The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy: Fourth Edition [Hardcover]

Dr. Yalom's book is not only a veritable masterpiece, but a tour de force that deals with everything you ever wanted to know about group psychotherapy.

Comprehensive without being pedantic, thorough without being dense, Dr. Yalom puts the group process under a magnifying glass and, in straightforward easy-to-understand language and conceptualization, gently guides the student through all of the subtlties and nuances of group work.

I had to purchase this book for use as the main text in a group process course, but this book will remain on my shelf long after I have taken the course. Dr. Yalom's keen insight into not just how/why groups behave and function the way they do, but also his insight into basic human nature, has made this book very enjoyable as well as educational.

This book is one that every graduate student in psychology or beginning therapist should read and have on their shelf. Yalom covers and discusses many important aspects of group therapy such as interpersonal learning, basic thearpist tasks, the idea of working in the here-and-now, therapist transference and transparency, selection of patients, creating a group, problem patients and training the group therapist. Yalom addresses this book to new therapists just starting out, as well as therapists who have been in the field for some time. Yalom presents the new therapist with the many considerations that need to be looked at when forming a group and actually leading a group and he assists the therapists who have been in the field for some time with ways in which to sharpen or improve their skills. Yalom's book appears to be based on highly functioning upper middle class individuals who seem to have good jobs and relationships with their family, friends and spouses. One may gather this assumption from the clinical vignettes and cases that Yalom presents throughout the entire book. Yalom incorporates much of his own practical experience with individuals in the groups that he has led himself, which makes his book feel like you are reading a novel and not a textbook per se. Although Yalom based his book on highly functioning upper middle class individuals, he never addressed the idea of group therapy with children or individuals of different ethnic backgrounds, which seem to be two important areas in today's society, especially within the realm of therapy. Yalom incorporates a rigorous research base within his text, such as discussing some of the current treatment modes and the diagnostic criteria for managed care, which other authors tend to maybe leave out or not touch upon, in essence leading the reader to believe that what Yalom speaks about is true, factual and practical when referring to group therapy. Although Yalom conducted an extensive amount of research on the area of managed care, I do not think it is possible for an individual to be covered by a managed health care or insurance company for a group that is conducted over a one to two year period, as Yalom presents in some of his clinical vignettes. One thing that I think Yalom has done that other authors have not is present the reader with twelve variables that he refers to as "therapeutic factors," (i.e. instillation of hope, universality, altruism, and group cohesiveness) which in essence are the driving tools and elements that assist therapy groups with rectifying individual character distortions. Yalom's book assisted our graduate psychology class in gaining an immense amount of insight and depth into the area of group therapy in such a short amount of time. Yalom's book is one that should be included in all graduate programs in psychology!

Nobody should do group psychotherapy without reading this book.