Existential Therapy Ppt. 5x622m

Born in Ada, Ohio in 1909 B.A from Oberlin college in 1930 Lived as an itinerant artist in Europe. Returns to U.S in 1993 Graduates from Union Theological seminary in 1938

• Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and theologian, is usually considered to be the founder of modern existentialism. • emphasized a balance between freedom and responsibility.

• People acquire freedom of action by expanding their self-awareness and by assuming responsibility for their actions

• The first tenet of existentialism is that existence take precedence over essence. • Existentialists oppose the artificial split between subject and object. • They stress people's search for meaning in their lives • They insist that each of us is responsible for who we are and what we will become. • Most take an anti-theoretical position, believing that theories tend to objectify people.

• The acquisition of freedom inevitably leads to anxiety, which can be either pleasurable and constructive or painful and destructive. o Normal Anxiety-which is proportionate to the threat, does not involve repression, and can be handled on a conscious level. o Neurotic Anxiety-reaction that is disproportionate to the threat and that leads to repression and defensive behaviors. It is felt whenever one's values are transformed into dogma.

Arises whenever: • people deny their potentialities • fail to accurately perceive the needs of others • remain blind to their dependence on the natural world. Umwelt Guilt- from nature and develop an innate sense of guilt. Mitwelt Guilt- own experience and accordingly we can only relate to each other in a limited capacity. Eigenwelt Guilt- Results from our own limited self-realization.

• that gives meaning to experience and allows people to make decisions about the future. • permits people to overcome the dichotomy between subject and object, because it enables them to see that their intentions are a function of both themselves and their enviroment.

Care is an active process that suggests that things matter.

Love means to care, to delight in the presence of another person, and to affirm that person's value as much as one's own

• May believed that our modern society has lost sight of the true nature of love and will, equating love with sex and will with will power. • psychologically healthy people are able to combine love and will because both imply care, choice, action, and responsibility

• Sex have become preoccupied with it to the point of trivialization. • Eros is a psychological desire that seeks an enduring union with a loved one. It may include sex, but it is built on care and tenderness

• Philia, an intimate nonsexual friendship between two people, takes time to develop and does not depend on the actions of the other person. • Agape is an altruistic or spiritual love that carries with it the risk of playing God.

• Freedom comes from an understanding of our destiny. We are free when we recognize that death is a possibility at any moment and when we are willing to experience changes, even in the face of not knowing what those changes will bring. freedom of doing, or freedom of action/existential freedom. • freedom of being, or an inner freedom/essential freedom. • Destiny as "the design of the universe speaking through the design of each one of us.

The Power of Myth • The Oedipus myth has had a powerful effect on our culture because it deals with such common existential crises.

Psychopathology • Is a lack of connectedness and an inability to fulfill one’s destiny.

HISTORY

• Friedrich Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard, being one of the first existential philosophers. • They , theorized that discontent, could only be overcome or fulfilled by internal wisdom. • 1900s other philosophers began to investigate the interpretation and healing processes of this field. other fellow contemporaries and acknowledged the importance of experiencing and understanding as a method to achieve balance in our psychological state and well-being.

HISTORY • The first ever psychologist to adapt to this method was Otto Rank. • Writings of Rollo May and Paul Tillich & Irvin Yalom made existential therapy a mainstream approach. • Soon after, British philosophers began to expand existentialism by the foundation called "The Philadelphia Association“ (an org which helps with psychological issues by experimental therapies)

• a unique form of psychotherapy that looks to explore difficulties from a philosophical perspective, rather than taking a technique-based approach. • focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning—often centering on you rather than on the symptom. • Emotional and psychological difficulties are viewed as inner conflict caused by an individual's confrontation with the givens of existence, Rather than delve into the past.

• Existential psychologists evaluate an individual’s experience in four dimensions of existence: the physical, social, psychological and spiritual. They believe that conflict stems from confrontations with the “givens” or “ultimate concerns” of existence. These include:

• • • •

The inevitability of death Freedom and the responsibilities associated with it Existential isolation Meaningfulness

What Mental Health Conditions Can Existential Psychotherapy Treat? • • • •

Depression Anxiety Substance dependency Posttraumatic stress resulting from exposure to military combat, interpersonal violence, or other life-threatening experienced

• four different levels of experience and existence with which people are inevitably confronted. • can often help individuals understand the context of their concerns • person's orientation towards the world and the four realms defines their reality

1. The physical realm - centred around physicality - world we share with animals, the world of bodily needs - world that stores desire, relief, sleep/awake cycles and nature - Birth, death and physical feelings/symptoms are also part of this realm. 2. The social realm - relationships, culture, society and language are here as well as work, attitudes towards authority, race and family. - Emotions, friendships and romantic relationships are also part of the social world.

3. The personal realm - concerned with issues of the self - this includes intimacy (self and others), Identity, personal characteristics and overall sense of self - Personal strengths and weaknesses are also important as well as the question of being authentic. 4. The making realm - 'ideal' world - within it are religion, values, beliefs and transformation. - dimension where we make sense of our lives and is considered the realm of transcendence.

Accepting Fears and Overcoming Through Existential Psychotherapy • encourages people to address emotional issues that they’re facing. • people who undergo this form of therapy are guided to accept fears. • And – given the skills necessary to overcome them through action • By gaining control of the direction of one’s life, the person in therapy is able to design the course of his or her choosing. • creates in the individual a sense of liberation and a feeling of letting go of the despair associated with insignificance and meaningless.

Accepting Fears and Overcoming Through Existential Psychotherapy • teaching the person in therapy to grow and embrace his or her own life and to exist in it with wonder and curiosity. •

a person is able to view his or her life experience as a journey rather than a trial, and can eradicate the fear associated with death.

• Therapists help you find meaning in the face of anxiety by choosing to think and act responsibly and by confronting negative internal thoughts rather than external forces like societal pressures or luck. • Fostering creativity, love, authenticity, and free will are common avenues that help move you toward transformation. • when treating addiction disorders, the existential therapist coaches you to face the anxiety that tempts you to abuse substances and guides you to take responsibility. • The goal: You learn to make more willful decisions about how to live, drawing on creativity and love, instead of letting outside events determine your behavior.

Procedures of Existential Therapy • The initial phase, counselors assist clients in identifying and clarifying their assumptions about the world. Clients are invited to define and question the ways in which they perceive and make sense of their existence. The counselor teaches them how to reflect on their own existence and to examine their role in creating their problems in living.

Procedures of Existential Therapy • The middle phase, clients are encouraged to more fully examine the source and authority of their present value system. This leads to new insights and some restructuring of their values and attitudes. Clients get a better idea of what kind of life they consider worthy to live and develop a clearer sense of their internal valuing process. • The final phase, focuses on helping clients take what they are learning about themselves and put it into action, to find ways of implementing their examined and internalized values in a concrete way. Clients typically discover their strengths and find ways to put them to the service of living a purposeful existence.

Strengths of Existential therapy

• Their ability to enable clients to examine the degree to which their behavior is influenced by family, culture and social conditioning.

• Can be very useful and practical solution to solve psychological issues.

• It places a lot of emphasis on four different themes; death, meaningfulness, freedom and isolation.

Weaknesses of Existential therapy • Cannot claim to treat everyone in different ways if they place them into one of the four themes of existentialism. • There are some patients whose problems may not fall into any of the themes. • Psychologists might treat the patient incorrectly believing they fall into a category they don’t belong to

Common Concerns and Limitations • There is one distinctive, united existential theory which is free of internal tension and covers all the basic assumptions of existential psychology. • There is no difference between existential psychology and existential philosophy. • Existential psychology takes an antireligious or anti-spiritual approach, for example, denying the existence of God. • Existential and humanistic theories are the same thing. • Existential psychotherapy involves taking a negative, dark, or pessimistic view of life. • The approach is fundamentally an intellectual one. • It is only beneficial to people of high intellect, who are not experiencing chronic behavioral or mental health conditions.