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A review by jeremychiasson
Art of Listening by Erich Fromm
3.0
I enjoyed this, but fair warning: This is an absurd entry point into the work of Fromm, and the title of the book is slightly misleading. The Art of Listening is not a cohesive, intentional book about its titular topic (in the vein of Fromm's "The Art of Loving"). It's really just a collection of loosely related lectures on psychotherapy and Freud that was put together after Fromm's death to serve as the "Erich Fromm Guide to Psychotherapy" the author never lived long enough to actually write himself.
Also big yikes alert: These lectures are the work of an elderly German man delivering lectures during the 60s and 70s. And so some of this shit is way outdated. I shuddered as Fromm casually and repeatedly pathologizes homosexuality (he sees it in a non-hateful light, like being gay is an anxiety disorder or a result of trauma or something, but it still almost ruined the entire book for me and made me doubt everything else he said from there on out).
That being said, he inadvertently critiques the limitation of his views on homosexuality when he talks about how the needs and values of modern society arbitrarily determine what's sick, and how being well adapted to a sick society doesn't make you "healthy", it just makes you "valuable". He even talks about how a sick society can warp and traumatize marginalized people, making them more prone to mental illness. It's crazy that he declares all of this, and then in his next breath he is bragging about the time he "cured" a lesbian.
I'm not sure how practical or useful this book would be to a clinician, but there is some solid advice on the necessary conditions for successful outcomes in therapy. Also, if you're fascinated by the more existential, philosophical, and dare I say pseudointellectual BS, side of psychology, then you'll love this.
Also big yikes alert: These lectures are the work of an elderly German man delivering lectures during the 60s and 70s. And so some of this shit is way outdated. I shuddered as Fromm casually and repeatedly pathologizes homosexuality (he sees it in a non-hateful light, like being gay is an anxiety disorder or a result of trauma or something, but it still almost ruined the entire book for me and made me doubt everything else he said from there on out).
That being said, he inadvertently critiques the limitation of his views on homosexuality when he talks about how the needs and values of modern society arbitrarily determine what's sick, and how being well adapted to a sick society doesn't make you "healthy", it just makes you "valuable". He even talks about how a sick society can warp and traumatize marginalized people, making them more prone to mental illness. It's crazy that he declares all of this, and then in his next breath he is bragging about the time he "cured" a lesbian.
I'm not sure how practical or useful this book would be to a clinician, but there is some solid advice on the necessary conditions for successful outcomes in therapy. Also, if you're fascinated by the more existential, philosophical, and dare I say pseudointellectual BS, side of psychology, then you'll love this.