The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients

Irvin D. Yalom is renowned for his contributions to the field of existential psychotherapy. Born in Washington, DC, in 1931 to immigrants from Russia, Yalom grew up in an impoverished neighborhood where he found comfort in reading. He studied at the Boston University School of Medicine, specializing in psychiatry. He then completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Yalom has taught psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine since 1994, and he also maintains his own private therapy practice.

Yalom has authored several influential books, both academic and fictional, that explore the human psyche. His fiction has won awards that include the Prix Des Lecteurs and the Best Novel of 1992 Gold Medal Award from the Commonwealth Club of California. For his work in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, the American Psychiatric Association awarded him the Foundation’s Fund Award in 1976 and their Oscar Pfister Award in 2002. In 2018, he accepted the Psychotherapy Networker Lifetime Achievement Award.

As an existential psychotherapist, Yalom’s work is rooted in the idea that people struggle with concerns about death, mortality, and the meaninglessness of life. In The Gift of Therapy, as in his other work, he encourages therapists to help their patients confront these issues.