Existential Therapy, Discussion Board 5 - COUN 835

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Feb 20, 2024

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In Existential therapy I found the idea of “ unfolding , which […] should be the way of the educator and the therapist: one uncovers what was there all along” (original italics retained, Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.300) was especially salient for me. As a teacher I am constantly guided my students towards discovering the things they can do when the constantly are sure they cannot do it, or say they can do something, but their actions are preventing from accomplishing something they subconsciously feel conflicted about achieving. For all the roadblocks my students put up for themselves, I really understood how “[t]herapy is aimed toward removing roadblocks to purposeful living and helping patients assume responsibility for their actions, not providing solutions” (Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.296). This is very real for me, as a teacher who constantly hears students who say “I don’t understand how to do this” when they really mean “I want you to help me do this” or “I want you to do this form me”. So instead of giving them the answer teachers usually ask students to demonstrate the what they do understand and then help them identify the part they find confusing, frustrating, or intimidating. Once that part is clarified, students can complete the task on their own, but often need reassurance that they had the skill or ability all along. Repeat a million times, and they have the skills to analyze a task or a problem and address it independently. In my future career, it makes sense for me to use of the aspects of Existential Therapy that “encourages reflection on belief systems and examination of meaning making with an aim of taking responsibility for one’s choices [… and c]ognitive restructuring techniques that aim at replacing maladaptive beliefs with personally meaningful values” (Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.278). In addition to taking on responsibility, I responded positively to the idea that we should not aim to eliminate anxiety all together, but rather to harness it for purposeful applications towards the betterment of life. I appreciate how adaptive Existential Therapy is, that it isn’t really a technique but a frame of reference that informs whatever technique and recognizes that “[c]ultural, racial, or national identities are not add-ons but essential aspects of the phenomenology of the client and intrinsic to the treatment. Existential psychotherapy is oriented to all aspects of human uniqueness and difference and takes into account and investigates the meanings of age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and so on” (Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.301). That would be useful in the role of School Counselor, where students are the clients which requires centering the unique racial-cultural-ethnic identity of each client as part of addressing their needs and concerns. Although I am still more drawn to Adlerian Theory, “[t]he stance of the existential therapist is aligned with other therapies that are phenomenological, holistic, and goal directed such as Adlerian, Rogerian, neo-Freudian, and relational psychoanalytic therapies” (Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.278). In school counseling, the need to address the here and now, the more salient and pressing issues for the student / client is a good match for me, but I believe that no matter how much the school counselor tries to identify with the student / client, the idea that they are just a “fellow traveler” won’t really work because of the age difference and the role of the counselor and authority figure, the power-dynamics will never really be felt to be equal for the student / client. For that reason, the concept of Therapist Transparency seems problematic. Even if “[t]he therapist uses disclosure in the service of the welfare of the patient, not as an end in itself” (Wedding & Corsini, 2019, p.298), anyone in education who risks saying anything too personal about themself may be putting themselves in a precarious situation due to the way that educators

are held to different standards, and parents may misconstrue the intent of a teacher or counselor sharing their feelings and report it as a negative or inappropriate. I do like a more equal relationship between client / student and counselor, and I see a relationship that is friendly in which the client / student must feel safe enough to share thoughts or feelings. For that reason, I responded positively to Logotherapy and Frankl’s idea of the I and Thou relationship as being an relationship in which two people are really listening and understanding each other and are therefore “freed them from [our] ontological deafness […] but to free them from their ontological blindness, we still have to make the meaning of being shine forth” (Frankl, 1967, p. 140). Having clients and clinicians really hearing and feeling each other supportively, but doing so with directed purpose so as to discover meaning is really powerful. I struggled with his idea that “meaning can be found only in unavoidable suffering [… and] unavoidable suffering is inherent in the human condition and the therapist should take heed not to reinforce the patient’s evasive denial of this existential fact” (Frankl, 1967, p. 141). I think that message might be fine to convey to adults, but I would not feel comfortable expressing this idea teenagers or adolescents. I do see a lot of similarities between Existential and Client-Centered Theories. The potential conflict I felt in Client-Centered Therapy in the concept of simply providing a supportive environment while the client until they self-corrected, but the Existential approach is more proactive. While both involve a more equal relationship between the client and the clinician, and both focus on the present moment, the Existential approach is more forward looking. I feel more aligned with the Existentialist approach to practical confrontation in to address a client’s maladaptive behaviors and beliefs by challenging the client to address these more directly in order to push for progress and change I believe I understand Frankl’s definition of (1975) “paradoxical intention” as basically a confronting self-fulling prophecy, which is a very understandable description of and explanation for how phobias arise and how exposure therapy works. Frankl explains that “ humor forms an essential element in the practice of paradoxical intention” (Frankl, 1975, p. 228), and I can see how “human detachment” is an approach I use could use with student / clients. My real questions would be around Frankl’s idea that “even the negative aspects of human existence such as suffering, guilt, and death can still be turned into something positive, provided that they are faced with the right attitude” (Frankl, 1967, p. 141), which I equate with the ideas of “grit” and “growth mindsets” as I know them as education precepts that come into and falls out of favor periodically. Would you share that idea with a client in treatment? Intellectually I understand the meaning, but I can see how emotionally, anyone who has survived trauma could take that idea very harshly and negatively. Even with different phrasing, the idea that people are “made stronger” by enduring tragedies, and somehow grief, pain, distress, agony are mechanisms for growth seems very problematic. Reference Frankl, V. E. (1967). Logotherapy and existentialism. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 4 (3), 138–142. Frankl, V. E. (1975). Paradoxical intention and dereflection. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 12 (3), 226–237. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fhsu.edu/10.1037/h0086434

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