Counselling And Psychotherapeutic Theory Of Understanding Human Development

Based on my past experience and a review of this week’s reading, I believe the theories that best fit with my personal philosophies are the Person-centered therapy and Existential therapy. As Experiential and Relationship-Oriented Therapies, these theories share some key concepts that really fit with how I see my role in the therapeutic relationship and what I believe about personal power and change.

Psychotherapy has four integration approaches; technical eclecticism, theoretical integration, common factors approach, and assimilative integration. Psychotherapy integration is different than eclectic; which is when therapist use theories because it works and uses no other reasoning when grabbing from multiple theories (Stricker, An Introduction to Psychotherapy Integration, 2001). Psychotherapy integration goes past the single theory approach to examine what can be learned and combined with other theories (Stricker, Psychotherapy Integration, 2010).

Existentialism was in part a reaction to modernism, but its roots can be traced to ancient philosophical traditions ranging from Zoroastrianism and Judaism, Buddhism and Platonism (Flynn). The essence of existentialism is authenticity of experience, asking the philosopher to undergo deep introspection. However, existentialism is perhaps most famous for its probing questions about what Friedrich Nietzsche called the "tension of the soul," (2). Known colloquially as existential angst, the "tension of the soul," search for meaning and purpose in life has characterized personal and collective identity formation in the twentieth century. Books like Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is quintessentially existential in its approach to the author's coming to terms with his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. Existentialism made its mark on the social sciences, and especially psychology. When psychology emerged as a discipline, Sigmund Freud's theories had a clear existential basis due to his emphasis on the death wish and the deeper realms of human consciousness and its phenomenology. Therefore, existentialism has had a tremendous impact on the evolution of Western society in the twentieth century and well into the 21st as well.

An Existential approach is the foundation argued in the therapist’s therapeutic orientation. In this interaction, Mike provides ideas with existential implications to which he often does in therapy. The therapist attempts to continue the theme with ideas of philosophy and philosophical readings which did not hold Mike’s interest. The intention of this sessions was to integrate an existential exercise, but the therapist did not introduce it now. It is considered to be a missed opportunity to invoke more existential thinking and exploration for Mike.

This research paper will be a brief insight into trauma and an exploration onto alternative therapies and models of psychology to treat trauma survivors. By using different journals, I will provide information that will give more in depth therapy treatments that have been conducted on individuals that have either suffer from or experienced traumatic events in their lives. The focus will be to investigate some of the implications of the current psychological/psychiatric approach to treat trauma survivors and its effectiveness; while providing a better understanding of what trauma means to me in a personal experience. Then, I will explore the principles of positive psychology and existential therapy strategies to determine if they can be applied to “trauma-related treatments”.

The primary goal of existential therapy is to help clients discover themselves and reflect on their lives (Corey, 2013). This form of therapy is an invitation for the individual to search for ways that they may not be living a full and authentic life. There is a large emphasis on the choices humans have, the freedom to make those choices, and the responsibility that go along with the choices that are made. Therapists are more concerned with the nature of the client, not the techniques that are used in the process of the therapy. Existential therapy invites the individual to question and think about their existence and what it

Existential philosophy is subject to a single, seemingly debilitating criticism: it comprises a frame of mind rather than a theory. As Mary Warnock argues in her book Existentialist Ethics, "It seems that to be attracted by Existentialism is to be attracted by a mood. When it comes to serious thought, one may find . . . that it is necessary to cast off the mood and start again" (57). The focus of the existentialist is on the individual, existing being. By nature, the subject of existentialism appears incommunicable. It demands that each individual come to an understanding of the inwardness of self independently. This inwardness is not a state which can be achieved, but a process of constantly coming

Existential therapy begin with the belief that even though humans are essentially alone in the world, they long to be associated to others. People want to have understanding in one another's lives, but ultimately they must get to know that they cannot rely upon others for validation, and with that understanding they finally acknowledge and accept that they are fundamentally alone. The consequence of the revelation is anxiety in the awareness that our acceptance must come from within and not from

Jennifer, the client, is a 40-year old single, educated professional female, never married and without children, experiencing generalized anxiety, depression and feelings of meaninglessness in her life. This scenario involves working with Jennifer utilizing Existential therapy in counseling to: (a) examine her current level of self awareness, (b) understand feelings about her own mortality, (c) observe her understanding of existential anxiety, and (d) see how it can motivate her to become more aware of our basic human characteristics of freedom and responsibility. As her counselor utilizing the existential approach, I will be open and honest about my own feelings and experiences similar to those she is experiencing now.

Existential is my underscoring theory which is grounded in philosophy. It was inspired by numerous philosophers and writers, to cite a few Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Yalom (Corey, 2013). The goal of existential therapy is an attitude toward human suffering, asking a profound doubt about being human, and the nature of anxiety, despair, sorrow, loneliness, isolation, anomie, and creativity, and love (Yalom & Josselson, 2011).

Existential therapy is well known for it’s anti-technique orientation. It uses description, understanding, and exploration of a person’s inter-relational reality of the world to diagnose and treat the patient. Instead of employing specific techniques, strategies or skills, therapists follow a specific philosophical method of investigation. This method requires that therapists maintain a consistent personal attitude. These attitudes are not set in stone but usually involves and incorporates some of the following. First, cultivating a naïve attitude, means meeting the client with an open mind consistently, and with the intention of exploration and discovery. This helps develop a fresh perspective of the world and eventually will reveal itself.

In this assignment I will be comparing two approaches used to understand fear and sadness and how therapists work with clients. I will summarise both the existential psychology approach and the mindfulness approach and how they work with helping understand fear and sadness. I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both of these approaches, and why either one could be considered as favourable. I will then conclude the essay with which method I’m more drawn too, and with the resources and evidence available to me I will explain why. Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical method of therapy that “focuses on helping clients to learn to live well in the face of the inevitable adversity and uncertainty of life itself”, (Langdridge,

Existential therapy has brought about the change of thinking about the world around us in a different perspective. It also has to do with tolerating the principle that our actions are inadequate by external circumstances, the existentialist position rejects the notion that our acts are single-minded. In this are a range of choices accessible to each of us and we are free to choose and therefore responsible for our own choices and actions. We must form and live with our own individual freedom to the fullest. This paper will explore some of those concepts from Existential therapy and I will answer such questions like what does personal freedom to look for myself. There are a multiple other questions I will touch on in this paper and really explain in detail about what Existential therapy entails. Now that we know where this paper is headed, let’s first look at what personal freedom means to me.

One of the main aims for the existential psychotherapy is to reframe the client's thinking about life and its purpose.

Existential psychotherapies are based on the ideas of the existential philosophy, which does not have specific technics for explaining the psychological disorders. Thus, this practice is vague, and demand the practitioner to be creative and deeply involved with the philosophy, (Langdridge, 2010, p132). The philosophy is a source of many ideas on the existence of human, and on how to manage the difficulties of life and death. It also has universal aspects, which make the core principles of the practice, such as that people are unique and ever changing beings, without fixed underlying personality or diagnoses. Also, that people have free choices, a limited and anxious existence, and are bound by the ability of their bodies and the four