Counseling and Psychotherapy

Theory and Practice

Chapter 6
Existential Therapy Approach

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Objectives
• At the end of the session, you will be able to
answer the following questions:
• Explain the fundamental propositions of existential
therapy
• Describe the therapeutic process in Existential Therapy
• Describe techniques in Existential Therapy Approach

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 View of Human Nature

Existential movement It bases therapeutic

reacts against the practice on an
identity to be a therapy understanding of what
with a set of techniques. it means to be human.

The existential tradition (b) The possibilities

seeks a balance between (a)
and opportunities
recognizing the limits and
tragic dimensions of human that make human life
existence and thrive and optimal.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 View of Human Nature

The current focus of the “No relationship can eliminate

existential approach is on the existential isolation, but
individual’s experience of being aloneness can be shared in such
in the world along and facing a way that love compensates for
anxiety of this isolation. its pain.” (Yalom & Josselson)

The existentialist view of Being a person implies

human nature is captured
that we are discovering
by the notion that we are
continually recreating and making sense of
ourselves through projects. our existence.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 1: The Capacity for Self-
Awareness

Freedom, choice, and The greater our

responsibility constitute awareness, the greater
the foundation of self- our possibilities of
awareness. freedom.

We are both free (willful, The challenge of therapy is

creative, and expressive) to create an environment
and limited (by where the person is free to
environmental and social explore and discover the
constraints). self.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 1: The Capacity for Self-
Awareness

We are finite and do not have unlimited time to do what we want in life

We have the potential to take action or not to act; inaction is a decision

We choose our actions, and therefore we can partially create our own destiny

Meaning is the product of discovering how we are “thrown” or situated in the

world and then, through commitment, living creatively

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 1: The Capacity for Self-
Awareness

As we increase our awareness of the choices available to us, we also increase our
sense of responsibility for the consequences of these choices

We are subject to loneliness, meaninglessness, emptiness, guilty, and isolation

We are basically alone, yet we have an opportunity to relate to other beings

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Key Insights in Existential Therapy

They see how they are trading the security of dependence for the anxieties that
accompany choosing for themselves

They begin to see that their identity is anchored in someone else’s definition of
them, that is, they are seeking approval and confirmation of their being in others
instead of looking to themselves for affirmation

They learn that in many ways they are keeping themselves prisoner by some of
their past decisions, and they realize that they can make new decisions

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Key Insights in Existential Therapy

They learn that although they cannot change certain events in their lives they
can change the way the view and react to these events

They learn that they are not condemned to a future similar to the past, for they
can learn from their past and thereby reshape their future

They realize that they are so preoccupied with suffering, death, and dying that
they are not appreciating living

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Key Insights in Existential Therapy

• They are able to accept their limitations yet still feel

worthwhile, for they understand that they do not
need to be perfect to be worthy
• They come to realize that they are failing to live in
the present moment because of preoccupation
with the past, planning for the future, or trying to
do too many things at once
• Increasing self-awareness is an aim for all
counseling. Clients need to learn that a price must
be paid for increased awareness.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 2: Freedom and Responsibility

• Schneider and Krug says that Existential Therapy

embraces three values:
• The freedom to become within the context of natural
and self-imposed limitations
• The capacity to reflect on the meaning of our choices
• The capacity to act on the choices we make
• Because of the reality of freedom, our task is to
accept responsibility for directing our lives.
• Inauthenticity refers to not accepting personal
responsibility; it is a passive way of life

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 2: Freedom and Responsibility

• Freedom implies that we are responsible for our

lives, for our actions, and for our failures to take
action
• Existential guilt is being aware of having evaded a
commitment to exercise freedom, or having chosen
not to choose
• This guilt is a condition that grows out of a sense of
incompleteness, or a realization that we are not
what we might become
• Being free and being human are identical

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 3: Striving for Identity and
Relationship to Others

People are concerned about their uniqueness and centeredness, yet at the same
time they have an interest in going outside of themselves to relates to others

However, rather than trusting ourselves to search within and find our own
answers to the conflicts in our life, we sell out by becoming what others expect
of us

By assisting clients in facing the fear that their lives or selves are empty and
meaningless, therapist can help clients to create a self that has meaning and
substance that they have chosen.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 3: Striving for Identity and
Relationship to Others

The Courage to Be. We struggle to discover, to create, and to maintain the core
deep within our being.

One of the greatest fears of clients is that they will discover that there is no core,
no self, no substance, and that they are merely reflections of everyone’s
expectations of them,

If clients demonstrate the courage to confront these fears, they might well leave
therapy with an increased tolerance for the uncertainty of life.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 3: Striving for Identity and
Relationship to Others

Existential therapists may begin by asking their clients to allow themselves to

intensify the feeling that they are nothing more than the sum of other’s
expectations.

Once client have recognized this fear, to put it into words and share it, it does not
seem so overwhelming.

The experience of aloneness. Existentialists postulate that part of the human

condition is the experience of aloneness.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 3: Striving for Identity and
Relationship to Others

The experience of relatedness. We want to be significant in another’s world, and

we want tot feel that another’s presence is important in our world.

One of the functions of therapy is to help clients distinguish between a

neurotically dependent attachment to another and a life-affirming relationship.

If we are unable to tolerate ourselves when we are alone, how can we expect
anyone else to be enriched by our company?

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 3: Striving for Identity and
Relationship to Others

Struggling with our identity. Because of our fear of dealing with our aloneness,
some of us get caught up in ritualistic patterns that cement us to an image or
identity we acquired in early childhood.

Farha (1994) writes that some of us become trapped in a doing mode to avoid
the experience of being.

Part of the therapeutic journey consists of the therapist challenging clients to

begin to examine the ways in which they have lost tough with their identity by
letting others design their life for them.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 4: The Search For Meaning

A distinctly human characteristic is the struggle for a sense of significance and

purpose in life.

“Why am I here?” “What do I want from life?” “What gives my life purpose?”
“Where is the source of meaning for me in life?”

“Do you like the direction of your life?” “Are you pleased with what you now are
and what you are becoming?” “If you are confused about who you are and what
you want for yourself, what are you doing to get some clarity?

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 4: The Search For Meaning

The Problem of Discarding Old Values. One of the problems in therapy is that
clients may discard tradition (and imposed) values without creating other,
suitable ones to replace them.

Clients may report that they feel like a boat without a rudder. They seek new
guidelines and values that are appropriate for the newly discovered facets of
themselves, and yet for a time they are without them.

One of the tasks of the therapeutic process is to help clients create a value
system based on a way of living that is consistent with their way of being.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 4: The Search For Meaning

Meaninglessness. When the world they live in seems meaningless, clients may
wonder whether it is worth it to continue struggling or even living.

For Frankl, a feeling of meaninglessness is the major existential neurosis of

modern life.

Meaninglessness in life can lead to emptiness and hollowness, or a condition

that Frank calls the existential vacuum.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 4: The Search For Meaning

Creating New Meaning. Logotherapy is designed to help clients find meaning in

life. The therapist’s function is not to tell clients what their particular meaning in
life should be.

This view holds that human suffering (the tragic and negative aspects of life) can
be turned into human achievement by the stand an individual takes when faced
with it.

Yet, meaning cannot be directly searched and obtained. Finding satisfaction and
meaning in life is a by-product of engagement, which is a commitment to
creating, loving, working, and building.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 5: Anxiety as a Condition of
Living

Anxiety arises from one’s personal strivings to survive and to maintain and assert
one’s being, and the feelings anxiety generates are inevitable aspect of the
human condition.

Existential anxiety is the unavoidable result of being confronted with the “givens
of existence” – death, freedom, choice, isolation, and meaninglessness.

Neurotic anxiety, as opposed to normal, is anxiety about concrete things that is

out of proportion to the situation. It is typically out of awareness and tends to
immobilize a person.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Proposition 6: Awareness of Death and Nonbeing

A distinguishing human characteristic is the ability to grasp the reality of the

future and the inevitability of death. It should not be considered as a threat, but
a motivation.

Accepting the reality of our personal death can result in the massive shift in the
way we live in the world. We can turn our fear of death into a positive force
when we accept the reality of our mortality.

One of the focus in existential therapy is on exploring the degree to which clients
are doing the things they value. Without being morbidly preoccupied by the
ever-present threat of non-being, clients can develop a healthy awareness of
death as a way to evaluate how well they are living.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 The Therapeutic Process: Goals

An invitation to clients to An invitation to clients to

recognize ways in which make choices that will lead
they are not fulling living to their becoming what
authentic lives. they are capable of being.

Existential therapy aims at Existential Therapists are

helping clients face anxiety and
mainly concerned about
engage in action that is based
on the authentic purpose of helping people reclaim
creating a worthy experience. and re-own their lives.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 The Therapeutic Process: Goals

(1) To help clients (2) To assist clients in

become more present identifying ways they
to both themselves block themselves from
and others fuller presence

(3) To challenge clients (4) To encourage clients

to assume responsibility to choose more
for designing their expanded ways of
present lives being in their daily lives

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 The Therapeutic Process: Client’s Experience

Assume responsibility Clients are

for how they are encouraged to act
currently choosing to based on the insights
be in their world. they develop.

They become more aware They are invited to

of what they have been,
confront concerns
and who they are now, and
they are better able to rather than coping with
decide the future. them by avoiding them.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 The Therapeutic Process: Therapist-Client
Relationship

The relationship is important Attention is given to the

because the quality of this client’s immediate,
person-to-person encounter in ongoing experience.
the therapeutic situation is the Therapy is viewed as a
stimulus for positive change. social microcosm.

The relationship is
Buber’s I/Thou
egalitarian between two
Relationship. I/it is the
persons with their own
person in the world, I/Thou
imperfections and own
is the person and the self.
journeys.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures

The interventions and

The existential techniques are anchored
approach is not on the philosophical
assumptions of
technique oriented. existentialism.

Practitioners prefer It is important for therapist to

reach sufficient depth and
description, understanding,
openness in their own lives to
and exploration of the venture into client’s murky
client’s subjective reality. waters without getting lost.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 Phases of Existential Counseling

During initial phase, During the middle phase,

therapists assist clients in clients are assisted in more
identifying and clarifying fully examining the source
their assumptions about and authority of their
the world. present value system.

During the final phase, the The aim of therapy is to enable

counseling focuses on helping clients to discover ways of
implementing their examined
the client they what they are and internalized values in a
learning about themselves concrete way between sessions
and put it into action. and after.

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.

 “Everything can be taken from a man
but one thing – the last of the human
freedoms – to choose one’s attitudes
in any given set of circumstances, to
choose one’s own way.”

- Victor Frankl

2020 © Department of Psychology, Kidapawan Doctors College, Inc.