Existential therapy has been practiced & continues to be practiced in many forms & situations throughout the world But until now it has lacked a coherent structure & analysis of its tenets & an evaluation of its usefulness Irvin Yalom whose Theory & Practice of Group Psychotherapy has rendered such a service to that discipline since 1970 provides existential psychotherapy with a background a synthesis & a framework Organized around what Yalom identifies as the four ultimate concerns of lifedeath freedom existential isolation & meaninglessnessthe book takes up the meaning of each existential concern & the type of conflict that springs from our confrontation with each He shows how these concerns are manifested in personality & psychopathology & how treatment can be helped by our knowledge of them Drawing from clinical experience empirical research philosophy & great literature Yalom has written a broad & comprehensive book It will provide an intellectual home base for those psychotherapists who have sensed the incompatability of orthodox theories with their own clinical experience & it opens new doors for empirical research The fundamental concerns of therapy & the central issues of human existence are woven together here as never before with intellectual & clinical results that will surprise & enlighten all readers