EXISTENTIAL THERAPHY

“Existential” refers to your existence, as in, what it means to you to be a

human being. It’s a philosophical style of therapy that explores the human
condition.

The goal of existential therapy is to help you find meaning and purpose in your
life as you confront and articulate your values particularly on the issue of
freedom, death, sufferings, and other issues that confronts human
comfortless. It is a philosophical approach of finding meaning in the midst of
meaninglessness.

This process help enhance ones self-awareness, create more meaningful

relationships, and help identify what brings the most meaning into the
individual’s life and present existence.

How an existential approach works

The approach of existential therapy does not dwell that much on the past, as
other treatments do, but only uses it as a tool to gain insight into one’s self. It
focus on state of well-being as a whole instead of tackling one symptom at a
time.

The uses for existential therapy are vast. You may used it in time
of desperation, disappointments, frustration and other losses; or having a
tough time and life’s challenges, or facing fears of the unknown.
Exploring personal questions such as: Who am I? Why am I here? What the
purpose of my life? What’s the point of my existence?, etc.

As therapist you may guide and support your client with the following skills:

 empathic reflection: connecting the dots between emotions and

events
 Value questioning: helping you define your beliefs and core values
 active listening: using focus attention to help the client open up.

Post-traumatic growth, while uncomfortable, is a core tenant of this modality.

It’s the notion that people must experience some type of suffering in order to
begin to explore and understand these deeper levels of the human condition.
In other words, as painful as it may be, you grow through what you go
through.