Death cures psychoneurosis. In a sense all these neurotic concerns–fear of rejection, interpersonal concerns–seem to melt away, and people get another perspective on their lives. The important things are really important, and the trivia of life is trivialized.
IRVIN D. YALOMOne reason patients are reluctant to work in a therapy group is they fear that things will go too far, that the powerful therapist or the collective group might coerce them to lose control–to say or think or feel things that will be catastrophic.
More Irvin D. Yalom Quotes
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A sense of life meaning ensues but cannot be deliberately pursued: life meaning is always a derivative phenomenon that materializes when we have transcended ourselves.
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Every person must choose how much truth he can stand.
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Life is a miserable thing. I have decided to spend my life thinking about it.
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Your greatest instrument is you, yourself, and the work of self-understanding is endless. I’m still learning.
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The act of revealing oneself fully to another and still being accepted may be the major vehicle of therapeutic help.
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Only the wounded healer can truly heal. (97)
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He had learned long ago that, in general, the easier it was for anxious patients to reach him, the less likely they were to call. (107)
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There was a time in our lives when we were so close that nothing seemed to obstruct our friendship and brotherhood, and only a small footbridge separated us.
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Despite the staunchest, most venerable defenses, we can never completely subdue death anxiety: it is always there, lurking in some hidden ravine of the mind.
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The therapist can make the group feel safer by allowing each patient to set his or her limits and by emphasizing the patient’s control over every interaction.
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When people don’t have any curiosity about themselves, that is always a bad sign.
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Therapists need to have a long experience in personal therapy to see what it’s like to be on the other side of the couch and see what they find helpful or not helpful. And if possible, get into therapy at different stages of their life with different kinds of therapists just to sample a bit.
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The pain is there; when you close one door on it, it knocks to come in somewhere else.
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When we have forgotten ourselves and become absorbed in someone (or something) outside ourselves
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Live your life to the fullest; and then, and only then, die. Don’t leave any unlived life behind.
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