Name: De Schopenhauer-kuur / druk 5
ISBN: 9789050188920

Irvin D. Yalom

Een psychiater die nog maar een jaar te leven heeft, nodigt een door Schopenhauer beheerste ex-patiënt uit voor groepstherapie.

De Schopenhauer-kuur / druk 5

Marit

This book had been on my shelves for a long time. About 5 years back my then-therapist recommended this to me and I tried starting a few times, but didn't seem to be able to make it past the first ~50 pages. I am really glad I pushed through now.

Those pages mainly introduce the two main characters. Julius, who is an outstanding therapist and just found out he has a melanoma and about one healthy year left to live. And Philip, a somewhat arrogant, sex addicted and a-social (putting it lightly) ex-patient of Julius. He ridded himself of his sex addiction, became obsessed with philosophy and Schopenhauer and wants to become a therapist too.

To accomplish this he (hesitantly and not 100% voluntarily) joins Julius' therapy group. From here the story picks up it's pace. This might sound weird for a book like this, but believe me it was a page-turner for me. The people in this group are vastly different from each other, but I think there are personality traits and some thoughts and feelings each person has so that (almost) every reader can identify with at least some of them. Some of them are also pretty non-likeable, but hey, nobody is perfect. The descriptions of the therapy sessions give a very interesting insight in the workings of their mind and how despite their differences they can help each other overcome even the biggest hurdles. The writer manages to tell a wonderful story about change and how even the most hopeless of cases aren't really hopeless.

One thing I did find hindering at the times was the pacing of the Schopenhauer chapters. I understand why they are there and found them very interesting, but too slow at times. This took me out of the story and I found myself skimming a little to get back to the group's chapters faster.

All in all a very emotional, enjoyable, sometimes heavy, but beautiful read about the human psyche and how everyone deals with problems differently, but how still everyone can overcome them.

De Schopenhauer-kuur / druk 5

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