Existential psychotherapy
Goal: "..Exploring the universal issues that people face and ways for people to address them that are life enhancing and actualizing" (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p.181)
Basic Principles of Existential Psychotherapy
Ultimate Concerns of the Human Condition
Four ultimate concerns of the human condition are typically at the root of emotional difficulties:
Four ultimate concerns of the human condition are typically at the root of emotional difficulties:
- Inevitability of death
- Isolation
- Meaninglessness
- Freedom and Responsibility (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p.181)
Existential and Neurotic Anxiety
- Existential Anxiety: An evitable part of the human condition
- Deeper than anxiety about one's career of health. Rather it is a deep feeling of unease that arises from our awareness of the givens; there is no purpose but the ones we create for ourselves
- It is a positive sign rather than pathological state
- Neurotic Anxiety: Lack of awareness of our physical world
- Failure to take responsibility; not fully realized self
- Often results in depression
Dasein
- Human beings exist, have consciousness, and are responsible for their own existence (Bauman and Waldo, 1998, p.16)
- Four ways of being-in-the-world
- Unwelt: the natural world around us
- Example: Biology, laws of natures
- Mitwelt: being-in-the-world with other people,
- Example: Relationships, interactions
- Eigenwelt: our own subjective world
- Example: Beliefs of ourselves
- Uberwelt: the spiritual or metaphysical dimension
- Example: Religion
- Unwelt: the natural world around us
Concept of Mental Health
- When all four dasein are in harmony, it represents balance of inner self and good mental health
Potentials of the Human Condition
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 181-185)
- Awareness: for self and the world; more possibilities that are open to us the more successfully we can address our fears and anxieties
- Authenticity: living the kind of life that is free chosen and not dictated by the value of others (Binswanger, 1963)
- Freedom and Responsibility: four aspects - awareness, choice, action, and change; with freedom comes responsibilities
- Actualization: essential nature; part of which is universal and part of which is unique to that individual (Binswanger, 1963)
- Making Meaning: Life has the potential to be meaningful if people use their capacities to bring purpose and worth into their lives
(Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014, p. 181-185)