Momma and the Meaning of Life: Tales of Psychotherapy

Dr. Yahoo's work was used as a model in my own training. My own psychoanalyst, though older than Yalom and now deceased, had come to some of the same conclusions, also served as a model for my own work. Fictionalized, honest, literate...this is a demonstration of the work of a true healer.

I have always really enjoyed Irvin Yalom's real life tales of psychotherapy. His honesty and willingness to share insights into his therapeutic process is inspiring. Though I enjoyed Loves Executioner quite bit more, I found this to quench my desire to read further stories of therapy from a masters perspective.

What else is there to say it's the legendary Dr Yalom what's not to love

He is a tremendous writer..engaging and har to put down. I haven't read this one yet. It is for my stay in hospital for knee replacement, but his Love's Executioner is one of my all time favorite books.

Having read Irvin Yalom's novel The Spinoza Problem which was a fascinating psychological comparison of Spinoza and Nazi propagandists, I wanted to explore his non-fiction.What I got was better than I expected. Momma and the Meaning of Life contains several poignant stories that cast light onto the process of death and dying. His stories show how the process can be ennobling--especially when it is nurtured by a gifted therapist.

Silly me, who didn’t realize this was a book of non-fiction until I was well into it. The first chapter seemed beautiful and “litry” to me, and so I proceeded, thinking this might be like “When Neitzsche Wept” but it wasn’t. Instead, it was more like several stories loosely sewn together into a sort of crash course in psychotherapy, which did not reflect particularly well on the field of psychotherapy or its practitioners.I learned in Twelve-Step recovery that EGO stands for Easing God Out, and there was a lot of EGO in these pages – too much for me – until I encountered a hugely redeeming thread running through: mortality (the practically verboten subject of death). To me, THIS is The Subject most worthy of consideration in life, yet many hide their heads in the sand, as if not seeing The Subject renders it specious. It is regrettable that some are so fearful of “the debt of death” that they refuse “the loan of life.”Yalom himself admits that his “frenzied life pace was but a clumsy attempt to quell death anxiety.” He thinks the field of medicine may have beckoned to him because “it offers the only hope of mastery over death” and, in a way, it did. When he and a colleague led a support group for terminal cancer patients, they did not find people who were bitter and morose; they found people whose death sentences had “bestowed a special poignancy” to life. One group member shared that “it took till now, till our bodies were riddled with cancer, to know how to live.”One of my favorite lines in this book says, “You’ve got to find your own song to sing.” It yanked my head out of the sand, so to speak. I agree with Yalom that “the most enlightened individuals are those aware of their destination” and when he says, “You and I are just fellow travelers through this life, both of us listening to the bell tolling.” I hope we are both listening. Because we are all terminal.

The short stories based on real stories are great, I didn't like the fictional ones that much. But I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys deap topics.

I simply don't care how much is real and how much is not I just got a sense of reality throughout and to my own inner self as I relate to the therapist role... wow so much depth and tips on how to brings forth the equality concept ... loved it !

The book is very integrated with self. Reading momma and the meaning of life seems as like the book was talking to me directly. Anyone can certainly relate to it especially if meaning of life and understanding one's self is an important factor for the person. I loved it and Yalom the author with his beautiful insight of life and awareness.

Such a thoughtful and well-written book.

Brilliant book!

Disappointed with condition of this book which was not as described. Pages all very yellow. Book is curled.

Interesting book as most wanna-be pop psychology books are. Why can't sons realize that their mothers want to be their wives sometimes? It's kind of disturbing, I agree Yalom. How's that pop psychology for ya?l Can you pay me now?