Existential therapy

Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical method of therapy that operates on the belief that inner conflict within a person is due to that individual's confrontation with the givens of existence. These givens, as noted by Irvin D. Yalom, are: the inevitability of death, freedom and its attendant responsibility, existential isolation, and finally meaninglessness. These four givens, also referred to as ultimate concerns, form the body of existential psychotherapy and compose the framework in which a therapist conceptualizes a client's problem in order to develop a method of treatment. In the British School of existential therapy (Cooper, 2003), these givens are seen as predictable tensions and paradoxes of the four dimensions of human existence, the physical, social, personal and spiritual realms (Umwelt, Mitwelt, Eigenwelt and Überwelt). The Viennese School of Existential therapy (Längle, 2003b) describes four fundamental existential dimensions as a structural model of therapy. Their accomplishment (therapeutically endorsed by the method of Personal Existential Analysis) leads to personal existential fulfillment.

It is important to note another view of existential psychotherapy – that life has meaning under all circumstances. Viktor Frankl's logotherapy includes as one of its basic tenets that life has meaning under all circumstances – even under suffering. Meaninglessness then is meaning not yet discovered. He had comprised the theory in the 1920s and actually put it to the test while incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps.

The philosophers who are especially pertinent to the development of existential psychotherapy are those whose work is directly aimed at making sense of human existence. But the philosophical movements that are of most importance and that have been directly responsible for the generation of existential therapy are phenomenology and existential philosophy.

The starting point of existential philosophy (see Warnock, 1970; Macquarrie, 1972; Mace, 1999; Van Deurzen and Kenward, 2005) can be traced back to the nineteenth century and the work of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Both were in conflict with the predominant ideologies of their time and committed to the exploration of reality as it can be experienced in a passionate and personal manner.

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