Loves Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy - Term Paper Example

Comparing Yaloms "Loves Executioner” and Freuds theories on death "Loves Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy" by Yalom is a compilation of tales derived from the authors work with ten of his patients. Yalom uses the short stories to breath life into his philosophical and clinical fixations. The book offers readers an examination of the field of psychotherapy through the eyes of a psychotherapist. The psychotherapist explains stories of his encounters patients who possess extraordinary honesty and warmth. Yalom’s readiness to recognize ambiguity and self-doubt about his patients depicts psychotherapy as an intricate art. The author brings to every story the vibrancy of a crafted mystery that are of a surprise to his patients, the therapist and readers. Yalom’s tales offer vivid and thorough portraits of different patients. The title story, "Loves Executioner" tells of Thelma, who desperately seeks relief from a devastating love fascination. The author of the book was very willing to accept her for treatment. The woman was clinging to a fantasy relationship with a very young man in order to avoid the reality of aging and death (Yalom 12). The story helps readers to understand that the fear of death among people is real and people will look for ways to remain young. The woman believed that by associating with a young person she will not die early. The story “The Wrong One Died” talks about Penny, a 38-year old woman. The woman presented herself to Yalom’s after reading an article in the newspaper that asked people to participate in a research project. The woman had lost a daughter to leukemia but was still suffering from that loss, although four years had already passed. She had blacked out and woke up driving on the wrong side of the road, and that scared her (Yalom 21). The woman’s sons were not doing well, and she feared that something bad could happen to them. Penny visited Yalom since she was troubled by a sense of guilt after losing her daughter through death. She was suffering from depression and functionally impaired; loss, grief, bereavement, and guilt were at the root of her illness. Penny lacked memories of when and how she knew of her daughter’s death, implying the memory loss that occurs during the trauma. The story “Fat Lady” is about Betty, whose obesity was getting her down. The woman had earlier conducted a therapist who was so bored with him that he fell asleep during their sessions; that brought her to Yalom. Betty’s life was characterized by total confusion due to her antisocial behavior, and she did not have friends or social life. Betty believed that her weight of 250 pounds was the primary cause of her problems (Yallom 26). The woman was depressed due to an eating disorder that caused uncontrollable indulgence in food. Betty depended on eating food to give her comfort and had very low self-esteem. Betty was isolated from other people and she assumed that her behavior kept her away from other people. Freud had a belief that much of human behavior was influenced by the life and death instincts. The life instincts relate to a basic need for survival, pleasure, and reproduction and include such things as the need for shelter, food, love, and sex (Kastenbaum 6). Freud believes that human beings have a life instinct that drives them to procreate and have survival skills. Freud suggested that every person has an unconscious yearn for death that is called the death instincts. Freud says that self-destructive behavior expresses the death drive and that these death instincts were largely influenced by the life instincts. He suggested that the goal of all life is death. Freud noted that after people go through a shocking event, in most cases they reenact the incident. Freud argues that people have an unconscious desire to die although it is affected by the life instincts. He believes that self-destructive behavior expresses the energy created by the death instincts that can be expressed as aggression and violence (Kastenbaum 11). In the title story, Thelma appeared to fear death that is why she was fascinating about a young person. Thelma’s life instincts propelled her to associate with a much younger man for fear of being old and die. If an individual has to learn to live with death, for example, the death of a loved one, that person must learn to live with the living. Although the fact of death can destroy a person, the notion of death may imply final salvation. When one decides to confront death, the person finds meaning and purpose in life; the inevitable relationship between these realities provides the opportunity for healing. One participant in the research had told Yalom before he died: Thank you for saving my life. It appears that the reality of life is entangled with death. Thelma has death thoughts in her mind. The fact that she does not want to grow old justifies Freud’s suggestions that every person has an unconscious desire to die. The woman thinks that if she gets into a relationship with a younger person, her fear of death will die. The woman may not know that she is affected by the fear of death, and she had to avoid such thoughts. The death instincts in her mind compel her to look for ways that will help her feel younger and avoid thinking about dying in the near future. The advice that Thelma received from Yalom must have gone a long way to helping her recover from the past losses and the fear of the future. The psychologist will help the woman by helping her understand that growing old is part of life and old age is just a stage in life. The woman whose child died as a result of leukemia is facing serious challenges since she keeps thinking about her child. The idea of always thinking about her child may be self-destructive as explained by Freud. Self-destructive behavior expresses the energy created by the death instincts that can be expressed as aggression and violence. It is highly probable that the woman may engage in acts of aggression if she continues thinking on the same line. The woman has a death drive that keeps reminding her of her dead child. The woman may also be tempted to believe that her remaining children may also die. Freuds main contribution to psychology is talk therapy that suggests that just talking about problems can assist in alleviating them. Yalom took the time to talk to the ten people and help them recover from their conditions. The ten participants were given an opportunity to talk about their problems and finally Yalom had to offer a solution. Penny introduced herself to Yalom in order to get the help that will assist her to overcome her challenges. Yalom realized her patients must explain themselves by telling of their fears of death for them to get help on how to overcome their challenges. The book "Loves Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy" serves as an excellent insight as to how human therapists are. Many people go to therapists when they face problems and share them with but never mind how therapists feel. Every Yalom’s case is unique in how he approaches and deals with patients. Yalom writes of how psychotherapy may manifest to both the patients and clinicians. He provides an unusually personal account of the challenges of a therapist and uncovers some of the challenges connected with the provision of a therapy. Therapists also deal with existential pain just as patients do. Feud’s views on life and death help to explain the different stories in the book. Works Cited Kastenbaum, Robert. The psychology of death. Springer Publishing Company, 2000. Yalom, Irvin D. Loves executioner, and other tales of psychotherapy. New York, N.Y: Basic Books, 2012. Print. Read More