Chapter 5: Existential Theory & Therapy Flashcards
Soren Kiekegaard
Danish, lived in Copenhagen; wrote primarily on reliegous faith and meaning of christianity
Freidrich Nietzsche
German, had strong negative feelings toward christianity; claimed that religion used fear and resentment to pressure individuals into moral behavior
Fritz Perls
Every psychological phenomenon is experienced as a polatrity; polarized factions within the individual is a primary pathway toward deeper understanding of the true nature of the self
Rollo May
Formally introduced and integrated existential thought into American counseling and psychotherapy
May’s Educational Attainment
BA English in Oberlin College, Ohio; took seminars from Alfred Adler, obtained a Bachelor’s degreee in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York; Clinical Psychology degree from Columbia
Jean-Paul Sartre
Freedom is existence, and its existence precedes essence. Man’s essence is his existence.
Proposition of Pure Existential Theory
Humans contain no permanent elements.
There are no absolute or essential truths (essences) but that we as individual human beings create our own truth and reality
Existentialism
Emphasis on personal choice, personal consciousness, and personal responsiblity; the past does not and cannot determine the future;
Fritz & Laura Perls
Brought specific therapy techniques into the domain of existential therapy
I-Am Experience
The experience of being, of existing; Ontological experience (the science of being); entirety of an individual’s human experience is accesible to consciousness.
Principles of Gestalt Theory
The whole, self-regulating person Field theory The figure-ground-formation process Peeling the onion The therapy process
The Whole Self-Regulating Person
The goal is to help the individual become aware of and own his or her entire self; Gestalt therapy enhances awareness, which leads to reintegration and allows the whole person to regulate and be responsible for his life
Field Theory
Every individual must be viewed within the context of his or her environment, because everything is relational
Contact
Emphasizes the importance of contact between individuals and their environment. Individuals taste and digest their environment
Introjection
Accepting anything from their environment, swallowing ideas and perspectives of others whole; without testing or tasting
Retroflection
Doing with oneself what he or she would like to do to others
Projection
Spitting parts of themselves out onto the world, refusing to own these parts
Deflection
Keeping their mouths shur so nothing from the environment can get in
Confluence
Maintaining a completely permeable boundary between themselves and the world and having trouble distinguishing between themselves and the outside world
Figure-Ground-Formation Process
Dominant needs of an individual emerge into focus at any given moment
Peeling the onion
Peeling off distinct layers of neurosis; through awareness and integration, clients can wake up and become themselves, rather than pretending to be something they aren’t
Layers of Neurosis
The Phony The Phobic The Impasse The Implosive The Explosive
Gestalt Therapy Process
I and Thou, Here and Now, What & How
Daimonic
Any natural function which has to power to take over the whole person; includes positive and negative potential; form of psychic energy or an urge that is the source of both constructive and destructive impulses
Central Task of Psychotherapy according to May
Harnessing and integration of the daimonic
Types of Anxiety from the Existential Perspective
Normal Anxiety
Neurotic Anxiety
Normal Anxiety
Directly proportional to the situation; within our awareness (not requiring repression or other defensive processes); can be used creatively
Neurotic Anxiety
Disproportionate to the situation; usually repressed, denied, or otherwise avoided, and is not used for creative or constructive purposes; Destructive
Differences between Neurotic and Normal Anxiety
Deny the importance of life demands
Respond to the situation out of desperation rather than responding with creativity
Increase chances of having difficulties down the road because you did not responsibly maintain yourself
Guilt
Inspires people to act in thoughtful and conscientious ways
Normal Guilt
Acts like a sensor; alerts us to what’s ethically correct; guides us toward morally acceptable behavior
Psychopathology
Arises from Neurotic Guilt
Neurotic Guilt
consists of a twisted, exaggerated, or minimized version of normal guilt; does not serve a productive pupose
Excess Guilt
Makes people think they should bepunished, or make restitution, or both for their unacceptable behavior
Irving Yalom
Ultimate concerns relevant to Existential Psychotherapy: Death, Freedom, Isolation, Meaninglessness
Death
Death and life exist simultaneously; primordial source of anxiety and is the main source of psychopathology
Freedom
Positive conditions of life, eagerly sought by many individuals; personal responsibility as a powerful and direct implication of freedom; we are responsible for our nonchoices; you and you alone are the author of your experiences. Don’t bother pointing the finger of blame at anyone but yourself.
Isolation
Every individual is fundamentally alone; help clients connect as deeply as possible with others while at the same time acknowledging their incontrovertible separeteness; need-free relationship
Need-Free Relationship
Unselfish relationships in which one person knows another person intimately, gives love without a personal agenda, and acknowledges the other’s separeteness and independence of thought
I-Thou Relationship
Involves the deepest of all possible connections between two individuals; completely mutual and celebratory relationship in which both self and other are experienced fully
Goal of Existential Therapy
Help the client discover and explore the authentic self; the discovery and exploration of the authentic and complete, individual self-separate from others
Meaninglessness
Life has no inherent meaning. It is up to you to invent, create, or discover meaning in your life. Your challenge is to find meaning in an apparently meaningless world
Will To Meaning
Frankl’s term for the characterization of meaning which is to strive or to will.
Logotherapy
Finding meaning in life; confronting clients with the need for meaning, but not telling them what they should consider personally meaningful
Paths to resolve Existential Neurosis
Altruism Dedication to a cause Creativity Self-Transcendence Suffering God/Religion hedonism Self-Actualization
Existential Psychopathology
Results from failure to adequately face and integrate basic inner daimonic impulses, and from failure to acknowledge and reconcile life’s ultimate concerns
Cure for Psychological disturbances
Involves facing oneself, facing life, and embracing the reality of death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness
Stuckness
Inability to grow, adapt and cope; symptoms arise because of dysregulation in the boundary between self and environment
Therapeutic Encounter
I-Thou relationship. Therapist is the leader; partners with the client toward self-discovery and groth; facilitates creativity, the expansion of awareness or consciousness, and self-development
Issues to Work with in Practicing Existential Therapy
Understand and practice existential philosopy
Sharpen the main therapeutic tool: your self
Questions oriented toward Existential ultimate concerns to enhance client self-awareness and promote personal discovery
What do you want? What are you experiencing/feeling right now? Who are you? What do you want to say right now? Where do you feel that in your body?
Specific Existential Therapy Techniques
Paradoxical Intention Cognitive Reforming Staying with the Feeling I Take Responsibility For.... Playing the Projection The Reversal Technique The Exaggeration Experiment The Empty-Chair Technique or Dialogue Experiment
Paradoxical Intention
Antisuggestion; Doing the opposite from what one normaly does; successful in part because of humor: allows the patient to place a distance between themselves and their situation
Cognitive Reframing
Confronting clients with meaning; contextual meaning for suffereing is given.
Gestalt Therapy
Not technique-driven
Goal of therapy and techniques is to facilitate self-awareness and personal growth in the long run
Gestalt techniques, if inappropirately used, can be phone and antitherapeutic
Staying with the Feeling
Use pertinent repeated questions such as What are you aware of now?
What are you noticing inside yourself right now?
Instruct client to give voice to their feelings and sensations
Clients can be encouraged to act on or act out their feelings in the here and now
I Take Responsibility For….
Deals with our dread of accepting responsiblity for what we are and what we do; useful when clients are externalizing their symptoms
Playing the Projection
Applicable to Group Therapy; have client engage in an empty chair dialogue with one part being selfish and insensitive and the other part being unselfish and sensitive; putting group participants on the hot seat and to exort them to become involved with Gestalt experiments and give them feedback
Reversal Technique
Designed to get clients in touch with parts of themselves that they ordinarily minimize, deny, or ignore; employed in group therapy; main emphasis is placed on noticing physical sensations, feelings, and thoughts that emerge as they engage in these less prominent behaviors
Exaggeration Experiment
Clients are instructed to exaggerate their subtle nonverbal behaviors to amplify their meaning
Empty Chair Technique/Dialogue Experiment
Play two different parts of herself depending on the chair in which she is seated (top dog vs underdog); helps clients break out of being stuck in the self-torture game; client acts out a contemporary life conflict; Dialogue emerges from an external conflict
Steps to Gestalt Dream Work
Dreamer tells the story of the dream
Dreamer revives the dream by changing the language and telling it in the present tense
Dreamer becomes a director and organizes the dream as a play
Dreamer acts out a dream always using the personal pronoun I to enhance identification
Goal of Dream Work
To reidentify with the scattered bits and pieces of his personality and when the click comes, the life force that has been disowned and projected into other will begin to follow into his own center and he will begin to be himself again
Gestalt Therapy Principles
Dreamer owns the dream whether he wants to or not
Therapist does not interpret reality for the client, but only facilitates
As the client sinks into the process, he begins to feel the connections
Connections fit into his personal reality
Client’s insight represents his unfinished business
