have shared his works with intelligent and particularly introspective patients, and they really seem to relate to his notions. thinking outside the box is important to appreciating yalom, in my opinion, as he does not subscribe to standard cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic notions. these are very important and useful approaches, but existentialism is a horse of a different color and encourages patients to consider themselves and the lives they are living in a different way. this book takes these important concepts and applies them to group therapy in a very practical way.

this truly is the universal group therapy handbook. it is extremely helpful for those practicing with long running groups. the case studies provide excellent illustration of the concepts discussed. it is a highly practical text with applications to both the group counseling realm, as well as the individual counseling realm.