Creatures of a Day
And Other Tales of Psychotherapy
“The publication of Creatures of a Day is reason to celebrate.” –Steven Pinker
Summary
"All of us are creatures of a day,” wrote Marcus Aurelius, “rememberer and remembered alike.” In his long-awaited new collection of stories, renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom describes his patients’ struggles—as well as his own—to come to terms with the two great challenges of existence: how to have a meaningful life, and how to reckon with its inevitable end. In these pages...
Endorsements
Library Journal (Starred Review)
“Personal, honest, sensitive, and respectful, Yalom, now in his 80s, describes frustration and mistakes amid much success. His combination of confidence and humility shows how these qualities work in psychotherapy – a process too often burdened with theory and/or mystique.... This book will inspire therapists at any stage along with lay readers intrigued by the psyche, relationships, and the possibilities of change.”
Publisher's Weekly
“Novelist and psychiatrist Yalom offers 10 tales from his clients that illuminate the gifts of psychotherapy, particularly the hopeful lessons one can glean from it in the context of aging and death.... [He] has genuinely inspiring insights to share about the value of therapy.... The stories Yalom offers of his patients’ failures and triumphs are frequently moving and will invoke the reader’s empathy.”
Reviews
Ira Steinman, M.D., American Journal of Psychiatry
"Yalom is a magisterial writer, of both novels and psychological nonfiction. And he has done it again in this well-crafted, beautifully written, and thoughtful compilation of 10 different case studies of patients dealing with their anxieties about death, loss, and the passage of time, all highlighting the importance of coming to grips with our brief span of life in the psychiatric therapeutic encounter..." read more