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THE THERAPIST PSYCHOLOGIST BOOK STORE
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Lying on the Couch: A Novel By Irvin D. Yalom ( Harper Perennial )
Release Date: 1997-08-27
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List Price: $14.95
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Product Description
From the bestselling author of Love's Executioner and When Nietzsche Wept comes a provocative exploration of the unusual relationships three therapists form with their patients. Seymour is a therapist of the old school who blurs the boundary of sexual propriety with one of his clients. Marshal, who is haunted by his own obsessive-compulsive behaviors, is troubled by the role money plays in his dealings with his patients. Finally, there is Ernest Lash. Driven by his sincere desire to help and his faith in psychoanalysis, he invents a radically new approach to therapy -- a totally open and honest relationship with a patient that threatens to have devastating results. Exposing the many lies that are told on and off the psychoanalyst's couch, Lying on the Couch gives readers a tantalizing, almost illicit, glimpse at what their therapists might really be thinking during their sessions. Fascinating, engrossing and relentlessly intelligent, it ultimately moves readers with a denouement of surprising humanity and redemptive faith.
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Amazon.com Review
There is plenty of lying going on in psychotherapy offices to be found in Irvin D. Yalom's novel Lying on the Couch, and the lying is of every type defined in your average modern dictionary. Among those doing the lying are Carolyn, who hopes to ruin the career of psychotherapist Ernest Lash because she believes his advice led her husband to seek a divorce. Then there is the gambler whose plan is to lure another psychotherapist into malpractice so he can sue and pay off his debts. In Yalom's world, the relationship between therapist and patient is a tricky one indeed, and it's sometimes hard to tell who needs advice and counseling more--the patient lying on the couch or therapist sitting nearby.
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 Awful!
A blurb says it's supposed to show readers "what is really going on inside the head of a psychiatrist while he or she is shrinking someone" and it does that alright, only a sensible reader will never want to visit one afterwards.
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 A Great Read!
This has become one of my consistant recommendations when friends and clients ask for a great book to read. Thought provoking, earnest, funny and one of Yalom's best.
jimmy@jimmyowen.com
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Tantalizing fun
I enjoyed this book very much. It has many elements which make it interesting and clever to boot. Everyone gets a little something.
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Lying on the Couch
Excellent. Well written & highly recommneded.
At times it felt so real that it was hard to tell the real bits vrs fiction.
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More Engaging Than Actual Therapy ( danielherak )
Irvin Yalom made a name for himself as the author of a few of the more important texts in the field of psychotherapy, such as Existential Psychotherapy and THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY. Evidence for his writing ability came in the form of tales of therapy for the lay audience, such as Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics). It was only a small step thereafter to become the novelist he always wanted to be.
Yalom's first novel, When Nietzsche Wept, was a good showing out of the gate. Yet the book seemed just a tad too pretentious, like it was trying to show off just how smart it was. With LYING ON THE COUCH, Yalom hits his mark better, producing an excellent slice of fiction about the world of psychotherapists and their clients.
Two therapists, Ernest Lash and Marshal Streider, form the backbone of the book as Yalom explores the minefield of the therapuetic relationship. This minefield is even more dangerous as their clients, true to the double entendre of the title, really are lying on the couch - lying through their teeth for very different reasons.
Lash's client is Carolyn, who blames Lash for her husband's leaving her. Her attempts to entrap Lash in order to ruin him allow for a rich environment for Yalom to tap into. Yalom does not waste the opportunity. The twists and turns that the therapist takes with the client are matched by the psychological chess match being played between them, even if only one knows what the true game is.
Streider's client, in another malevolent twist, is a con man seeking a scam. Credit to Yalom is due here. I have seen my fair share of con men movies and read my share of stories about them as well. Yet Yalom weaves one that would make Mamet turn green with envy. Delicious!
I am a fan of what Tom Wolfe calls the realistic novel, in which a fictitious story is used to illuminate an accurate slice of Americana. LYING ON THE COUCH seems close to such a novel, though perhaps only at the edges. In its portrayal of the subculture of therapists and the milieu in which they practice their craft, it is close enough. It is a very enjoyable book.
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Addiction
