Irvin David Yalom (; born June 13, 1931) is an American

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

who is emeritus professor of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, as well as author of both fiction and nonfiction.

Early life

Yalom was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

About fifteen years prior to his birth in the United States, Yalom's

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents emigrated from Russia (though their country of origin was Poland or Belarus) and eventually opened a grocery store in Washington DC. Yalom spent much of his childhood reading books in the family home above the grocery store and in a local library. After graduating from high school, he attended

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

and then

Boston University School of Medicine The Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, formerly the Boston University School of Medicine, is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1848, the medical school was the first institution in the world ...

Career

After graduating with a BA from George Washington University in 1952 and a Doctor of Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine in 1956 he went on to complete his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency at the Phipps Clinic of

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

in Baltimore and completed his training in 1960. After two years of Army service at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, Yalom began his academic career at Stanford University. He was appointed to the faculty in 1963 and promoted over the following years, being granted tenure in 1968. Soon after this period he made some of his most lasting contributions by teaching about group psychotherapy and developing his model of

existential psychotherapy Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence inclu ...

. His writing on existential psychology centers on what he refers to as the four "givens" of the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed fr ...

: isolation, meaninglessness,

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

and

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

, and discusses ways in which the human person can respond to these concerns either in a functional or dysfunctional fashion. In 1970, Yalom published The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, speaking about the research literature around group psychotherapy and the social psychology of small group behavior. This work explores how individuals function in a group context, and how members of group therapy gain from his participation group. In addition to his scholarly, non-fiction writing, Yalom has produced a number of novels and also experimented with writing techniques. In ''Every Day Gets a Little Closer'' Yalom invited a patient to co-write about the experience of therapy. The book has two distinct voices which are looking at the same experience in alternating sections. Yalom's works have been used as collegiate textbooks and standard reading for psychology students. His new and unique view of the patient/client relationship has been added to curriculum in psychology programs at such schools as

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts c ...

in New York City. Yalom has continued to maintain a part-time private practice and has authored a number of video documentaries on therapeutic techniques. Yalom is also featured in the 2003 documentary ''

Flight from Death ''Flight from Death'' (2003) is a documentary film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences. The film describes death anxiety as a possible root cause of many human behaviors on a ...

'', a film that investigates the relationship of human violence to fear of death, as related to subconscious influences. The Irvin D. Yalom Institute of Psychotherapy, which he co-directs with Professor

Ruthellen Josselson Ruthellen Josselson is professor of clinical psychology at The Fielding Graduate University and a psychotherapist in practice. Work She was formerly a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Towson University, a visiting professor at Ha ...

, works to advance Yalom's approach to psychotherapy. This unique combination of integrating more philosophy into the psychotherapy can be considered as psychosophy. He was married to author and historian

Marilyn Yalom Marilyn Yalom (March 10, 1932 – November 20, 2019) was a feminist author and historian. She was a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and a professor of French. She served as the institute's dire ...

, who died in November, 2019. Their four children are: Eve, a gynecologist, Reid, a photographer, Victor, a psychologist and entrepreneur and Ben, a theater director.

Awards

* 1974: ''Edward Strecker Award for significant contribution to the field of psychiatry patient'' by The University Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry * 1976: ''Foundation's Fund Award for research in psychiatry'' by The

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

* 1977: ''Fellowship Award'' by The

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social a ...

* 1987: ''Fellowship Award'' by The

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

(Bellagio, Italy) * 1992: ''Commonwealth Club Gold Award for fiction best novel (

When Nietzsche Wept ''When Nietzsche Wept'' is a 2007 American art drama film directed by Pinchas Perry and starring Armand Assante, Ben Cross and Katheryn Winnick. It is based on the novel of the same name by Irvin D. Yalom. It was filmed in Bulgaria. Plot The ...

)'' by The Commonwealth Club of California *2001: '' Oskar Pfister Award for important contributions to religion and psychiatry'' by the American Psychiatric Foundation/

* 2009: ''International Sigmund Freud Award for Psychotherapy of the city of Vienna, Austria by The

World Council for Psychotherapy The World Council for Psychotherapy is an NGO with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It was founded in 1995, has its headquarters in Vienna, and holds a World Congress every three years with more than ...

Publications

Fiction and Memoir

*1974 '' Every Day Gets a Little Closer'' *1989 '' Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy'' *1992 ''

'' (Kindle edition 2019) *1996 '' Lying on the Couch'' *1999 '' Momma and the Meaning of Life'' *2005 ''

The Schopenhauer Cure ''The Schopenhauer Cure'' is a 2005 novel by Irvin D. Yalom, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and ...

'' *2005 '' I'm Calling the Police! A Tale of Regression and Recovery'' *2012 '' The Spinoza Problem'' *2015 '' Creatures of a Day - And Other Tales of Psychotherapy'',

Nonfiction

*1970 '' The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy'' (6th edition 2020) *1980 ''

Existential Psychotherapy Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence inclu ...

'' (Kindle edition 2020) *1983 '' Inpatient Group Psychotherapy'' *1996 '' The Yalom Reader'' *2001 '' The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients'' *2008 '' Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death'' *2017 '' Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir'' *2021 ''A Matter of Death and Life,'' co-written with Marilyn Yalom

Filmography

*2003 ''

'' (directed by

Patrick Shen Patrick Shen (born 1975) is an American writer and director and producer. Shen is the founder of Transcendental Media. Documentaries Shen directed the Emmy-nominated documentary ''We Served With Pride: The Chinese American Experience in WWII'', ...

, featuring Ron Leifer,

Robert Jay Lifton Robert Jay Lifton (born May 16, 1926) is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of wars and political violence, and for his theory of thought reform. He was an early proponent of ...

, Merlyn Mowrey and

Sheldon Solomon Sheldon Solomon is an American social psychologist at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. He is best known for developing terror management theory, along with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski. This theory is concerned with how hu ...

and Irvin D. Yalom) *2007 ''

'' (directed by Pinchas Perry, featuring

Ben Cross Harry Bernard Cross (16 December 1947 – 18 August 2020) was an English stage and film actor. He was best known for playing Billy Flynn in the original West End production of the musical ''Chicago'', and his portrayal of the British Ol ...

Armand Assante Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (; born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film '' Gotti'', Odysseus in the 1997 mini-series adaptation of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Nietzsche in ''When Niet ...

, Katheryn Winnick) *2014 '' Yalom's Cure'' (directed by Sabine Gisiger)

References

External links

* *The musical composition o
On the Threshold
dedicated to Dr. Yalom by International Iranian philosophical composition, Pezhman Mosleh: You can find following text i
Dr. Yalom’s Facebook
about the music: An eminent Iranian composer, Pezhman Mosleh, has honored me with this gift: a musical composition and video arrangement. * Hans Steiner, MD, Stanford University, School of Medicine
''Laudatio for Irvin David Yalom, MD''Zeitschrift für Individualpsychologie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yalom, Irvin D. 1931 births American psychiatrists Boston University School of Medicine alumni Group psychotherapists Jewish American scientists Jewish psychiatrists Jewish scientists Jewish philosophers Living people Stanford University School of Medicine faculty Existential therapists American male writers Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows George Washington University alumni