Factors Affecting Students in Terms of Comprehension and Literature

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.

Existential therapy would focus on each person as a unique individual as well as their decisions that have shaped their lives. Responsibility would be patient to would take responsibility for their decisions to create the present and future they desired. The existentialists’ is more attentive to internal details that will help the client to find philosophical meaning despite bouts of anxiety, opt to reason and act genuinely and mindfully despite life’s four guarantees, or “givens” of freedom (of choice), isolation, meaninglessness and, ultimately death. (Yalom, 1980). Only through authentic living, free will, and accepting responsibility will humanity be able to draw motivation from these existential conditions. Assuming the belief that people's problems come not exercising to the full extent one’s judgment or free will--or well enough--to forge meaning in their lives and that each of us has the responsibility for making meaning out of life. Outside forces, however, may underwrite "the individual's limited ability to exercise choice and live a meaningful life. "

Existential psychotherapy is a dynamic, philosophical approach to therapy that is based on the premise that an individual’s conflict within is due to their concerns with the givens of existence (Yalom, 1980). These givens, or ultimate concerns as noted by Yalom (1980), are inescapable properties that are part of the human existence in the world: meaninglessness, freedom (and its associated responsibility), isolation, and the inevitability of death. Confrontation with these givens can result in existential anxiety (Corey, 2009).

What is Existential therapy? Existential therapy is a philosophical approach to therapy that focuses on the meaning of our existence and the basic premise that we are what we choose to be. It is an approach that focuses on inner conflict within a person based on the four givens (death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness). The existential tradition seeks an overall balance between limited dimensions and one’s opportunities in life. The limitations are the four givens and the possibilities are your creation of your own life. The current focus of the existential approach is on the individual’s experience of being in the world alone and facing the anxiety of this isolation, as stated in our textbook (Corey, 2016).

Existentialism is the notion that every individual must choose their own meaning in life built on individual experience rather than look for a cosmic absolute that holds the truth. To define

In addition, it involves a behavioural activation. This means introducing pleasant activities into the depressed patient’s everyday schedule. The negative beliefs are undermined in order to replace them with more helpful ones using a wide range of techniques such as behavioural experiments, automatic thought records, feeling diaries, downward arrows and many others. The more structured process and the toolkit of techniques draws me more to the cognitive-behavioural therapy. The process of existential therapy of depression shares similarities to the therapy of anxiety too (Langdridge, 2010, p.128-140). In addition, the therapist tries to understand what aspect of the client’s life is limited. Similarly to the cognitive-behavioural approach, the client’s beliefs are searched and challenged. The therapist helps the client to accept their loss and find a new meaning in their

Existential therapy through the eyes of Dr. Yalom is very fascinating. There is never a fixed life that each person is supposed to live. In his therapy the clients are allowed to find out for themselves what it is they need by receiving adequate questioning from Dr. Yalom. His questioning guides them down the existential path to freedom and responsibility.

A key concept of existential therapy is the relationship between freedom and responsibility. In contrast

Existential psychotherapy is best described as a philosophical approach that influences a therapist’s practice. Logotherapy is derived form two Greek words, the first of which is Logos. The general meaning of this word is “a word, a saying, a statement; reason, the mental faculty of thinking, calculation.” The second word is therapeia (which is form therapeuo), meaning “service rendered by one to another;” specifically, “medical service, curing, healing. . .” In essence logotherapy is healing through meaning, or therapy through meaning. Frankl

Two Smiles afforded me an insight into not only Existential therapy but the methods and work of a therapist, which was very helpful in my understanding and growth as a student in this form of therapy and its real life application. Within ‘Two Smiles’ Yalom was very candid with his human responses to his client, describing his attraction for her, and the irritation he felt with her being a ‘help-rejecting complainer’.

Existentialism became an essential part of the 20th century as humanity suffered through great challenges during that time. The threat of the nuclear bombing, destruction of humanity and sudden loss of loved ones had caused people to suffer from alienation and despair. Existentialism, in those times, clearly stated that there is no palliative for such situations. It was thus, criticized to be a disheartening philosophy for dismal times. However this movement was not a discouraging one. It just freely stated that the responsibility of one’s actions lies on one’s own shoulders. It asserted that through self-determination, without any support of conventional doctrines, people can overcome their problems.

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

Existentialist ideas are brought into the therapeutic process as hermeneutics; the methods of interpretation of personal meanings which enable the therapist to better understand the client’s issues in living.R By working through a multiple of universal aspects of what it is to be human a client is helped to seek new ways of living.

Pleased to offer a report analyzing Charles Van Doren’s case from the Existential Therapy perspective. Existential psychotherapy emphasizes that individual’s confrontation with “existence” causes mental health problems. Irvin Yalom (existential therapist) recognizes four “givens of existence” or ultimate human issues that all people struggle with: freedom and responsibility; isolation; meaninglessness; and death. The goal of existential therapy is to assist the client in their exploration of the existential “givens of life.” This approach of psychotherapy believes that all humans are capable of doing both good and evil. On the other hand, individuals need to be the authors of their lives in order to be an authentic self, consequently, reflecting on the kind of person they want to be by taking responsibility.

Existential theory is only one of many different theories in psychology. This paper will work to help give the reader a better understanding of what Existential theory is, what the common factor accountability is and how the common factor accountability works within the existential theory to help a client and/or therapist gain a better understanding of the choices, thoughts, or behaviors that helped get a client into the position they are in and how holding themselves accountable to their actions, behaviors or thoughts can help them reach healthy attainable goals in their life. In this paper the reader will gain a better understanding about how existential theory looks at the whole person and how they reached the point where they needed to seek assistance in understanding themselves and how they can hold them self and how others can hold them accountable for their actions, thought, and behaviors.