Love’s Executioner - Love’s Executioner
This section starts with a woman named Thelma who is severely depressed. She talks to Dr Yalom about how she is married and she had an affair with a previous therapist named Matthew. She explains that the affair lasted roughly a month and that it was “magical” (19). After the affair ended, she spiraled into a deeper depression than before . She became obsessed with her old therapist and called him repeatedly. At first he would answer but as she called more and more he began to ignore the calls. After many months of treatment with no effect, Yalom decides to try a three way meeting with Thelma’s previous therapist. Matthew agrees and they set a date. Thelma gets her hair done and puts an actual effort into her appearance, something she hasn’t done since Matthew broke her heart. She wears a “royal-blue knit dress” and puts on makeup to try …show more content…
I was proud that he helped a patient that he didn’t have “much professional experience with” (115). At any given moment he could have accidentally mentioned that he was repulsed by her. Ultimately, I feel like Betty was scared to lose weight because then she would have to face her fears. It’s almost like she found the weight to be a comfort blanket that would keep her away from death. I found it crazy that she tied different weights with different times in her life ( 210 - going to NY, 190 - college graduation, 180 - switch her major, 170 - senior prom, junior high graduation - 155). It was almost like she feared those things would happen again if she weighed the same amount. I found her fear to be “next in line” for the grave to be irrational, but I also have never been in her situation (110). Toward the end of their time together Yalom mentions all of the positive things that has happened during the course of therapy and I think it is important so that Betty could see how far she has come and how much she had
This section starts with a woman named Thelma who is severely depressed. She talks to Dr Yalom about how she is married and she had an affair with a previous therapist named Matthew. She explains that the affair lasted roughly a month and that it was “magical” (19). After the affair ended, she spiraled into a deeper depression than before . She became obsessed with her old therapist and called him repeatedly. At first he would answer but as she called more and more he began to ignore the calls. After many months of treatment with no effect, Yalom decides to try a three way meeting with Thelma’s previous therapist. Matthew agrees and they set a date. Thelma gets her hair done and puts an actual effort into her appearance, something she hasn’t done since Matthew broke her heart. She wears a “royal-blue knit dress” and puts on makeup to try …show more content…
I was proud that he helped a patient that he didn’t have “much professional experience with” (115). At any given moment he could have accidentally mentioned that he was repulsed by her. Ultimately, I feel like Betty was scared to lose weight because then she would have to face her fears. It’s almost like she found the weight to be a comfort blanket that would keep her away from death. I found it crazy that she tied different weights with different times in her life ( 210 - going to NY, 190 - college graduation, 180 - switch her major, 170 - senior prom, junior high graduation - 155). It was almost like she feared those things would happen again if she weighed the same amount. I found her fear to be “next in line” for the grave to be irrational, but I also have never been in her situation (110). Toward the end of their time together Yalom mentions all of the positive things that has happened during the course of therapy and I think it is important so that Betty could see how far she has come and how much she had