Experiential and

relationship - oriented
approaches
 Imagine...
There is absolutely no
god/s,
no afterlife,
we simply die and
decompose,
and there is nothing
after death.

What does life mean to

EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY
BEGINNINGS

In the mid-20th century, Existential Psychology rose to

prominence from Europe to the United States.
Proponents

Søren Kierkegaard
• Danish philosopher
• Father of Existentialism
• theorized that human discontent could only
be overcome through internal wisdom
Proponents

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

• German philosopher
• further developed the theory of
existentialism by introducing the idea of free
will and personal responsibility
“He who has a why to live
can bear almost any how.”
Proponents

Martin Heidegger

• German philosopher
• began to explore the role of investigation
and interpretation in the healing process
“Every man is born as many men
and dies as a single one.”
Proponents

Jean-Paul Sartre
• French philosopher
• He stated that for human beings,
existence comes before essence:
“…man first of all exists, encounters himself,
surges up in the world – and defines himself
afterwards. If man, as the existentialist sees
him, is not definable, it is because to begin with
he is nothing. He will not be anything until later,
and then he will be what he makes of himself.”
Proponents

Otto Rank
• Austrian psychoanalyst
• among the first existential therapists to
actively pursue the discipline
• Here-and-Now Phenomenon: the emotional
life of each person exists in the present
tense
Proponents

Rollo May
• American psychologist
• During his childhood, his parents divorced and
his sister was diagnosed with schizophrenia
• As the first born among six siblings, he bore
great responsibility
• He is greatly influenced by Otto Rank
• Concept of WILL: The ability to organize oneself
in order to achieve one’s goals.
Proponents

Irvin Yalom
• American psychiatrist
• among the first existential therapists to
actively pursue the discipline
“One who fails to live as fully one can,
experiences a deep, powerful feeling, referred
to as existential guilt.”
“It is a positive constructive force, a guide
calling oneself back to oneself.”
EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

…is a form of dynamic psychotherapy

Ainvolves the concept of force

There are forces in conflict within the individual, and that

thought, emotion, and behavior are the resultant of these
conflicting forces. (Yalom, I., 1980)

These forces exist at varying levels of awareness; some are

entirely unconscious. (Yalom, I., 1980)
GIVENS
…each individual experiences internal conflict due to his
or her interaction with certain conditions inherent in
human existence called givens.

Four Primary Existential Givens:

Death
Freedom
Isolation
Meaninglessness
The individual’s confrontation with each of these givens, or
facts of life, constitutes the content of the existential
dynamic conflict.
GIVENS
1. Death
• The most obvious concern
• We exist now, but someday, we shall cease to be
• Death will come and there is no escape from it
• It is a terrible truth and we respond to it with mortal
terror
• Core existential conflict: the tension between the
awareness of the inevitability of death and the wish to
continue to be
GIVENS
2. Freedom and associated responsibility
• Refers to the absence of external structure
• The individual is not born into a well-structured
universe
• The individual is entirely responsible for his or her own
world, life design, choices and actions
• Freedom, in its existential sense, means that beneath
us, there is no ground – a void, an abyss
• Core existential conflict: the clash between our
confrontation with groundlessness and our wish for
ground and structure
GIVENS
3. Isolation
• not interpersonal (loneliness) or intrapersonal
(isolation from parts of oneself)
• FUNDAMENTAL ISOLATION: an isolation both from
creatures and from world
• No matter how close we become with another, there
remains a final unbridgeable gap; each of us enters
existence alone and departs from it alone
• Core existential conflict: the tension between our
awareness of our absolute isolation and our wish for
contact, for protection; our wish to be part of a larger
whole
GIVENS
4. Meaninglessness
• if we must die (death), if we constitute our own world
(freedom) , if each of us is ultimately alone an
indifferent universe (isolation), then what meaning
does life have? Why do we live? How shall we live?
• Core existential conflict: dilemma of a meaning-seeking
creature who is thrown into a universe that has no
meaning
BASIC DYNAMIC STRUCTURE

Awareness of
Defense
Ultimate Anxiety
Mechanism
Concern

A confrontation with any of the givens fills an

individual with a type of dread commonly referred to
as existential anxiety.

This anxiety is thought to reduce a person’s physical,

psychological, social, and spiritual awareness, which
may lead to significant long-term consequences.
BASIC DYNAMIC STRUCTURE
For example, the fact that each one of us and each
one of our loved ones must die at some unknown
time may be a source of deep anxiety.

This may tempt us to ignore the reality and necessity

of death in human existence.

By reducing our awareness of death however, we

may fail to make decisions that can actually
safeguard or even enrich our lives.

At the other end of the spectrum, people who are

overly conscious of the fact that death is inevitable
may be driven to a state of neurosis or psychosis.
THE GOAL OF EXISTENTIAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY
4-Part Framework Encompassing the
Client’s Existence
THE GOAL OF EXISTENTIAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY

Existential psychotherapy involves teaching the person

in therapy to grow and embrace his or her own life and
to exist in it with wonder and curiosity.

By doing so, 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 the ultimate
concerns/givens.
THE GOAL OF EXISTENTIAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY
The key is to strike a healthy balance
- being aware without being overwhelmed
- encourage the person to make most of
opportunities and treasure the things he
has

Accepting fears and overcoming them

- address the issues with full engagement
- take responsibility for the decisions that
caused them to develop
Therapy process

Existential Psychotherapy can treat mental

health conditions such as depression,
anxiety, substance dependency,
and posttraumatic stress resulting from
exposure to military combat, rape, childhood
sexual abuse, interpersonal violence, or other
life-threatening experiences.
THERAPY PROCESS
“Life can only be understood backwards;
but it must be lived forwards.”

RETROSPECTION
• The person in therapy and therapist work to
understand the implications of past choices and the
beliefs that led those to take place, only as a means
to shift to the goal of creating a keener insight into
oneself.
• The emphasis is not to dwell on the past, but to use
the past as a tool to promote freedom and
newfound assertiveness.
THERAPY PROCESS

Individuals who respond to treatment tend to

find meaning and purpose in their lives and often
experience heightened self-awareness, self-
understanding, self-respect, and self-motivation.

The realization that they are primarily

responsible for their own recovery increases the
likelihood that people in treatment will see
beyond the limits of a therapy session, and view
recovery as a therapeutic process.
Concerns and limitations
Common misperceptions:

• 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.
Concerns and limitations
Common misperceptions:

• 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.
CONCERNS AND LIMITATIONS

Due to the fact that existential psychotherapy targets

the underlying factors of perceived behavioral and
mental health concerns, these approaches may not
directly address the primary issue that the person in
treatment is experiencing.

As such, existential psychotherapy is often used in

conjunction with other treatments in order to maximize
its effectiveness and promote recovery.
CONCERNS AND LIMITATIONS

Additionally, the in-depth, penetrative approach used in

existential psychotherapy may not appeal to individuals
who do not wish to explore their intrapsychic
processes, or who are solely interested in finding a
quick fix for their mental health challenges.
 Søren Kierkegaard
• Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality
to be experienced.
• To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily.
Not to dare is to lose oneself.
• Life has its own hidden forces which you can
only discover by living.
• Most men pursue pleasure with such
breathless haste that they hurry past it.
 Jean-Paul Sartre
• Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown
into the world, he is responsible for everything he
does.
• Freedom is what you do with what's been done to
you.
• Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs
itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.
• If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad
company.
• Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
• Life begins on the other side of despair.
 REFERENCES
• Center for Substance Abuse Treatment & Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (1999).
Treatment improvement protocols (tip) series. No 34.
Rockville (MD). Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64939/
• Prochaska, J. O. & Norcross, J. C. (2003). Systems of
psychotherapy: A transtheoretical analysis, 5th Ed. Pacific
Grove, California: Brooks/Cole.
• Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York,
NY: Basic Books.
• Existential Psychotherapy. (2016, December 12).
Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-
about-therapy/types/existential-psychotherapy