Hour of the Heart

One of the most prominent psychotherapists of our time offers a deeply moving chronicle of the challenges and breakthroughs that come from a wholly new practice of one-time-only therapy sessions.

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 revolutionise his practice. Rather than rail against these changes, Dr Yalom turned his focus to what might be achieved between patient and practitioner in just a one-hour, one-time-only meeting.

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 realisations in just sixty minutes.

Written in collaboration with his son, Hour of the Heart shows us how to relate to each other, with more honesty and vulnerability. That hour of connection helped to sustain both patient and therapist, and enriched Yalom’s vision of what psychotherapy can do.