Preview

Existential Therapy

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1639 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Existential Therapy
Existential Therapy Existential therapy helps people who has uncertainties, anxiety depression, grieve and depression. Problems can distract a person life and essential of living. Sometimes it is hard to become stable possessing core cognitions, cognitive distortions thoughts and feeling on how a person views the world and themselves, which points out low self-esteem. Cognitive distortions are mainly negative thoughts of self, guiltiness that leads to uncertainties emotions and actions. Cognitive behavior focuses on results reinforcements and monitor behaviors. Existential therapy enables people to change and become aware and self actualized. “ Existential therapy is suitable for people who are open to new ideas and seeking greater meaning in their lives, especially for people who are struggling with suffering of loss, disabilities, illness, anxiety and depression” (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). In the above paragraphs existential therapy will be define through the history of the development of the therapy, the beliefs on which it is based, the important contributors or practitioners of the therapy, the theory of helping, the relationship between the helper and the clients, some techniques or approaches developed. The kinds of problems addresses, multicultural issues in using these approaches and research finding on the theory.
According to Seligman, and Reichenberg (2010) Existential Therapy is more like philosophy than that of any other treatment that can be considered. The text states that because of wars and other events that have happened over the years anxiety has stricken. The fear of death and loneliness is common and this is what this particular type of therapy is geared toward. Existential Therapy covers not only “death, but suffering love and meaning as well” (Seligman, & Reichenberg, 2010, p. 170). There were several people involved in the development of the Existential Therapy. One of the most influential was Viktor Frankl. This



References: Seligman,, L., & Reichenberg, L. W. (2010). Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Systems, Strategies, and Skills (3rd ed.). : Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Bily, Susan Jean (2003). An inquiry into the role of existential philosophy in the practice of existential psychotherapy. Psy.D. dissertation, Alliant International University, San Diego, United States -- California. Retrieved May 25, 2010, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text.(Publication No. AAT 3073423). Rettger, John, M.A. (2006). Existential Group Work in Adult Substance Abuse Populations. Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.transpersonalstuff.org Fernando, Delini M. (2007). Existential theory and solution-focused strategies: Integration and application. (PAPER). Journal of Mental Health Counseling/July 01, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2010 from http://www.accessmylibrary.com Mulhauser, Greg MD. (2010). Counseling Resource. An Introduction to Existential Counseling. Retrieved May 29, 2010 from http://counsellingresource.com/types/existential/index.html

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Corey, G. (2017). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    CBT and RBT simillarities

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (9 ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole CENGAGAE Learning.…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Claessens, M. (2010). Mindfulness Based-Third Wave CBT Therapies and Existential-Phenomenology. Friends or Foes? Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society For Existential…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psy/4065

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Existential psychotherapy deals with more deeply comprehending and alleviating as much as possible. Such as pervasive postmodern symptoms such as apathy, excessive anxiety, alienation, avoidance, nihilism, shame, despair, addiction, depression, anger, guilt, rage, resentment, madness, embitterment, purposelessness, and violence as well as promoting the meaningful, life-enhancing experiences of relationship, caring, love, commitment, creativity, courage, power, will, spirituality, individuation, authenticity, self-actualization, awe, acceptance, and transcendence.…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Day, S. X. (2008). Theory and design in counseling and psychotherapy: 2nd ed. (pp. 174-202). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.…

    • 893 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are various aspects of self – actualisation and obstacles that can be identified during therapy. Some of them are described in this essay: locus of control, conditions of worth, positive regard and self- regard.…

    • 2723 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Final essay proposal

    • 832 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: Barnes, H. E. (1962). Humanistic Existentialism and Contemporary Psychoanalysis, in Kern, E. (ed.) A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N. J: Prentice-Hall.…

    • 832 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    With this freedom and responsibility comes with the reality of having to live with the consequences of whatever choice was made (Erford, 2010). Existential therapy is about understanding the human experience as it encounters such things as loneliness, isolation, despair and eventually death. The psychological problems such as anxiety that stem from the human experience are viewed as the result from the inhibited ability to make authentic, meaningful, and self-directed choices about how to live (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1999). Battling the challenges of the human experience can cause unhappiness and when that happens, individuals begin asking questions regarding their existence (Jacobsen, 2007).…

    • 2423 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Gestalt Therapy” is a phenomenological-existential therapy founded by Frederick (Fritz) and Laura Perls in the 1940s. It teaches therapists and patients the phenomenological method of awareness, in which perceiving, feeling, and acting are distinguished from interpreting and reshuffling pre-existing attitudes. Explanations and interpretations are considered less reliable than what is directly perceived and felt. Patients and therapists in Gestalt therapy dialogue, that is, communicate their phenomenological perspectives. Differences in perspectives become the focus of experimentation and continued dialogue. The goal is for clients to become aware of what they are doing, how they are doing it, and how they can change themselves, and at the…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Existential Therapy

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Both theories stress the client's ability to change and the fact that the client is the expert on their own life and worldview. Further both theories focus mostly on the client's future and do not concentrate on the problems of their clients past. They both believe that their should be an authentic and collaborative relationship between clients and counselors and that the client is in charge of their own change. Both therapies also do not stress diagnosis. Existential therapy in contrast to SFBT does not have a lot of techniques that are used in therapy. Therefore it serves well as a foundation of this integrative approach. When working with this foundation the counselor sees their client as capable of self-awareness, responsible and able to choose their own future, in search of meaning in their life and faced with anxieties that are part of the human condition. This can work well with SFBT techniques that are goal-oriented, positive, and focus on the future. Techniques from SFBT that can be integrated with the existential therapy foundation are pretherapy change, the exeption questions, the miracle question and scaling questions. Pretherapy change looks at what the client has already done to change before the first therapy session. This can help demonstrate to the client the importance they have in the design…

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The existential therapy was first developed in continental Europe in the 1930s, by two individuals Ludwig Binswanger and Medrad Boss. Their work was associated with existential philosophers such as the work of Martin Heidegger (Langdridge, 2010). Existential psychotherapy uses a phenomenological method and it is one of the first steps taken in which provides counselors/psychotherapists to focus on the world as it appears to the client. For some, phenomenology is misunderstood and the philosophy behind it seems complex and difficult to understand but in fact it is simple. The phenomenological approach uses ‘epoché’ in which involves a number of processes such as: bracketing, description, horizontalisation, and verification (langdridge,…

    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Existential Therapy Essay

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This brief report will discuss an interview in which existential therapy is used with an individual who is leaving prison and re-joining the general population.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy (8th Edition ed.). Fullerton, California, USA: Brooks/Cole.…

    • 3290 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Case Study Logotherapy

    • 3278 Words
    • 14 Pages

    May, R. & Yalom, I.. (2005). Existential Psychotherapy. In Corsini, R. J. & Wedding, D. (Eds.), Current Psychotherapies (pp.269-298). Belmont, CA. Brooks/Cole – Thomson Learning, Inc.…

    • 3278 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Existential Therapy

    • 18483 Words
    • 74 Pages

    has stated, “I have always felt that the term ‘existential therapy’ reflects not a discrete,…

    • 18483 Words
    • 74 Pages
    Powerful Essays