Existential psychotherapy and counseling is mostly based on the principles of existential philosophy. Nonetheless, any 1 who has grappled with the tips of existential philosophy will appreciate the difficulty of applying it to their private life, even so alone the psychotherapeutic connection. The writings of Nietzsche, Sartre or Heidegger for instance, whilst original and revolutionary, are complex and challenging to grasp. Their concepts also challenge the premise on which a great deal of Western considering is based. Sartre recommended that ‘Existence precedes Essence’ and that we are absolutely free to construct ourselves in any way we wish.
Heidegger, contrary to Cartesian Dualistic concepts, presented the notion of Dasein – we are an existent, ‘thrown’ into a world not of our personal deciding on 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 options in life and, as psychotherapists, our alternative of therapy and the modality inside which we function. These values and beliefs subtly influence how psychotherapists believe ‘people tick’ and what they have to have to do to feel far greater. What ever our modality, psychotherapy is one issue about escalating nicely becoming.
What are the values and philosophical assumptions underpinning existential psychotherapy?
We have selection and price-totally free will. We are doomed to opt for. In our personal lives and with our clients, we see examples of denying this and also never ever tapping into the wide array of options obtainable to us. We say ”I can not do this” Ï need to not do this” – all examples of denying the freedom we have – in the finish to be who we want to be. In an try to make sense of the infinite possibilities of life, we generate myths or unquestioned assumptions which hoodwink us into believing there is an objective globe.
Intrinsic Flexibility of human nature. We create our reality and ourselves by obtaining-in-relation to other men and women. This signifies it is attainable to make sense of life by engaging with this reality. We produce our reality and ourselves by obtaining-in-relation to other folks/things. We are not fixed but beings-in-relation who practical expertise the globe by way of Intentional Acts.
There are limitations to our freedom. We do not have limitless freedom to decide on but are bounded by our conditions and social, physical and cultural conditions in which we discover ourselves.
Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical endeavor. It is a tutorial in the art of living. Eheberatung Aachen is not about pathologising and thinking of men and women now to be sick but struggling with the pretty dilemma of living and generating sense of their certain situations.
Concentrate on issues of living and not personality troubles. Existential psychotherapy does not concentrate on character variations and approaches in attempting to recognize a client’s behavior. In reality, existential psychotherapists are not there to realize their clientele – they help their shoppers in understanding their private worlds and use themselves as an instrument to reveal that to clients. They also concentrate on the Ontic, lived sensible experience of the client inside Ontological givens to which the therapist is also subject.
The target of existential psychotherapy is Authenticity. Authenticity is a Heideggerian notion that is not to do with finding genuine or truthful but embracing the notion of Dasein or ‘being there’.
Folks are exclusive and their way of seeing the planet is precious. Focus on the individual’s subjective world is vital in existential psychotherapy and the therapist is educated to enable the client in understanding further their worldview, and valuing it, even if it is regarded as to be destructive or contrary to social or cultural norms.
Therapists face the extremely similar challenges of living that the clientele face. Existential psychotherapy is not about identifying and modifying elements of an individual’s self or behavior. Therapists commence from the premise that we are all ‘at life’ and topic to ontological offered e.g. birth, death, relatedness, existential angst, decision, freedom. Our ontic experience is how we live against the backcloth of these ubiquitous existential givens.
Therapists as a Self is changed in the course of action of conducting psychotherapy. Psychotherapists are changed in the technique of working with shoppers and a client that visits 1 therapist will be diverse from the exact identical a single who visits an added 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 1 additional therapist be numerous, but phenomenologically the certain individual exists only as a function of their co-building in the counseling partnership. Therefore the client – and therapist – are special and the stories which emerge are also distinctive, in how they are provided and in how they are received.