How to Cite Irvin Yalom: APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago Formats
Most Yalom citation errors come from two places: the 2020 edition has a second author, and several of his books have been reissued under different publishers.
This page gives the reference-list entry for each major book in APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago notes-bibliography, with the edition and publisher that students most often get wrong flagged as you go.
- Reference entries for every major Yalom book
- The Leszcz co-authorship trap on the group psychotherapy text
- Which edition to cite when several exist
For the most-cited title, APA 7 is: Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th ed.). Basic Books. The two errors that cost marks are omitting Molyn Leszcz, who has been a co-author since the fifth edition, and citing an edition you did not actually read.
Start here: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
Yalom & Leszcz · 6th ed. 2020 · Basic Books
The citation people need most and get wrong most. From the fifth edition the book carries a second author, Molyn Leszcz, and dropping him is the error markers spot instantly — the correct APA 7 form is given in the box below.
- Unambiguous publisher and edition data
- Current sixth edition is the one most courses assign
- Chapter-level citation is straightforward
- Widely held, so library copies are easy to verify against
- Six editions make it easy to cite the wrong one
- Co-author is frequently omitted
- Page numbers differ substantially between editions
APA 7: Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th ed.). Basic Books. — MLA 9: Yalom, Irvin D., and Molyn Leszcz. The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. 6th ed., Basic Books, 2020. — Chicago: Yalom, Irvin D., and Molyn Leszcz. The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. 6th ed. New York: Basic Books, 2020.
Side by side
|
Most cited
The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
|
Most quoted
The Gift of Therapy
|
Essay favourite
Love's Executioner
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| Year | 2020 | 2002 | 1989 |
| Publisher | Basic Books | HarperCollins | Basic Books |
| Authors | Yalom & Leszcz | Yalom | Yalom |
| Multiple editions exist | Yes | Yes | No |
| Price | $7.89 | $11.39 | $11.40 |
| BUY NOW | BUY NOW | BUY NOW |
Picking the right entry point
Two of Yalom’s most-cited books are co-authored and both are routinely cited as single-author works.
Page numbers move between editions, so a quotation cited to the wrong edition will not check out.
Reissues have moved several titles between Basic Books and Harper Perennial.
Love’s Executioner is ten separate case studies; quoting one is a chapter citation, not a book citation.
How do I cite Yalom and Leszcz in APA 7?
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2020). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (6th ed.). Basic Books. In text, use (Yalom & Leszcz, 2020). Cite whichever edition you actually consulted rather than defaulting to the newest.
Why do some citations of the group therapy book have one author?
Because the first four editions were Yalom alone. Molyn Leszcz joined as co-author from the fifth edition in 2005. A single-author citation dated 2005 or later is an error.
How do I cite Existential Psychotherapy?
APA 7: Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Basic Books. It has never been revised, so there is no edition statement to include — which makes it one of the more forgiving Yalom citations.
How do I cite a single case from Love's Executioner?
Treat it as a chapter in an edited work by the same author: give the tale’s title, then the book, then the publisher. Quoting one case as though it were the whole book will not survive a page-number check.
The short version
- Leszcz is a co-author from the fifth edition onward
- Cite the edition you read, not the newest one
- Verify the publisher on the copyright page
Check three things before you submit: is there a co-author, which edition is in your hand, and who published that printing. Those three account for almost every Yalom citation that comes back marked.