An Existential Psychoanalyst in the Literary Therapy Genre: The Representation of a Psychoanalytic Encounter in Irvin Yalom’s The Schopenhauer Cure

• Authors: Yen‐Chi Huang
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this paper is to describe the fictionalisation of psychoanalysis in the literary therapy genre written by psychotherapists. Being a psychotherapist, Irvin Yalom has written and published several literary therapy novels. The Schopenhauer Cure (2006) presents a psychoanalytic encounter with focus on the patient’s interpersonal issues in a group therapy session and draws a parallel line between fictional patients and the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The fictionalisation of patients’ psychological symptoms and the way therapists examine themselves in the therapeutic milieu in The Schopenhauer Cure correspond to the fundamental concerns of isolation, meaninglessness, death and freedom in existential psychotherapy. I explore the literary representation of the psychotherapist and therapist-patient relationship and the therapeutic encounter in The Schopenhauer Cure in the context of how fictional narratives can be read as a form of highlighting the psychoanalytic encounter

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Ars Aeterna
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 23-34

Dates

published

2015-06-01

online

2015-07-14

Contributors

author

Yen‐Chi Huang

• Faculty of Arts Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium

References

• Davis, T. “The Relevance of the Freudian Concept of 'Transference' to Existential Psychotherapy.” Existential Analysis 18.2 (2007): pp. 348-57.
• Evans, D. 1996. An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge.
• Freud, S. 1940. “An Outline of Psychoanalysis.” Historical And Expository Works on Psychoanalysis. Vol. 15. London: Penguin Books.
• Furst, L. R. 1999. Just Talk: Narratives of Psychotherapy. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
• Gerhardt, J., Sweetnam, A. “The Intersubjective Turn in Psychoanalysis,” Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 2001. 11(1): pp. 43-92.
• Hamman, J. J. “The Search to Be Real: Why Psychotherapists Become Therapists,” Journal of Religion and Health 40. 3 (2001): pp. 343-57.
• Keshen, A. “A New Look at Existential Psychotherapy,” American Journal of Psychotherapy 60:3 (2006): pp. 285-98.
• Martz, E. “Principles of Eastern Philosophies Viewed from the Framework of Yalom’s Four Existential Concerns.” International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling 24 (2002): pp. 31-42.
• May, R. 1994. The Discovery of Being. New York: Norton.
• May, R. - Schneider, K. J., 1995. The Psychology of Existence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Moustakas, C. 1994. Existential Psychotherapy and the Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Jason Aronson.
• Szasz, T. “What is Existential Therapy Not?” Existential Analysis 16.1: (2005): pp.127-130.
• Yalom, Irvin. 1974. Every Day Gets a Little Closer. New York: Basic Books.
• ---. 1980. Existential Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books,.
• ---. 1989. Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy. New York: Harper Perennial.
• ---. 1992. When Nietzsche Wept. New York: Harper Perennial.
• ---. 1997. Lying on the Couch. New York: Harper Perennial.
• ---. 2000. Momma and the Meaning of Life. New York: Harper Perennial.
• ---. 2006. The Schopenhauer Cure. New York: Harper Perennial.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/aa-2015-0004