LAUSR

Daryl R. Van Tongeren and Sara A. Showalter Van Tongeren’s book “The Courage to Suffer” seems to have been published at just the right moment, at the beginning of 2020, the year in which humankind faces one of the biggest global health-related crises in history. The book is dedicated to the authors’ clients and students who have shown how working with suffering and the deep experience of pain and loss can lead to flourishing and well-being. The authors, who combine their well-established theoretical and practical knowledge and parts of their personal and professional life experiences into a “new clinical framework,” have divided the book into eight chapters. They conclude with an epilogue which presents the reality of the pain, suffering, and loss that humans experience, together for the potential for making meaning, while being aware of the existential realities of life, thereby creating flourishing. The book differs from other books published in the field of existential psychology in so far that the authors have extraordinarily combined their own life experiences with their theoretical background and their practical clinical work. The reader can therefore explore the topic of how to overcome suffering and pain on personal, theoretical, and practical levels. The book is therefore a highly recommendable contribution to the field.