Existential psychotherapy and counseling is based on the principles of existential philosophy. Nonetheless, any a single who has grappled with the concepts of existential philosophy will appreciate the difficulty of applying it to their personal life, but alone the psychotherapeutic connection. The writings of Nietzsche, Sartre or Heidegger for instance, though original and innovative, are complicated and difficult to grasp. Their concepts also challenge the premise on which a lot of Western pondering is primarily primarily based. Sartre recommended that ‘Existence precedes Essence’ and that we are cost-free of charge to make ourselves in any way we want.
Heidegger, contrary to Cartesian Dualistic ideas, presented the notion of Dasein – we are an existent, ‘thrown’ into a globe not of our personal choosing out and challenged to respond to the ‘Call of Conscience’ – to authentically engage with what it is ‘to be’. Clearly our values and personal philosophy of life influence our possibilities in life and, as psychotherapists, our choice of therapy and the modality within which we execute. These values and beliefs subtly influence how psychotherapists assume ‘people tick’ and what they want to do to really feel far better. What ever our modality, psychotherapy is something about increasing well becoming.
What are the values and philosophical assumptions underpinning existential psychotherapy?
Bello Amanecer have alternative and completely free of charge will. We are doomed to choose out. In our personal lives and with our shoppers, we see examples of denying this and also in no way tapping into the wide array of selections readily accessible to us. We say ”I can not do this” Ï need to not do this” – all examples of denying the freedom we have – eventually to be who we want to be. In an attempt to make sense of the infinite possibilities of life, we produce myths or unquestioned assumptions which hoodwink us into believing there is an objective globe.
Intrinsic Flexibility of human nature. We produce our reality and ourselves by finding-in-relation to other persons. This suggests it is probable to make sense of life by engaging with this reality. We build our reality and ourselves by becoming-in-relation to other individuals/points. We are not fixed but beings-in-relation who knowledge the planet through Intentional Acts.
There are limitations to our freedom. We do not have limitless freedom to choose but are bounded by our conditions and social, physical and cultural scenarios in which we learn ourselves.
Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical endeavor. It is a tutorial in the art of living. It is not about pathologising and considering of persons to be sick but struggling with the incredibly problem of living and creating sense of their exclusive situations.
Concentrate on complications of living and not character troubles. Existential psychotherapy does not concentrate on personality variations and approaches in attempting to comprehend a client’s behavior. In truth, existential psychotherapists are not there to comprehend their clientele – they assist their shoppers in understanding their personal worlds and use themselves as an instrument to reveal that to prospects. They also concentrate on the Ontic, lived expertise of the client inside Ontological givens to which the therapist is also topic.
The aim of existential psychotherapy is Authenticity. Authenticity is a Heideggerian idea that is not to do with getting genuine or truthful but embracing the concept of Dasein or ‘being there’.
Men and women are exclusive and their way of seeing the globe is beneficial. Concentrate on the individual’s subjective planet is essential in existential psychotherapy and the therapist is educated to assist the client in understanding additional their worldview, and valuing it, even if it is deemed to be destructive or contrary to social or cultural norms.
Therapists face the equivalent challenges of living that the buyers face. Existential psychotherapy is not about identifying and modifying elements of an individual’s self or behavior. Therapists commence out from the premise that we are all ‘at life’ and subject to ontological given e.g. birth, death, relatedness, existential angst, decision, freedom. Our ontic knowledge is how we reside against the backcloth of these ubiquitous existential givens.
Therapists as a Self is changed in the procedure of conducting psychotherapy. Psychotherapists are changed in the process of operating with shoppers and a client that visits a single specific therapist will be distinctive from the equivalent a single distinct who visits one particular more therapist. As existants in the planet, we are co-constructed and do not exist in isolation. Not only will the story and content material shared with a various therapist be different, but phenomenologically the person exists only as a function of their co-building in the counseling relationship. As a result the client – and therapist – are distinctive and the stories which emerge are also exceptional, in how they are offered and in how they are received.
