Existential

1
Existential Humanistic Theory
2
Existentialism

• Not technique-driven
• A philosophy that was applied to psychology and
  therapy
• Focus on human concerns around death, freedom,
  isolation, and meaninglessness

3
Historical Roots

• Philosophical roots in Nietzsche and Kierkegaard
  as early as 19th century
• The movement solidified following the World Wars
  philosophers and writers influential

• Psychological roots with Frankl and May beginning
  just after WWII
• Tradition strengthened by therapists such as
  Yalom and Bugental

4
Existential Therapy

• A phenomenological approach
• Strong focus on joining with the client and
  making the therapeutic journey together
• Techniques may come from a wide variety of
  approaches

5
Capacity for Self-Awareness

• Help client increase awareness of their own
  mortality, freedom of choice, potential for
  loneliness and meaninglessness, etc.

6
Freedom and Responsibility

• Awareness of choices is crucial, as is
  responsibility for making those choices
• Existential anxiety the anxiety created when we
  become more conscious of our own choices and
  their impact
• Making a choice basically means giving up all
  the possible alternatives

7
Striving for Identity and Relationship to Others

• Courage to learn how to live from within
• Courage to tolerate aloneness and loneliness
• Courage to be in relationship with others
• Courage to find ones own identity

8
The Search for Meaning

• We want to have a sense of meaning and purpose in
  our lives
• Some come to therapy to help them find that
  meaning
• Finding meaning in work, love, creation

9
Anxiety as a Condition of Life

• Some anxiety is normal and spurs us on to action
• Freedom and anxiety as two sides of the same coin
• Therapy process involves tolerating some level of
  anxiety

10
Awareness of Death and Nonbeing

• Our awareness of death is a distinctly human
  capacity
• Must come to terms with our own mortality in
  order to know that the present is so important

11
The Goals of Existential Psychotherapy

• Help client recognize ways in which he/she is not
  leading a fully authentic life
• Help him/her make choices that can lead to a more
  authentic life

• Support client in confronting the anxieties
  he/she has been avoiding
• Help client get out of the victim role

12
Limitations and Criticisms

• No guidelines for practice, no techniques what
  are you actually doing with the client?
• Philosophical nature makes it difficult to know
  how to operationalize the concepts
• Probably not appropriate for clients who are more
  severely disturbed

13
Multicultural Considerations

• Works relatively well cross-culturally, as it
  proposes to be about universal principles
• May increase sense of freedom and control as
  people focus on those areas where they do have
  choices and responsibilities
• May be excessively individualistic and not fully
  acknowledging of limitations of race, gender in
  certain cultures