What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fear of Doing Nothing: Notes of a Young Therapist
In the spirit of Mikhail Bulgakov's A Young Doctor s Notebook and Sandeep Jauhar's Intern , this is a deeply honest, searching examination of psychotherapy based on the experiences of a young sceptical trainee in New York City meeting his first patients.'Why is psychotherapy different from talking to a friend?' Hazanov asks. 'Because generations of self-interested therapists told us so?'Through ten linked stories, we follow Hazanov as he navigates the maze of psychological theories he's been taught, facing the alarming dissonance between them and the tragic reality of his patients' lives. 'How does psychotherapy work? And why do people not get any better?' Frustrated by fancy jargon and unrealistic depictions, Hazanov is on a quest to dispel the myths of psychotherapy and discover its essence. In The Fear of Doing Nothing he illuminates the intimacy, vulnerability and messiness of the therapeutic encounter, providing his answer to the question of what psychotherapy is.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
19 people are currently reading
1504 people want to read
About the author
Valery Hazanov
1 book14 followersValery Hazanov was born in Moscow and raised in Israel. He received his PhD in clinical psychology at Columbia University and trained at various hospitals and clinics in New York City. Before training as a psychologist, he had worked for several years with juvenile delinquents, managing the Jerusalem district of a national program to stop youth crime. He is a former fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center. He lives in Jerusalem.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 6, 2021
Valery, you bastard. Great job. Candid views about coming up through the ranks as a psychotherapist, cut from all the academic bullshit. You can read this even if you have never thought about becoming a psychologist. It’s short, it’s beautiful. Human connection is all we have, honestly. I think Valery knows which one his best therapy story is, too… an old Russian man lays dying thousands of miles away from home. Valery sits there, being a “therapist”, speaking in Russian, and he thinks up the perfect idea:
Calmed me right down.
"Do you want me to read you something?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay. Believe it or not, I’m reading you this from my mobile phone.”
“Wonderful.”
“And there in the middle, high above Prechistensky Boulevard, amidst a scattering of stars on every side but catching the eye through its closeness to the earth, its pure white light, and the long uplift of its tail, shone the comet, the huge, brilliant comet of 1812, that popular harbinger of untold horrors and the end of the world. But this bright comet with its long, shiny tail held no fears for Pierre. Quite the reverse: Pierre’s eyes glittered with tears of rapture as he gazed up at this radiant star, which must have traced its parabola through infinite space at speeds unimaginable and now suddenly seemed to have picked its spot in the black sky and impaled itself like an arrow piercing the earth, and stuck there, with its strong upthrusting tail and its brilliant display of whiteness amidst the infinity of scintillating stars. This heavenly body seemed perfectly attuned to Pierre’s newly melted heart as it gathered reassurance and blossomed into new life.”
He was silent for a few moments, smiling to himself.
“Thank you,” he said. “It brings back memories…”
Calmed me right down.
September 12, 2019
Who knew the words of a psychotherapist beginning his practice could speak so powerfully to one many years deep into his own? This set of interlocking vignettes manage to convey much of the human condition and the psychotherapist's journey to navigate personal life, an education and a patchwork mental health care system - all while seeking to remain human and a source of hope and connection for those in care. Valery Hazanov emerges as a unique and engaging voice, and each vignette reminds us that psychotherapy is a profoundly human and intimate gesture; a shared endeavor and journey where two people invariably touch and affect one another.
July 14, 2019
Humbling and inspiring. My favorite quote... “In the messiness of psychotherapy, the achievements are fleeting, amorphous, barely felt. Without accepting this, I believe, we cannot really affect the people we work with; cannot escape the traps of fancy sounding jargon that hides our fear of doing nothing.”.
October 30, 2020
As a young therapist, this book was a balm to my soul. Every day, I grapple with the clean-cut theories from grad school with the every day messy encounters with patients at my local psych hospital. This book was incredibly re-assuring that I don't have to get it all figured out in order to be a good therapist. At the end of the day, it's a human encountering with another human. If you are just starting out, I would highly recommend this book.
June 17, 2021
This book answered a lot of questions I have been unsure of related to the field of clinical psychology. The book was very organic and came from a place of deep honesty and humility. I very much appreciated all the information it had and how it made me feel about the career path I aspire to go down!
November 6, 2019
Just as good as a Country Doctor's Notebook!
October 30, 2021
Surprisingly insightful, delicate and moving
April 19, 2023
As a young therapist, it was delightfully refreshing to read what feels like the journal of a once-young therapist reflecting on how meaningless and profound this work can feel. In the sea of theories and interventions and jargon, I so appreciate the cutting honesty that human connection is all we can aim for.
September 7, 2019
Enlightening and uplifting. Highly recommended read for anyone interested in the stories that make us human.
January 20, 2022
Valery's work was absolutely beautiful. This is probably the first proper review that I am writing for a book that I've read (and maybe the start of many more), because of how impressed I was with the content.
My supervisor had recommended this book to me many months ago. Ironically, I decided to pick it up on a Sunday afternoon, after a long first week back at work, since the Christmas closure period. As a new graduate/clinical psychology registrar, I tend to struggle with "the fear of doing nothing", and resonated with Valery's monologue/thoughts in the text, between the dialogues that he had with his patients. I remember how it felt to be carrying those Wechsler intelligence test kits as an intern, and could not believe how much I resonated with how Valery felt about them too. It was interesting to me that considering we are on different continents, there were parallels in our experiences of training as clinical psychologists. For instance, the whole experience of the expertise of psychologists being narrowed down to "testing" and completing the MoCA, BDI, WISC, etc., most often, disregarding the very important details of that individual's life and suffering, or what has led to them ending up right there, sitting in front of us, arranging the blocks in the first block designs task. This is something that I struggle with at one of my jobs as an inpatient psychologist, so it did not after my internship. The last chapter made me tearful, as it reminded me of when I was completing my training at the hospital where I work as a psychologist now, and how a patient of the other trainee that I was doing my training with passed away in a similar way to Valery's patient, and we both teared up, walking around the hospital, trying to process the unfortunate ending of this man's life.
Apart from how well-written this book was and how genuine Valery appeared to be in sharing his experiences, I especially connected to the sections of the book that shed light on his background and identity as an immigrant. This sentence "from Moscow, or Haifa, or Jerusalem, or wherever the hell I am from." really resonated with me, as I was born in one country, grew up in another, and moved to another to train as a clinical psychologist. I found myself smiling when I read the section where he takes a photo of his private practice and sends it to his relatives and friends, which is something that I did, on my first day at my private practice in 2021. Both my heart and mind resonated with so much in this book, and I am sure that it will forever be one of my favourite reads.
Valery, thank you for being so vulnerable and courageous - sharing your experience as a young therapist with millions of people. I highly recommend this book to both early psychologists and experienced ones.
My supervisor had recommended this book to me many months ago. Ironically, I decided to pick it up on a Sunday afternoon, after a long first week back at work, since the Christmas closure period. As a new graduate/clinical psychology registrar, I tend to struggle with "the fear of doing nothing", and resonated with Valery's monologue/thoughts in the text, between the dialogues that he had with his patients. I remember how it felt to be carrying those Wechsler intelligence test kits as an intern, and could not believe how much I resonated with how Valery felt about them too. It was interesting to me that considering we are on different continents, there were parallels in our experiences of training as clinical psychologists. For instance, the whole experience of the expertise of psychologists being narrowed down to "testing" and completing the MoCA, BDI, WISC, etc., most often, disregarding the very important details of that individual's life and suffering, or what has led to them ending up right there, sitting in front of us, arranging the blocks in the first block designs task. This is something that I struggle with at one of my jobs as an inpatient psychologist, so it did not after my internship. The last chapter made me tearful, as it reminded me of when I was completing my training at the hospital where I work as a psychologist now, and how a patient of the other trainee that I was doing my training with passed away in a similar way to Valery's patient, and we both teared up, walking around the hospital, trying to process the unfortunate ending of this man's life.
Apart from how well-written this book was and how genuine Valery appeared to be in sharing his experiences, I especially connected to the sections of the book that shed light on his background and identity as an immigrant. This sentence "from Moscow, or Haifa, or Jerusalem, or wherever the hell I am from." really resonated with me, as I was born in one country, grew up in another, and moved to another to train as a clinical psychologist. I found myself smiling when I read the section where he takes a photo of his private practice and sends it to his relatives and friends, which is something that I did, on my first day at my private practice in 2021. Both my heart and mind resonated with so much in this book, and I am sure that it will forever be one of my favourite reads.
Valery, thank you for being so vulnerable and courageous - sharing your experience as a young therapist with millions of people. I highly recommend this book to both early psychologists and experienced ones.
January 5, 2024
such a moving book, such an inspiring book, such an absolutely marvelous read from beginning to end
the best thing i've read on therapy as a practice since The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients and i think it rivals it... it isn't as instructive into the therapeutic process as Yalom's book but is as concerned with the process and examining the inner workings of it from the perspective of clinical in a thoughtful and rousing way... definitely a perfect companion piece to The Gift of Therapy.
Valery is also just a gifted note-keeper and story teller - the narrative arc of each subject always ended with such a gut punch...
it made me laugh out loud it made me weepy it made me reflect and think sooooo glad i came across this book... beautiful!!!!!!!!!
the best thing i've read on therapy as a practice since The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients and i think it rivals it... it isn't as instructive into the therapeutic process as Yalom's book but is as concerned with the process and examining the inner workings of it from the perspective of clinical in a thoughtful and rousing way... definitely a perfect companion piece to The Gift of Therapy.
Valery is also just a gifted note-keeper and story teller - the narrative arc of each subject always ended with such a gut punch...
it made me laugh out loud it made me weepy it made me reflect and think sooooo glad i came across this book... beautiful!!!!!!!!!
January 16, 2024
My expectations might have been too high for this one. I found the writing style a little hard to follow.
Still, interesting stories and often quite relatable. I've struggled over similar questions as Hazanov and I feel like I'll keep struggling. An interesting perspective, without any definite answers. What I've struggled with: Hazanov does so many things that I'm currently taught you should never do as a psychotherapist. But does that make him a bad therapist? Sometimes it seems to work or help his patients after all.
Maybe I'll have to return to this book in a few years.
Still, interesting stories and often quite relatable. I've struggled over similar questions as Hazanov and I feel like I'll keep struggling. An interesting perspective, without any definite answers. What I've struggled with: Hazanov does so many things that I'm currently taught you should never do as a psychotherapist. But does that make him a bad therapist? Sometimes it seems to work or help his patients after all.
Maybe I'll have to return to this book in a few years.
September 5, 2019
Beautiful
Well written, lovely to read. As enjoyable as it is insightful. The author is honest and so relatable, both as a person and therapist.
Well written, lovely to read. As enjoyable as it is insightful. The author is honest and so relatable, both as a person and therapist.
February 28, 2025
This book in a way reminds Oliver Sacks' books of stories from his years of practice with different unique patients but this one delivers it with so much tender care about each patient.
The book felt warm and cozy in the way of delivery of stories and comments.
I also loved the thoughts on connections of psychotherapy and psychology and different approaches described.
The book felt warm and cozy in the way of delivery of stories and comments.
I also loved the thoughts on connections of psychotherapy and psychology and different approaches described.
July 14, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. At first I found the author insufferable: cynical, rigid and hypercritical in his reflections on psychotherapy in practice and in theory, but came to find his plainness and skepticism quite endearing.
The 10 case studies featured are wildly dissimilar but a
common thread of hard-won mutual respect runs through
them, with no saccharine and self-affirming happy endings
to cloud the harsh but necessary reality that comes with
dealing with decades of unresolved pain and suffering. The
quality of the book itself is somewhat lacking, and I'm not
sure it is something I would ever read a second time over,
but a positive experience nonetheless.
The 10 case studies featured are wildly dissimilar but a
common thread of hard-won mutual respect runs through
them, with no saccharine and self-affirming happy endings
to cloud the harsh but necessary reality that comes with
dealing with decades of unresolved pain and suffering. The
quality of the book itself is somewhat lacking, and I'm not
sure it is something I would ever read a second time over,
but a positive experience nonetheless.
August 25, 2023
A warm, honest and open book. Informative, real and moving.
March 8, 2025
very relatable easy read, probably liked it so much because I'm myself a future therapist. great title also. attracts people attention.
February 9, 2023
4 stars - loved this so much! easy, quick read but still powerful and thought-provoking.
June 9, 2024
How incredibly frustrating and validating to discover my own anxieties and confusion already explored so deeply in writing
July 14, 2021
Solid short & simple book that really captures the fears every psychologist goes through of not doing enough for their patients. Subtle & funny, & filled with enlightening & relatable stories of 4 different patients.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews