Unpacking Dave's Complex Emotional Struggles

Response to Question One As Yalom describes the story he focuses so heavily on the love letters Dave, the client, had asked him to keep in case he died then his wife wouldn 't be heartbroken when she found them. I understand that the issue of the letters is important to Dave therefore should be addressed by the social worker or therapist. However, I felt that Dave had other issues of fear. He feared aging and death. Dave had issues with having appropriate relationships. Dave had been married several times and did secretive things. When he went to therapy, he never would tell his wife where he was going. He made passes at a couple women in the group therapy sessions. Dave could not open up to people in the correct ways.
Response to Question Two This case killed me. I felt like it went in the entirely wrong direction. Yalom focused so heavily on Dave 's love letters. Like I talked about in response to question one, he had many other

At the beginning Yalom states that he did not believe that Dave would attend group and that he was surprised when he showed up. Therefore I believe Yalom should have kept Dave in individual therapy. I also feel like Yalom knew that too, by my personal interpretation of many statements he makes throughout the case. Yalom also violated the ethical standard 1.04 related to the competence of the social worker (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). I feel he violated this because he was not addressing his own issues in an appropriate way and that is what we expect our clients to do on a daily basis. I also feel that Dave should have been more involved in his own treatment plan and that if he would have been then Dave would have requested individual therapy instead and may have been more