CHAPTER 6 Existential Therapy
Introduction
Existential therapy focuses on exploring themes such as mortality, meaning, freedom, responsibility,
anxiety, and aloneness.
Existential concepts and themes have significant implications for the existentially oriented
practitioner.
Clients are shaping their own lives when they realized and accepted circumstances and surrendered
control.
Best described as a philosophical approach that influences a counselor’s therapeutic practice.
Asks deep questions about the nature of the human being and of anxiety, despair, grief, loneliness,
isolation, and anomie.
Deals centrally with the questions of meaning, creativity, and love.
Phase 4
Following are common questions/sources of existential angst for clients:
o“Why am I here?”
o“What do I want from life?”
o“What gives my life purpose?”
o“Where is the source of meaning for me in life?”
View of Human Nature
The basic dimensions of the human condition:
oThe capacity for self-awareness
oFreedom and responsibility
oThe creation of an identity and establishing meaningful relationships
oSearch for meaning, purpose, values, and goals
oAnxiety as a condition of living
oAwareness of death and nonbeing
Preposition 1: The Capacity for Self-Awareness
The greater our awareness, the greater our possibilities for freedom
Awareness is realizing that
owe are finite—time is limited.
owe have the choice to act or not to act.
owe choose our actions.
omeaning is not automatic—we must seek it.
owe are subject to loneliness, meaninglessness, emptiness, guilt, and isolation.
owe are basically alone.
Preposition 2: Freedom and Responsibility
We do not choose the circumstances into which we are born, but we create our own destiny through
our choices.
Sartre alls for a commitment to choosing for ourselves
Freedom implies that we are responsible for our lives, for our actions, and for our failures to take
action.
Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand; assuming responsibility is a basic condition for change.
Preposition 3: Striving for Identity and Relationship to Others
Identity is “the courage to be”—we must trust ourselvesto search within and find our own answers.
oOur great fear is that we will discover that there is no core, no self, and no substance.
oBeing existentially “alone” helps us to discover our authentic self.
Balancing aloneness and relatedness helps us develop a unique identity and live authentically in the
moment.
At their best, our relationships are based on our desire for fulfillment, not based on deprivation.
Relationships based on deprivation tend to be clinging and symbiotic.
Preposition 4: The Search for Meaning
A distinctly human characteristic is the struggle for a sense of significance and purpose in life.
Logotherapy can provide the conceptual framework for helping clients find meaning in their lives.
Meaninglessness in life can lead to emptiness and hollowness; an “existential vacuum.”
Preposition 5: Anxiety as a Condition of Living
Yalom’s four “givens of existence” create anxiety.
Existential anxiety is normal—response to an event being faced, an invitation to freedom.
Neurotic anxiety, of which we typically out of awareness, is anxiety about concrete things that is out
of proportion to the situation.
A healthy view of anxiety:
oAnxiety can be a stimulus for growth as we become aware of and accept our freedom; it can be a
catalyst for living authentically and fully.
oWe can blunt our anxiety by creating the illusion that there is security in life.
oThe courage to live entails accepting the reality of death and the anxiety associated with
uncertainty.
Preposition 6: Awareness of Death and Nonbeing
Death gives significance to living; it is necessary to think about death if we are to think significantly
about life.
Our awareness of death is the source of zest for life and creativity.
We can turn our fear of death into a positive force when we accept the reality of our mortality.
Therapeutic Goals
Assisting clients in moving toward authenticity and learning to recognize when they are deceiving
themselves
Helping clients face anxiety and engage in action that is based on creating a worthy existence
Helping clients to reclaim and reown their lives; teaching them to listen to what they already know
about themselves
Schneider and Krug (2010) identify four aims of therapy:
oTo help clients become more present to themselves and others
oTo assist clients in identifying ways they block themselves from fuller presence
oTo challenge clients to assume responsibility for designing their present lives
oTo encourage clients to choose more expanded ways of being in their daily lives
Relationship Between Therapist and Client
Therapy is a journey taken by therapist and client.
oThe person-to-person relationship is key.
oThe relationship demands that therapists be in contact with their own phenomenological world.
The core of the therapeutic relationship
oRespect and faith in the clients’ potential to cope
oSharing reactions with genuine concern and empathy
Application: Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures
Existential psychotherapy is not technique-oriented.
Techniques from other models can be used within the context of striving to understand the
subjective world of the client, but they must be used in an integrated fashion.
When the deepest self of the therapist meets the deepest part of the client, the counseling process
is at its best.
Phases of Existential Therapy
Initial phase: Clients are assisted in identifying and clarifying their assumptions about the world.
Middle phase: Clients are assisted in more fully examining the source and authority of their present
value system.
Final phase: Clients are assisted in translating what they have learned about themselves into action.
Application to Group Counseling
Provides an ideal environment for therapeutic work on responsibility
oClients are responsible for their behavior in group.
oGroup settings provide a mirror of how clients may act in the world.
oThrough feedback, members learn to view themselves through another’s eyes and how their
behavior affects others.
Builds interpersonal skills
oCreates an opportunity to relate to others in a meaningful and authentic way
Provides an opportunity to explore the paradoxes of existence
Reduces avoidance of universal existential concerns because not addressing these themes
diminishes one’s engagement with life
Strengths from a Diversity Perspective
It does not dictate a particular way of viewing or relating to reality.
It has a focus on universality and on the human experiences that transcend the boundaries that
separate cultures.
It considers the degree to which behavior is influenced by social and cultural conditioning.
Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective
Approach may be excessively individualistic and insensitive to social factors that cause human
problems; however, this is beginning to change.
Social injustices may lead clients to feel patronized or misunderstood if the therapist too quickly
conveys that they have choice in improving their lives.
Some clients may prefer more concrete direction.
Contributions of the Existential Approach
Existentialists have contributed a new dimension to the understanding of anxiety, guilt, loneliness,
and alienation.
Its emphasis on the human quality of the therapeutic relationship is a strength.
The key concepts of the existential approach can be integrated into most therapeutic schools.
Limitations and Criticisms of Existential Approach
The individualistic focus may not fit within the world views of clients from a collectivistic culture.
Some practitioners may view existential concepts as lofty and elusive.
The focus on self-determination may not fully account for real-life limitations of those who are
oppressed and have limited choices.
Some clients prefer a more directive approach to counseling.
Some practitioners may lack the level of maturity, life experience, and intensive training required to
be effective.
The approach does not focus on specific techniques, making treatments difficult to standardize and
study empirically.
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