Irvin David Yalom (/'??rv?n 'j�l?

m/; born 13 June 1931) is an American existential

psychiatrist who is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, as
well as author of both fiction and nonfiction.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Awards
4 Publications 4.1 Novels and stories
4.2 Nonfiction

5 Filmography
6 References
7 External links

Early life[edit]

Yalom was born in Washington, D.C.[1] About fifteen years prior to his birth in the
United States, Yalom's Jewish parents emigrated from Russia (though their country
of origin was Poland) and eventually opened a Washington DC grocery store. 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 and then Boston University School of Medicine.

Career[edit]

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 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.

His writing on existential psychology centers on what he refers to as the four

"givens" of the human condition: isolation, meaninglessness, mortality and freedom,
and discusses ways in which the human person can respond to these concerns either
in a functional or dysfunctional fashion.

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

He is married to author and historian Marilyn Yalom. They have four children
including photographer Reid Yalom.

Awards[edit]
1974: Edward Strecker Award for significant contribution to the field of psychiatry
patient by The University Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Department of
Psychiatry[2]
1976: Foundation�s Fund Award for research in psychiatry by The American
Psychiatric Association
1977: Fellowship Award by The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
1987: Fellowship Award by The Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, Italy)[3]
1992: Commonwealth Club Gold Award for fiction best novel (When Nietzsche Wept) by
The Commonwealth Club of California[4]
2001: Oskar Pfister Award for important contributions to religion and psychiatry by
the American Psychiatric Foundation/American Psychiatric Association[5][6]
2009: International Sigmund Freud Award for Psychotherapy of the city of Vienna,
Austria by The World Council for Psychotherapy[7]

Publications[edit]

Novels and stories[edit]

1974 Every Day Gets a Little Closer ISBN 0-465-02119-0
1989 Love�s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy ISBN 0-465-04280-5
1992 When Nietzsche Wept[8] ISBN 0-465-09172-5
1996 Lying on the Couch ISBN 0-465-04295-3
1999 Momma and the Meaning of Life ISBN 0-749-92038-6
2005 The Schopenhauer Cure[9][10] ISBN 978-0-06-621441-2
2005 I�m calling the police! A Tale of Regression and Recovery[11]
2012 The Spinoza Problem[12] ISBN 0-465-02963-9
2015 Creatures of a Day - And Other Tales of Psychotherapy, ISBN 978-0-465-02964-8