Existential Therapy
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Existential Therapy ✺
“those who have a why to live, can bear almost any how”
Components of Humanistic - Existential Theories:
✰ Self- Actualizing Tendency
✰ Phenomenological Perspectives (subjective reality is what matters)
✰ Experiential Awareness (an understanding of the self & emotional experiences)
Major Contributors
✰ Developer of logo-therapy (therapy through meaning)
✰ Born in Vienna, Austria
✰ Prisoner in Nazi concentration camps for 4 years
✰ Based on these difficult years, he believed that the will to create meaning & purpose is the basic motivation
✰ Frankl’s purpose was to survive in the camps so he could share his experiences
✰ Wrote Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl
Rollo May
✰ Originally trained as a minister
✰ Influenced by Adler
✰ Focused less on unconscious drives & more on existential struggles
Irvin Yalom
✰ Major contributor
“The focus is on the universal issues that people face & ways to address them that are life enhancing & actualizing”
Key Concepts
❊ Anxiety is a normal part of life
❊ The search for meaning
❊ Authenticity
❊ Freedom & responsibility
❊ The role of choice & will
❊ The human condition as a paradox
Yalom’s “Ultimate Concerns of the Human Condition”
❊ Death: Is inevitable. Can motivate people to live more fully.
❊ Freedom: People have the freedom to make choices & create their own life.
❊ Isolation: Refers to the unbridgeable gap between self & others. Help clients to work to accept this, while fostering meaningful connections
❊ Meaningless: Life does not have inherent meaning. Individuals must create their own purpose & meaning.
❊ Umwelt - The physical & environmental world
❊ Mitwelt - The social world
❊ Eignwelt - the inner/personal world
❊ Uberwelt - The spiritual world
DASEIN - “Being in the World”
Therapeutic Process
Counselor - Client Relationship:
Is the primary therapeutic intervention
goal is to help clients find meaning & purpose in their lives
✰ Exploring client’s current understanding & awareness of the world
✰ Encouragement to use the info shared to find meaning & value
✰ Implementing new awareness to establish more meaningful lives
Considerations
Multicultural Groups
❊ Can be used cross-culturally due to the focus on universal experiences
Therapeutic Techniques:
❊ Understand the client’s cultural context
❊ Balance individual & cultural identities
❊ Differing death & end of life beliefs
Existential Questions
✺ Helpful to promote reflection, explore values
✺ No right or wrong. Meant to get clients thinking
✺ Exs: What are my values & how do I live up to them? What can I make of suffering? What do I owe myself in life & how do I get it?
Exploring the 4 Worlds
✺ Can help orient the client’s position in the world
Existential Themes
✺ Explore themes through stories, myths, metaphors
✺ Be open to creativity
Skill Dev: Values
✺ Should focus on values exploration
✺ Use info to help clients align life choices to follow their values