In this book, I have tried to be both storyteller and teacher. On the occasions when these two roles conflicted and I had to choose between inserting a juicy pedagogical comment and maintaining the dramatic pace of the story, I almost always put the story first and attempted to fulfill my teaching mission through indirect discourse.
Readers interested in a fuller discussion may consult my Web page: www.yalom.com. There I provide relevant references to the professional literature and discuss a number of technical aspects of these six tales: patient confidentiality, the boundary between fiction and nonfiction, the therapeutic relationship, the here-and-now ahistoric approach, therapist transparency, existential therapeutic approaches, and bereavement dynamics.