Watch Irvin Yalom demonstrate how to use the therapeutic relationship to help clients face the existential anxieties that lurk beneath their presenting concerns.

Irvin Yalom: Foundation of My Life and Work

This is an in-depth, intimate interview by Irvin’s son, psychologist Victor Yalom, who perhaps knows his work better than anyone. Throughout the discussion you’ll see how Yalom’s ideas tie together. For example, you’ll see how his emphasis on the here-and-now in his group psychotherapy model influenced his way of working in individual therapy, where again he found that attending closely to interactions in the session enlivens the therapist-client encounter, and sheds light on the client’s interpersonal world.

You’ll follow the arc of Yalom’s life and career, from his early interest in literature (inspired in part by his relationship and marriage with his wife Marilyn Yalom, herself an accomplished scholar and writer), to his early training as a psychiatrist, his first groups with breast cancer patients, and how he integrated ideas from existential philosophy into his work.

Irvin Yalom in Session: Eugenia

Eugenia is a real client with real-life concerns that don’t fit neatly into the DSM or treatment manuals. Watch as Yalom thinks on his feet, trying one thing and then another, to gain a foothold and manages to help her begin to make sense of her out-of-the-blue existential panic. In this age of “manualized” and “evidence-based” treatment, veterans like Yalom defy these trends, and approach their therapy with each client as a unique journey, and can easily be confused and challenged along the way. He is candid with his struggles, both in session with his client and in the commentary he shares with viewers.

Irvin Yalom in Session: Gareth

Gareth is the type of client many therapists cherish: bright, articulate, engaging, and quite motivated to find a way to reduce his distress. He also presents certain challenges: the ability to speak easily about himself and his difficulties, often staying at a cognitive level, so it may feel that it is hard to break new ground with him. Witness first hand the various strategies Yalom uses to connect with him and help him gain some new perspectives.

Irvin Yalom in Session: Luke

Watch Yalom help Luke in only two sessions gain a much greater awareness of the factors causing him to struggle with the decision over getting a vasectomy. Insightful discussions with his son Victor, and voiceover commentaries during the sessions, give viewers insight into how Yalom conceptualizes his work with Luke, the rationale for his interventions, as well as general principles for conducting psychotherapy using an “existential lens.”

Irvin Yalom, MD

Psychiatrist and author Irvin Yalom, MD has been a major figure in the field of psychotherapy since he first wrote The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy in 1970 (now in it’s 5th edition). Other significant contributions have included Existential Psychotherapy, and NY Times Bestseller Loves Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy. He has written four novels on psychotherapy: When Nietzsche Wept, Lying on the Couch, The Schopenhauer Cure, and The Spinoza Problem. He has just released what he claims is his final book, Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist’s Memoir.  His works,

translated into over 20 languages, have been widely read by therapists and non-therapists alike.

Victor Yalom, PhD

Victor Yalom, PhD is the founder and resident cartoonist of Psychotherapy.net. He maintained a busy private practice in San Francisco for over 25 years, but now sees only a few clients, devoting the bulk of his time to creating new training videos for Psychotherapy.net. He has produced over 100 videos, conducted workshops in existential-humanistic and group therapy in the US, Mexico, and China, and currently leads consultation groups for therapists.  More info on Victor and his artwork and sculpture at sfpsychologist.com.

General Disclosure

This Disclosure Statement has been designed to meet accreditation standards; Psychotherapy.net does its best to mitigate potential conflicts of interest and eliminate bias in all areas of content. Experts are compensated for their contributions to our training videos; while some of them have published works, the purchase of additional materials are not required for any Psychotherapy.net training. Each experts’ specific disclosures can be found in their biography.

Psychotherapy.net offers trainings for cost but has no financial or other relationships to disclose.

Therapist Disclosure

Irvin Yalom was compensated for his contribution to this course. None of his books or additional offerings are required for this course. Should such materials be referenced, it is only as additional resources.

Psychotherapy.net defines ineligible companies as those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. There is no minimum financial threshold; individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies. We ask that all contributors disclose any and all financial relationships they have with any ineligible companies whether the individual views them as relevant to the education or not.

Additionally, there is no commercial support for this activity. None of the planners or any employee at Psychotherapy.net who has worked on this educational activity has relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies.

• Describe the many intellectual influences that shaped Irvin Yalom’s career
• List the key concepts of Yalom’s approach to group therapy
• Discuss how Yalom integrates existentialism into group psychotherapy
• Explain how to apply an existential lens to psychotherapy
• Describe the therapeutic importance of a “death history”
• Design treatment that incorporates clients’ formative experiences with death
• Explain how Irvin Yalom uses an “existential lens” in psychotherapy
• Describe how Yalom utilizes clients’ dreams in his therapeutic work
• Plan effective treatment using authenticity and self-disclosure
• Explain how stage-of-life issues fit the existential psychotherapy frame
• Describe the therapeutic benefits of therapist self-disclosure
• Describe how metaphor can facilitate authentic clients expression