Benjamin Yalom

Psychotherapist Ben Yalom joins us to discuss Hour of the Heart, the memoir written in collaboration with his father and one of the most prominent psychotherapists of our time, Irvin Yalom. Hour of the Heart shows us how to relate to each other better in the moment, with more honesty and vulnerability. That hour of connection, occurring during a time of isolation and grief for so many, helped to sustain both patient and therapist, and enriched Yalom’s vision of what psychotherapy can do.

Facing memory loss at age ninety-three as well as the fallout from a global pandemic that moved much of daily life online, legendary psychotherapist and bestselling author Irvin D. Yalom was forced to vastly reconsider the shape of his sessions with patients. Rather than throw in the towel in the face of change, Dr. Yalom considered head-on the limitations imposed by these new realities and revolutionized his practice. Turning his focus to what might be achieved in a one-hour, one-time-only meeting between patient and practitioner, Dr. Yalom employed an even more concerted use of his “here and now” approach.

In Hour of the Heart, Yalom recounts some of these intense, life-changing sessions, exploring an array of human predicaments and his own late-career development as a therapist. In recounting these consultations, he shows how a therapist’s willingness to be open helps patients let down their own guards, leading to a deeper and more immediate connection—one necessary to achieving profound realizations in just sixty minutes. This vulnerability led Yalom to disclose details about his personal life that he might previously have kept hidden from patients, including his traumatic childhood in Washington, DC, the evolution of his thinking about philosophy and psychotherapy, and the recent death of his wife. Throughout, he pushes the boundaries of self-revelation as a therapeutic tool.

About the Author
Benjamin Yalom is a psychotherapist, creative coach, theater maker, and writer. His therapy and coaching focus on understanding and aligning one’s values with one’s living, and unlocking creative approaches to work and life. He is a longtime writing collaborator with his father, Irvin D. Yalom. Prior to his current doctoral studies in Marriage and Family Therapy, Ben was the visionary force behind foolsFURY theater, which helped transform San Francisco’s performing arts scene in theearly 2000s. He is also an award-winning fiction writer, and holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He lives with his wife, Dr. Anisa Yalom, and their three children in San Diego.

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