Existential%20Therapy

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Existential Therapy
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Activity

• Break into four groups
• Each group will receive lyrics to an
  existential song
• Read through the lyrics and as a group, decide
  how the song could be integrated into a
  therapeutic session
• What type of client (age, presenting problem,
  etc.) would this song work best with?
• How could the song encourage the client to change
  or focus on existential problems?
• Do you think integrating music into existential
  therapy would be beneficial?

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Role of the Therapist

• To develop an authentic, honest, and mutually
  open therapist-client relationship
• Help the client distinguish distortion from
  reality
• Confront client when necessary
• Use modeling and self-disclosure when appropriate
  
• Offer ones own feelings to identify the clients
  contribution to his or her life predicament
• Focus on themes that are part of the human
  condition encourage clients to make
  life-changing decisions (Corey, 2009)
• To help uncover and appreciate the existential
  implications of decisions (Yalom, 1981)
• According to May et al. (1958), being fully
  present is the most important role of the
  therapist in existential therapy

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Role of the Therapist Death

• Death is a major source of anxiety in
  psychotherapy It is the therapists role in
  situations where death anxiety is present to not
  focus entirely on pain alleviation, but instead
  to work through and discuss the situation and
  anxiety further (May Yalom, n.d.)
• May (1977) stated that it is the therapists task
  to reduce anxiety to tolerable levels and then
  use that anxiety constructively
• Increase everyday patients awareness of
  personal finiteness (May Yalom, n.d.)
• write their own obituary
• focus on milestones like birthdays or
  anniversaries
• Focus on major life events like serious illness,
  retirement, commitment or separation from a
  relationship

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Role of the Therapist Existential Isolation

• It is the therapists role to help the client
  confront isolation
• Self-enforced isolation
• Guide the client to realize both the rewards and
  limits to isolation

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Role of the Therapist Meaningless

• To help reflect upon and understand ones
  existence (Corey, 2009)
• Must attend to the overall focus and direction of
  the patients life
• Help self-centered clients develop concern for
  others (esp. in groups)
• Help clients become engaged (I.e. projects,
  ideas, others, etc)
• Explore with the client obstacles that are
  preventing them from engaging in life, keeping
  them from enjoying work, blocking them from
  loving others, etc

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Strengths of Existential Therapy

• Primary applications in individual therapy
  however, various existential themes may be
  applied to other settings (i.e. couples therapy,
  group therapy, family therapy, etc) (May Yalom,
  n.d.)
• New, positive understanding of once negatively
  viewed feelings (anxiety, frustration, isolation,
  etc.) (Corey, 2009)
• Therapist is seen as a mentor more than an
  authority (Van Deurzen, 2002)
• Can easily be integrated into many other
  theoretical orientations with different
  cultures (Corey, 2009)
• Focus on universal human problems (Corey, 2009)
• Can borrow techniques from other therapies
  (Corey, 2009)
• The client is the center focus (Corey, 2009)

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Limitations of Existential Therapy

• Training is difficult to become an existential
  therapist, involves more than just mastery of
  knowledge (Van Deurzen, 2002)
• Not useful in most short-term therapies, although
  some approaches may be incorporated (May Yalom,
  n.d.)
• Therapy process and outcomes are not easily
  quantifiable (Cooper, 2003), limited amount of
  research to study its effectiveness (Corey,
  2009)
• No well-developed set of techniques (Corey, 2009)
• Concepts considered more philosophical, making it
  difficult to apply by some therapists (Corey,
  2009)

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Case Study - Yalom (1981)

• A 46-year-old mother accompanied the youngest of
  her four children to the airport, from which he
  departed for college. She had spent the last 26
  years rearing her children and longing for this
  day. No more impositions, no more incessantly
  living for others, no more cooking dinners and
  picking up clothes. Finally she was free.
• Yet as she said good-bye she unexpectedly began
  sobbing loudly, and on the way home from the
  airport a deep shudder passed through her body.
  It is only natural, she thought. It was only
  the sadness of saying good-bye to someone she
  loved very much. But it was much more than that
  and the shudder soon turned into raw anxiety.
• How would an existentially oriented counselor
  work with this client? What would the therapist
  focus on?

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References

• Cooper, M. (2003). Existential therapies. London
  Sage.
• Corey, G. (2009). Case approach to counseling
  psychotherapy (7th Ed). Thomson Higher Education.
  Belmont, CA.
• Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of
  counseling and psychotherapy (8th Ed). Thomson
  Higher Education. Belmont, CA.
• May, R. (1977). The meaning of anxiety (rev.
  ed.). New York Norton.
• May, R., Angel, E., Ellenberger, H. (Eds.).
  (1958). Existence A new dimension in psychiatry
  and psychology. New York Basic Books.
• May, R., Yalom, I. (n.d.) Existential
  psychotherapy. Current Psychotherapies. 1-38.
• Van Deurzen, E. (2002). Existential therapy. In
  Q. Dryden (Ed.), Handbook of individual therapy
  (4th ed., pp. 179-208). London Sage.
• Yalom, I. (1981). Existential psychotherapy. New
  York Basic Books.