Primary Goal Of Existential Therapy

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.

In this paper, I am going to demonstrate the key components on how the application of Existentialism Theory/Therapy can be utilized when counseling clientele with Anorexia Nervosa. I am going to focus on the following components related to Existentialism, “life and meaning,” “authenticity” vs. “inauthenticity,” “setting free,” “aloneness,” “freedom,” and “understanding life.” I will accentuate a detailed description of Existential Theory and identify the major theorist’s that is suitable for this specific psychological disorder. I will provide feedback that conceptualizes Existentialism and how it originates towards individuals suffering with Anorexia Nervosa. I will deliberate a comprehensive overview why I choose this type of therapy/theory

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).

These theories have a spotlight on the emotional and inner experience and view the client as the expert of their circumstances; they allow clients to express their cultural and faith-based beliefs in an empathetic, open and warm environment. The prominence of distinctiveness, autonomy and self-actualisation could disaffect clients who may feel oppressed or who are from a society believing in "the common good". Additionally, clients who are accustomed to an indirect style of conversation may feel awkward and troublesome; however, when thinking about adversity, death and purpose, the existentialist theory can support clients to explore and expand their faith and spirituality (Corey,

This is the time that Kyle and his sister need their mother the most. However, she is spending more time with a guy. The role of an existential therapist is to assist the client’s own relationships with themselves, to work together in the job of exploring and understanding the client’s values, assumptions, and ideals. Kyle also has to accept personal responsibility. According to Corey (2013), “Existential therapists are especially concerned about clients avoiding responsibility; they consistently invite clients to accept personal responsibility. When clients complain about the predicaments they are in and blame others, the therapist is likely to ask them how they contributed to their situation” (155). Kyle and his mother will have to develop a positive outlook on their situation and their life. Kyle’s case could be applied by using the propositions that are beneficial for this case, which are the basic dimensions of the human

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

The humanistic theory states that each of us has an innate potential that we can actualize and through which we can find life’s meaning. It shares with existentialism a focus on respect and trust for the client. Both share the following: respect for client’s experience and trust in client’s ability to change, believe in freedom, choice, values, personal responsibility, autonomy, and meaning (Corey, 2017, pp. 169). Some differences are that in existentialism clients come into counseling because they are facing anxiety in trying to create uniqueness in a world without intrinsic meaning. In person-centered therapy clients do not suffer from anxiety in creating an identity, instead clients need to believe that they have the natural potential to

This paper investigates the relationship between fundamental conceptions and considerations of several major theories that personally resonate with me. Included in these resonating theories, I will discuss how Existential Psychotherapy, Person Centered Therapy (PCT), Gestalt, and Cognitive- Behavior therapy (CBT) can be equally supplemental when respected as harmonizing functions in a more comprehensive integrative therapeutic methodology. Through research, classes, and life experience I have developed a viewpoint that fits my personality and personal style. It can be reasoned that existential therapy, defined as a phenomenological philosophy of humanness answers the more profound questions of meaning, fits well with PCT that centers itself

Throughout this article it was shown how life exists within meaning. “Man is basically striving to find and fulfill meaning and purpose in life,” (Frankl, 1967, p.140). When an individual is healthy and content with life, they experience meaning every day. However, once the meaning is lost Frankl called it “existential vacuum,” (Frankl, 1967, p.140). On top of this person having lost all sense of meaning, this individual is also unsure as how to act accordingly. Thus, causing the individual to conform, behaving in similar ways others do (Frankl, 1967). This article continued to then talk about how a therapist can handle situations like these. In this case, “meaning and purpose in life cannot be prescribed like a drug,” (Frankl, 1967, p.141). This shows how the therapist must guide the individual to help them realize the answer to existence. Similarly, this answer must found by the individual himself as each person exists with a different purpose or meaning to their life. These ideas fully support Frankl’s theory of logotherapy as he describe anxiety as result of losing the meaning to life. His theory also describes how, “therapy often emphasizes the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that reduces feelings of emptiness…,” (Burger, 2015, p.300). Since within the article he described how a therapist can only guide an individual as meaning stems from within each person. This statement also shows how each person is different and the meaning for one person may not reduce the anxiety for

For an approach to be labeled as existential, it is essential that the cultural, social, political, and ideological context be taken into account. Themes such as relationships, finding meaning, anxiety, suffering, and death are concerns that transcend the boundaries that separate cultures. Clients in existential therapy are encouraged to examine ways their present existence is being influenced by social and cultural factors (Corey,

While writing a paper on existential and behavioral therapy, I found myself agreeing with concepts represented in both methods. Existential therapy is appealing because of its focus on encouraging the client to take responsibility for their actions. Viktor Frankl, a psychologist who made a considerable contribution to existential therapy, once said, “Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth …  That is why I recommend that the Statute of Liberty on the East Coast be supplanted by a Statute of Responsibility on the West Coast.” I think that it is dangerous to consider yourself a “victim” and that you aren’t accountable for your actions. I agree with the importance of understanding environmental factors and how it affects how a person processes information. Viktor

The four fundamental ‘givens’ of existence that Yalom posits within Existential therapy are: the freedom to make our lives as we will (Freedom & Responsibility), our ultimate aloneness (Isolation), the inevitability of death (Death), and absence of meaning of life (Meaninglessness). ‘Two Smiles’ presents an ongoing theme of

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

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.