Sierra Acai Company
Sierra Acai Company
Open 7 Days a Week
MonaVie Independent Distributor
Distributor Training
Shop Online
Enroll Now
Buy Wholesale and maintain an Active status for 2 months and we will refund your $39 Distributor Fee
Friends
Buy Wholesale and maintain an Active status for 2 months and we will refund your $39 Distributor Fee
14-September-2008 12:50:32 - Existential therapy Redirected from Existential Therapy This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. February 2007 Existential psychotherapy is partly based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. This aloneness leads to feelings of meaninglessness which can be overcome only by creating one's own values and meanings. We have the power to create because we have the freedom to choose. In making our own choices we assume full responsibility for the results and blame no one but ourselves if the result is less than what was desired. The psychotherapist helps his or her patients/clients along this path: to discover why the patient/client is overburdened by the anxieties of aloneness and meaninglessness, to find new and better ways to manage these anxieties, to make new and healthy choices, and to emerge from therapy as a free and sound human being. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Development in Britain 2 View of the Human Mind 3 Psychological Dysfunction 4 The Good Life 5 Existential Therapy 6 Four worlds 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links Background Existential therapy focuses on the development of a patient/client's self-awareness by looking deeply into the issues of our aloneness, meaninglessness, and mortality. The therapist emphasizes the historical background to this approach is that of 3,000 years of philosophy and the world. Throughout the history of humankind people have tried to make sense of life in general and of their personal predicaments in particular. Much of the philosophical tradition is relevant and can help us to understand an individual's position in the world. The philosophers who are especially pertinent are those whose work is directly aimed at making sense of human existence. But the philosophical movements that are of most importance and that have been directly responsible for the generation of existential therapy are phenomenology and existential philosophy. The starting point of existential philosophy see Warnock, 1970; Macquarrie, 1972; Mace, 1999; Van Deurzen and Kenward, 2005 can be traced back to the last century and the work of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Both were in conflict with the predominant ideologies of their time and committed to the exploration of reality as it can be experienced in a passionate and personal manner. Kierkegaard 1813-55 protested vigorously against popular misunderstanding and abuse of Christian dogma and the so-called 'objectivity' of science Kierkegaard, 1841, 1844. He thought that both were ways of avoiding the anxiety inherent in human existence. He had great contempt for the way in which life was being lived by those around him and believed that truth could ultimately only be discovered subjectively by the individual in action. What was most lacking was people's courage to take the leap of faith and live with passion and commitment from the inward depth of existence. This involved a constant struggle between the finite and infinite aspects of our nature as part of the difficult task of creating a self and finding meaning. As Kierkegaard lived by his own word he was lonely and much ridiculed during his lifetime. Nietzsche 1844-1900 took this philosophy of life a step further. His starting point was the notion that God was dead, that is, the idea of God was outmoded and limiting Nietzsche, 1861, 1874, 1886 and that it is up to us to re-evaluate existence in light of this. He invited people to shake off the shackles of moral and societal constraint and to discover their free will in order to live according to their own desires, now the only maintainable law in his philosophy. He encouraged people to transcend the mores of civilization and choose their own standards. The important existential themes of freedom, choice, responsibility and courage are introduced for the first time. While Kierkegaard and Nietzsche drew attention to the human issues that needed to be addressed, Husserl's phenomenology Husserl, 1960, 1962; Moran, 2000 provided the method to address them in a rigorous manner. He contended that natural sciences are based on the assumption that subject and object are separate and that this kind of dualism can only lead to error. He proposed a whole new mode of investigation and understanding of the world and our experience of it. Prejudice has to be put aside or 'bracketed', in order for us to meet the world afresh and discover what is absolutely fundamental and only directly available to us through intuition. If we want to grasp the essence of things, instead of explaining and analyzing them we have to learn to describe and understand them. Heidegger 1889-1976 applied the phenomenological method to understanding the meaning of being Heidegger, 1962, 1968. He argued that poetry and deep philosophical thinking can bring greater insight into what it means to be in the world than can be achieved through scientific knowledge. He explored human being in the world in a manner that revolutionizes classical ideas about the self and psychology. He recognized the importance of time, space, death and human relatedness. He also favoured hermeneutics, an old philosophical method of investigation, which is the art of interpretation. Unlike interpretation as practised in psychoanalysis which consists of referring a person's experience to a pre-established theoretical framework this kind of interpretation seeks to understand how the person himself subjectively experiences something. Sartre 1905-80 contributed many other strands of existential exploration, particularly in terms of emotions, imagination, and the person's insertion into a social and political world. He became the father of existentialism, which was a philosophical trend with a limited life span. The philosophy of existence on the contrary is carried by a wide-ranging literature, which includes many other authors than the ones mentioned above. There is much to be learned from existential authors such as Karl Jaspers 1951, 1963, Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, and Hans-Georg Gadamer within the Germanic tradition and Albert Camus, Gabriel Marcel, Paul Ricoeur, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Emmanuel Lévinas within the French tradition see for instance Spiegelberg, 1972, Kearney, 1986 or van Deurzen-Smith, 1997. Few psychotherapists are aware of this literature, or interested in making use of it. Psychotherapy has traditionally grown within a medical rather than a philosophical milieu and is only just beginning to discover the possibility of a radical philosophical approach. From the start of this century some psychotherapists were, however, inspired by phenomenology and its possibilities for working with people. Ludwig Binswanger, in Switzerland, was the first to attempt to bring existential insights to his work with patients, in the Kreuzlingen sanatorium where he was a psychiatrist. Much of his work was translated into English during the 1940s and 1950s and, together with the immigration to the USA of Paul Tillich Tillich, 1952 and others, this had a considerable impact on the popularization of existential ideas as a basis for therapy Valle and King, 1978; Cooper, 2003. Rollo May played an important role in this, and his writing 1969, 1983; May et al., 1958 kept the existential influence alive in America, leading eventually to a specific formulation of therapy Bugental, 1981; May and Yalom, 1985; Yalom, 1980. Humanistic psychology was directly influenced by these ideas, but it invariably diluted and sometimes distorted their original meanings. In Europe existential ideas were combined with some psychoanalytic principles and a method of existential analysis was developed by Medard Boss 1957a, 1957b, 1979 in close co-operation with Heidegger. In Austria, Viktor Frankl developed an existential therapy called logotherapy Frankl, 1964, 1967, which focused particularly on finding meaning. In France the ideas of Sartre 1956, 1962 and Merleau-Ponty 1962 and of a number of practitioners Minkowski, 1970 were important and influential but no specific therapeutic method was developed from them. Development in Britain Britain became a fertile ground for the further development of the existential approach when R.D. Laing and David Cooper, often associated with the anti-psychiatry movement, took Sartre's existential ideas as the basis for their work Laing, 1960, 1961; Cooper, 1967; Laing and Cooper, 1964. Without developing a concrete method of therapy they critically reconsidered the notion of mental illness and its treatment. In the late 1960s they established an experimental therapeutic community at Kingsley Hall in the East End of London, where people could come to live through their madness without the usual medical treatment. They also founded the Philadelphia Association, an organization providing alternative living, therapy and therapeutic training from this perspective. The Philadelphia Association is still in existence today and is now committed to the exploration of the works of philosophers such as Wittgenstein, Derrida, Levinas and Foucault as well as the work of the French psychoanalyst Lacan. It also runs a number of small therapeutic households along these lines. The Arbours Association is another group that grew out of the Kingsley Hall experiment. Founded by Berke and Schatzman in the 1970s, it now runs a training programme in psychotherapy, a crisis centre and several therapeutic communities. The existential input in the Arbours has gradually been replaced with a more neo-Kleinian emphasis. The impetus for further development of the existential approach in Britain has largely come from the development of a number of existentially based courses in academic institutions. This started with the programmes created by Emmy van Deurzen, initially at Antioch University in London and subsequently at Regent's College, London and since then at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, also in London. The latter is a purely existentially based training institute, which offers postgraduate degrees validated by the University of Sheffield and Middlesex University. In the last decades the existential approach has spread rapidly and has become a welcome alternative to established methods. There are now a number of other, mostly academic, centres in Britain that provide training in existential counselling and psychotherapy and a rapidly growing interest in the approach in the voluntary sector and in the National Health Service. British publications dealing with existential therapy include contributions by Jenner de Koning and Jenner, 1982, Heaton 1988, 1994, Cohn 1994, 1997, Spinelli 1997, Cooper 1989, 2002, Eleftheriadou 1994, Lemma-Wright 1994, Du Plock 1997, Strasser and Strasser 1997, van Deurzen 1997, 1998, 2002; van Deurzen and Arnold-Baker 2005; van Deurzen and Kenward 2005. Other writers such as Lomas 1981 and Smail 1978, 1987, 1993 have published work relevant to the approach although not explicitly 'existential' in orientation. The journal of the British Society for Phenomenology regularly publishes work on existential and phenomenological psychotherapy. An important development was that of the founding of the Society for Existential Analysis in 1988, initiated by van Deurzen. This society brings together psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and philosophers working from an existential perspective. It offers regular fora for discussion and debate as well as major annual conferences. It publishes the Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis twice a year. It is also a member of the International Federation for Daseinsanalysis, which stimulates international exchange between representatives of the approach from around the world. An international Society for Existential Therapists also exists. It was founded in 2006 by Emmy van Deurzen and Digby Tantam, and is called the International Community of Existential Counsellors and Therapists ICECAP.1 View of the Human Mind Although humans are essentially alone in the world, we long to be connected to others. We want to have meaning in their lives while they have meaning in ours, but ultimately we must come to realize that we cannot depend on others for our validation, and with that realization we finally acknowledge and understand that we are fundamentally alone. The result of this revelation is anxiety in the knowledge that our validation must come from within and not from others. Because we are alienated and isolated our lives are also meaningless. Nothing exists which is greater than ourselves, therefore there are no external sources of values and absolutes from which we can draw. Taken to an extreme, we might conclude that there is nothing for which to live. However, we also possess the freedom to create our own values and personal life-meaning, and apply them to our condition. This freedom gives us feelings of significance and purpose that are strong enough to carry us through life. Still, the freedom to choose is another source of anxiety: we must summon the requisite strength and courage to choose our personal life-meaning and hold fast to it. This is undoubtedly a task which many find difficult. Human beings are also mortal. As we come to grips with the fact that our lives are limited, we develop even more anxiety: we are afraid of death. The knowledge that at some point in the future we will cease to be, while frightening, is at the same time invigorating because it is relevant right now. The juxtaposition of life and death is one thing that does give us some certainty. Finally, humans are responsible. Being isolated, alone, and free to choose means that one cannot assign blame for his or her problems to someone else. The individual alone makes the choices and therefore is responsible for the outcomes. At any point we are free to make different choices and thus re-invent ourselves; we are at once the architect, the planner, and the builder of our lives, throughout our lives. Psychological Dysfunction There is no such thing as psychological dysfunction or being ill in the existential view. Every way of being is merely an expression of how one chooses to live one's life. However one may feel unable to come to terms with the anxiety of being alone in the world. If so an existential psychotherapist can assist one in accepting these feelings rather than trying to change them as if there is something wrong. Everyone has the freedom to choose how they are going to be in life, however this may go unexercised because making changes is difficult; it may appear easier and safer not to make decisions that you will be responsible for. Many people will remain unaware of alternative choices in life for various societal reasons. The Good Life It is possible for people to face the anxieties of life head-on and embrace the human condition of aloneness, to revel in the freedom to choose and take full responsibility for their choices. They courageously take the helm of their lives and steer in whatever direction they choose; they have the courage to be. One does not need to arrest feelings of meaninglessness, but can choose new meanings for their lives. By building, by loving, and by creating one is able to live life as one's own adventure. One can accept one's own mortality and overcome fear of death. Though the French author Albert Camus denied the specific label of existentialist, in his novel, L'Etranger, his main character Meursault, ends the novel by doing just this. He accepts his mortality and rejects the constrictions of society he previously placed on himself, leaving him unencumbered and free to live his life with an unclouded mind. Existential Therapy The existentially-oriented psychotherapist guides his or her clients to confront life's anxieties. If the client has not been fully exercising the freedom to choose, the counselor will lead a discovering into how and why he or she is stuck. The client may have been allowing others to make important decisions which he or she alone should be making, or the client may be afraid to take the risks required to grow and is instead choosing an easy and non-threatening path. The psychotherapist will encourage his or her clients to reflect on the aloneness and meaninglessness of life, and to understand they must find their own ways to cope with these anxieties. The counselor does not try to eliminate these anxieties, but instead encourages the client to face them head-on. Alternative paths can be explored together. The risks entailed with these paths can be evaluated, and the client will then be able to make new, more authentic choices. The existential psychotherapist is not overly concerned with the client's past; instead, the emphasis is on the choices to be made in the present and future. The counselor and the client may reflect upon how the client has answered life's questions in the past, but attention ultimately shifts to searching for a new and increased awareness in the present and enabling a new freedom and responsibility to act. The patient can then accept they are not special, and that their existence is simply coincidental, without destiny or fate. By accepting this, they can overcome their anxieties, and instead view life as moments, in which they are fundamentally free. Four worlds Existential thinkers seek to avoid restrictive models that categorize or label people. Instead they look for the universals that can be observed cross-culturally. There is no existential personality theory which divides humanity into types or reduces people to part components. Instead there is a description of the different levels of experience and existence with which people are inevitably confronted. The way in which a person is in the world at a particular stage can be charted on this general map of human existence Binswanger, 1963; Yalom, 1980; van Deurzen, 1984. One can distinguish four basic dimensions of human existence: the physical, the social, the psychological and the spiritual. On each of these dimensions people encounter the world and shape their attitude out of their particular take on their experience. Our orientation towards the world defines our reality. The four dimensions are obviously interwoven and provide a complex fourdimensional force field for our existence. We are stretched between a positive pole of what we aspire to on each dimension and a negative pole of what we fear. Physical dimension On the physical dimension Umwelt we relate to our environment and to the givens of the natural world around us. This includes our attitude to the body we have, to the concrete surroundings we find ourselves in, to the climate and the weather, to objects and material possessions, to the bodies of other people, our own bodily needs, to health and illness and to our own mortality. The struggle on this dimension is, in general terms, between the search for domination over the elements and natural law as in technology, or in sports and the need to accept the limitations of natural boundaries as in ecology or old age. While people generally aim for security on this dimension through health and wealth, much of life brings a gradual disillusionment and realization that such security can only be temporary. Recognizing limitations can bring great release of tension. Social dimension On the social dimension Mitwelt we relate to others as we interact with the public world around us. This dimension includes our response to the culture we live in, as well as to the class and race we belong to and also those we do not belong to. Attitudes here range from love to hate and from co-operation to competition. The dynamic contradictions can be understood in terms of acceptance versus rejection or belonging versus isolation. Some people prefer to withdraw from the world of others as much as possible. Others blindly chase public acceptance by going along with the rules and fashions of the moment. Otherwise they try to rise above these by becoming trendsetters themselves. By acquiring fame or other forms of power, we can attain dominance over others temporarily. Sooner or later we are, however, all confronted with both failure and aloneness. Psychological dimension On the psychological dimension Eigenwelt we relate to ourselves and in this way create a personal world. This dimension includes views about our character, our past experience and our future possibilities. Contradictions here are often experienced in terms of personal strengths and weaknesses. People search for a sense of identity, a feeling of being substantial and having a self. But inevitably many events will confront us with evidence to the contrary and plunge us into a state of confusion or disintegration. Activity and passivity are an important polarity here. Self-affirmation and resolution go with the former and surrender and yielding with the latter. Facing the final dissolution of self that comes with personal loss and the facing of death might bring anxiety and confusion to many who have not yet given up their sense of self-importance. Spiritual dimension On the spiritual dimension überwelt van Deurzen, 1984 we relate to the unknown and thus create a sense of an ideal world, an ideology and a philosophical outlook. It is here that we find meaning by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together for ourselves. For some people this is done by adhering to a religion or other prescriptive world view, for others it is about discovering or attributing meaning in a more secular or personal way. The contradictions that have to be faced on this dimension are often related to the tension between purpose and absurdity, hope and despair. People create their values in search of something that matters enough to live or die for, something that may even have ultimate and universal validity. Usually the aim is the conquest of a soul, or something that will substantially surpass mortality as for instance in having contributed something valuable to humankind. Facing the void and the possibility of nothingness are the indispensable counterparts of this quest for the eternal. See also Gestalt Therapy Existentialism Viktor Frankl Martin Heidegger Søren Kierkegaard R.D. Laing Rollo May Friedrich Nietzsche Otto Rank Jean-Paul Sartre Irvin D. Yalom Karl Jaspers Martin Buber Contextual therapy Emmy van Deurzen References ^ Existential Psychotherapy. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. Further reading Frankl, Viktor; Man's Search for Meaning rev. updtd.; Pocket, 1997 Yalom, Irvin D.; Existential Psychotherapy; Basic Books, 1980 Cooper, Mick; Existential Therapies; Sage Publ., 2003 Spinelli, Ernesto; The Mirror and the Hammer: Challenging Orthodoxies in Therapeutic Thought; Sage Publ., 2002 Kierkegaard, S√âˆ?ren; The Concept of Dread and The Sickness Unto Death, Princeton University Press Deurzen, E. van 2002 Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice, 2nd ion, London: Sage Publications. ibid 1997 Everyday Mysteries: Existential Dimensions of Psychotherapy, London: Routledge. 2nd ion 2006 ibid 1998 Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy, Chichester: Wiley. Deurzen, E. van, and Kenward, R. 2005 Dictionary of Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling, London: Sage Publications. Deurzen, E. van and Arnold-Baker, C., eds. 2005 Existential Perspectives on Human Issues: a Handbook for Practice, London: Palgrave, Macmillan. Wilkes, R and Milton, M, 2006 Being an Existential Therapist: An IPA study of existential therapists' experiences, Existential Analysis. Jan 2006 Milton , M., Charles, L., Judd, D., O'Brien, Tipney, A. and Turner, A . 2003 The Existential-Phenomenological Paradigm: The Importance for Integration, Existential Analysis Judd, D. and Milton, M. 2001 Psychotherapy with Lesbian and Gay Clients: Existential-Phenomenological Contributions to Training, Lesbian and Gay Psychology Review, 21: 16-23 Corrie, S. and Milton, M . 2000 The Relationship Between Existential-Phenomenological and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies, European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Health. Milton, M 2000 Is Existential Psychotherapy A Lesbian and Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy? Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, Milton , M. and Judd, D. 1999 The Dilemma that is Assessment, Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, 102-114. Milton, M. 1999 Depression and the Uncertainty of Identity: An existential-phenomenological exploration in just twelve sessions, Changes: An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Milton, M 1997 An Existential Approach to HIV Related Psychotherapy, Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, V8.1, 115-129 Milton, M 1994 The Case for Existential Therapy in HIV Related Psychotherapy, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, V7 4. 367-374 Milton, M. 1994 HIV Related Psychotherapy and Its Existential Concerns, Counselling Psychology Review, V9 4. 13-24 Milton, M 1993 Existential Thought and Client Centred Therapy, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, V6 3. 239-248 Schneider, K.J. 2008. Existential-integrative Psychotherapy: Guideposts to the Core of Practice. New York: Routledge. Schneider, K.J. 2004. Rediscovery of Awe: Splendor, Mystery, and the Fluid Center of Life. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House. Wilberg, P. 2004 The Therapist as Listener - Martin Heidegger and the Missing Dimension of Counselling and Psychotherapy Training 1 External links What existential therapy involves v d e Psychology Portal · History · Psychologist Research Affective · Biological · Clinical · Cognitive · Cognitive neuroscience · Comparative · Critical · Cultural · Developmental · Evolutionary · Experimental · Individual differences · International · Liberation · Mathematical · Media · Medical · Neuropsychology · Performance · Personality · Physiological · Political · Positive · Psycholinguistics · Psychopathology · Psychophysics · Psychophysiology · Qualitative · Quantitative · Social · Theoretical Psi Applied Assessment · Clinical · Counseling · Educational · Forensic · Health · Industrial/organizational · Legal · Relationship counseling · School · Sport · Systems Orientations Analytical · Behaviorism · Cognitivism · Cognitive behavioral · Descriptive · Existential · Family systems · Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy · Feminist · Gestalt · Humanistic · Metapsychology · Narrative · Psychoanalysis · Psychodynamic · Transpersonal Seminal writers B.F. Skinner · Jean Piaget · Sigmund Freud · Otto Rank · Albert Bandura · Leon Festinger · Carl Rogers · Stanley Schachter · Neal E. Miller · Edward Thorndike · Abraham Maslow · Gordon Allport · Erik Erikson · Hans Eysenck · William James · David McClelland · Albert Ellis · Aaron T. Beck · Raymond Cattell · John B. Watson · Kurt Lewin · Donald O. Hebb · George A. Miller · Clark L. Hull · Jerome Kagan · Carl Jung · Ivan Pavlov Lists Topics · Counseling · Disciplines · Psychiatric drugs · Neurological disorders · Organizations · Psychologists · Psychotherapies · Publications · Research methods · Schools of theory · Timeline Retrieved from http://en..org/wiki/Existential_therapy Categories: PsychotherapyHidden categories: Articles with statements since February 2007 | All articles with statements Views Article Discussion this page History Personal tools Log in / create account Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search Go Search Interaction Community portal Recent changes Contact Donate to Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link Cite this page Languages Español í•œêµì–´ Nederlands РуÑ?Ñ?кий СрпÑ?ки / Srpski This page was last modified on 10 September 2008, at 00:14
39 Reasons to Drink Acai Juice Every Day
What is MonaVie - Watch the 8-minute video
Discovering MonaVie Video
The Power of You Video
Effects of MonaVie Active on Antioxidant Capacity in Humans
Log into your Wholesale MonaVie Account
So many of us do not eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, have too much stress, or are impacted with toxins and pollutants. Drinking 2 ounces of MonaVie twice a day will help your body detoxify as well as build your immune system. Its the smartest thing you can do for yourself, so start today. Buying MonaVie through our company guarantees you support 7 days a week and, if you would like to share MonaVie with your family and friends we will guide you from start to finish.
1. Click on Enroll Now (30 - 55% off retail price)
2. Pay $39 for your Wholesale ID number.
3. NO minimum order required.
4. MonaVie is delivered to your door in 3 to 5 days.