Chapter 6: Existential Theory Flashcards
Existential therapy
way of thinking, or an attitude about psychotherapy that explores themes such as mortality, meaning, freedom, responsibility, anxiety, and alines
We are the author of our lives, we design the paths we follow
Basic existential premise
we are not victims of circumstance because we are what we choose to be
Viktok Frankl
was a prisoner in Nazi camps, which influenced his beliefs
believed everything can be taken from a person except “our ability to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance”
logo therapy
developed by Frankl
means therapy through meaning
Frankl main themes
life has meaning under all circumstances
the central motivation for living is the will to meaning
we have the freedom to find meaning in all what we think
must integrate body, mind, and spirit, to be fully alive
Rollo May
his writings have had a significant impact on existential concepts into psychotherapeutic practice in the US and Europe
Irvin Yalom
developed an existential approach to psychotherapy that addresses 4 “givens of existence”
4 “givens of existence”
freedom and responsibility
existential isolation
meaninglessness
death
Major figures of existentialism and existential phenomenology
Søren Kierkegaard
Friedrich Nietzsche
Martin Heidegger
Jean-Paul Sartre
Martin Buber
From Kierkegaard
creative anxiety
despair
fear and dread
guilt
nothingness
from Nietzsche
death
suicide
will
From Heidegger
authentic being, caring, death, guilt, individual responsibility
and isolation
From Sartre
meaninglessness
responsibility
choice
From Buber
interpersonal relationships, I/Thou perspective in therapy,
self-transcendence
Søren Kierkegaard
concerned with angst
believed anxiety is the school in which we are educated to be a self
angst
danish and German
meaning is dread and anxiety
Friedrich Nietzsche
believed humans are irrational
humans are creatures of will than impersonal intellects
believes if we give free rein to out will to power, we will tap into our potentially for creativity and originality
Martin Heidegger
phenomenological existentialist; believed we live in the world and not apart from it.
we are thrown into the world
moods and feelings regarding anxiety and death indicate if we are living authentically or in-authentically,
phenomenological existentialism
provides a view of human history that does not focus on past, but looking forward to authentic experiences that are yet to come
Martin Buber
believes humans live in a kind of betweenness
not just an “I” but also an “other”.
Buber’s three functions of presence
it enables true I/Thou relationships
it allows for meaning to exist in a situation
it enables on individual to be responsible in here and now
Ludwig Binswanger
proposed holistic model of self that addresses the relationship between the person and their environment
Binswanger existential analysis
emphasizes the subjective and spiritual dimensions of human existence
Medard Boss
focused on dasein (being in the world)
main focus was applying Heidegger philosophical notions into therapeutic practice
Boss’s dasein
being in the world
pertains to out ability to reflect on life events and attribute meanings to them
Jean-Paul Sartre
believes humans are even more that earlier existentialists beliefs
believed failure to acknowledge our freedom and choices results in emotional problems
Key figures in contemporary existential psychotherapy
viktor frankl
rollo may
Irvin Yalom ‘
James Bugental
James Bugental
wrote about life-changing psychotherapy
coined the term “existential-humanistic” psychotherapy
emphasized the distinction between therapeutic process and content
life-changing psychotherapy
the effort to help clients examine how they have answered life’s existential questions and to invite them to revise their answers
believes therapists primary task is to help client discover new things about themselves
Bugental’s resistence
central to his approach
when client is not fully present both during therapy and life
part of the self-and-world construct
self-and-world construct
how we understand out being and relationship to world at large
forms of resistance
intellectualizing
being argumentative
always seeking to please