The gift of therapy : an open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients / Irvin D. Yalom.

"A hardcopy of this book was originally published in 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers"

"Includes more than twenty additional pages of new therapy tips by the author" --Cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Remove the Obstacles to Growth, -- 2. Avoid Diagnosis (Except for -- 3. Therapist and Patient as -- 4. Engage the Patient -- 5. Be Supportive -- 6. Empathy: Looking Out -- 7. Teach Empathy -- 8. Let the Patient Matter to You -- 9. Acknowledge Your Errors -- 12. Engage in Personal Therapy -- 13. The Therapist Has Many Patients; -- 14. The Here-and-Now-Use It, Use It, -- 15. Why Use the Here-and-Now -- 16. Using the Here-and-Now- -- 17. Search for Here-and-Now Equivalents -- 18. Working Through Issues in -- 19. The Here-and-Now Energizes Therapy -- 20. Use Your Own Feelings as Data -- 21. Frame Here-and-Now -- 22. All Is Grist for the Here-and-Now Mill -- 23. Check into the Here-and-Now -- 24. What Lies Have You Told Me -- 25. Blank Screen? Forget It! Be Real -- 26. Three Kinds of Therapist -- 27. The Mechanism of Therapy- -- 28. Revealing Here-and-Now Feelings- -- 29. Revealing the Therapist's Personal Life- -- 30. Revealing Your Personal Life-Caveats -- 31. Therapist Transparency and Universality -- 32. Patients Will Resist Your Disclosure -- 33. Avoid the Crooked Cure -- 34. On Taking Patients Further Than -- 35. On Being Helped by Your Patient -- 36. Encourage Patient Self-Disclosure -- 37. Feedback in Psychotherapy -- 38. Provide Feedback Effectively -- 39. Increase Receptiveness to Feedback -- 40. Feedback: Strike When the Iron Is Cold -- 41. Talk About Death -- 42. Death and Life Enhancement -- 43. How to Talk About Death -- 44. Talk About Life Meaning -- 45. Freedom -- 46. Helping Patients Assume Responsibility -- 47. Never (Almost Never) Make Decisions -- 48. Decisions: A Via Regia into -- 49. Focus on Resistance to Decision -- 50. Facilitating Awareness by Advice Giving -- 51. Facilitating Decisions-Other Devices -- 52. Conduct Therapy as a Continuous -- 53. Take Notes of Each Session -- 54. Encourage Self-Monitoring -- 55. When Your Patient Weeps -- 56. Give Yourself Time Between Patients -- 57. Express Your Dilemmas Openly -- 58. Do Home Visits -- 59. Don't Take Explanation Too Seriously -- 60. Therapy-Accelerating Devices -- 61. Therapy as a Dress Rehearsal for Life -- 62. Use the Initial Complaint as Leverage -- 63. Don't Be Afraid of Touching -- 64. Never Be Sexual with Patients -- 65. Look for Anniversary and -- 66. Never Ignore "Therapy Anxiety -- 67. Doctor, Take Away My Anxiety -- 68. On Being Love's Executioner -- 69. Taking a History -- 70. A History of the Patient's -- 71. How Is the Patient's Life Peopled -- 72. Interview the Significant Other -- 73. Explore Previous Therapy -- 74. Sharing the Shade of the Shadow -- 75. Freud Was Not Always Wrong -- 76. CBT Is Not What It's Cracked Up to Be . . . Or, -- 77. Dreams-Use Them, Use Them, -- 78. Full Interpretation of a Dream? -- 79. Use Dreams Pragmatically: -- 80. Master Some Dream Navigational Skills -- 81. Learn About the Patient's Life -- 82. Pay Attention to the First Dream -- 83. Attend Carefully to Dreams About -- 84. Beware the Occupational Hazards -- 85. Cherish the Occupational Privileges.

"The culmination of master psychiatrist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom's more than thirty-five years in clinical practice, The Gift of Therapy is a remarkable and essential guidebook that illustrates through real case studies how patients and therapists alike can get the most out of therapy."--Publisher's website.