Psychotherapy at the Crossroads: From Freudian to Humanitarian Approach (Based on Irvin D. Yalom's Novel «The Schopenhauer Cure»)

The problem of psychotherapy efficiency is discussed in connection with Irvyn D. Yalom's novel "The Schopenhauer Cure". The answers for some principal problems are proposed: how a psychotherapist realizes his/her work, whether he/she always acts in accordance with own conceptualizations, what is the role of the patient's personality analyses in psychotherapy, etc. Psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches are opposed. A humanistically oriented therapist does not know which structures are responsible for personality and psyche deformation but looks for means and forms of life that let the human begin a healing action and works to encourage the client, to broaden his/her outlook and understanding. The therapists who apply the humanistic approach in their work do not know what effect their attempts will have, whether the symptoms of the disease will disappear but they know that there is no other way to help without creating new problems.