Dimensions
155 x 235 x 27mm
From novelist and master psychotherapist Irvin Yalom, author of 'Lying On The Couch' and 'When Nietzsche Wept' comes a mesmerising story of two men's search for meaning.
Julius Hertzfeld is a distinguished psychotherapist with an impressive career, but when suddenly confronted with his own mortality, he is forced to re-examine his life and work. Has he really made an enduring difference to the lives of his patients? And what about those he's failed, what has happened to them? He trawls through old patient files in an attempt to gain perspective and feels compelled to try and contact the patient who he sees as his greatest failure - Philip Slate, a handsome but arrogant and misanthropic man whom he treated (unsuccessfully) for sex addiction twenty three years ago. Much to Julius' surprise, Philip claims to have cured himself by reading the works of dour philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Furthermore, he has become a philosophical counselor and asks Julius to act as his professional supervisor in order to obtain a license to practice.
Julius hesitates, wary of Philip's lack of empathy and caring, but eventually they strike a Faustian bargain and he agrees to supervise Philip, provided that he first join his therapy group. Philip enters the group but soon he and Julius, using very different therapeutic approaches, are competing for the hearts and minds of the group members.
In 'The Schopenhauer Cure', Irvin Yalom elegantly weaves the true story of Schopenhauer's psychological life throughout the narrative, knitting together fact and fiction to form a compellingly readable tale.
