Utrpení z nesmyslnosti života

By far the most insightful book about psychotherapy I've read.

The book itself is pretty short, yet very dense with information, sometimes even difficult to read. But how much more rewarding it is, when terrifyingly strong ideas pop up from the field of letters like whales above a calm ocean.

Many of the ideas in the book are also found in book Man's search for meaning (in the second part of the book) from the same author.

It is striking how negatively (and rightfully so) the author looks at psychoanalysis and psychotherapy of the time. Frankly speaking, not much has changed since the book was written in 1977, except for psychopharmaceutics. The author explains that understanding the problem does not necessarily helps solving it. Similarly, a smoker understands that cigarettes might be killing him, but it still does not make quitting easier for him. Moreover, it shines a light on the relationship of a therapist and the patient and what many doctors get wrong.

Highly recommended reading for everyone. Literally everyone will benefit from this book, students, teachers, doctors, patients or plain curious people. Short but very deep reading.