Frankl was one of the key figures in existential therapy.
Rollo May (1909-1994)
According to a recent article (Corey, 2012, p. 138) "He believed psychotherapy should be aimed at helping people discover the meaning of their lives and should be concerned with the problems of being rather than with problem solving."
Irvin Yalom (1931 -)
Irvin Yalom practices existential psychology in a way that pulls from four different areas of human conditioning. The areas are isolation, meaninglessness, mortality, and freedom. He believes that a different therapy must be designed for each client because each has a unique story (Corey, 2012, p.138-139).
Key Concepts:
According to (Corey, 2012, p.145) "The crucial significance of the existential movement is that it reacts against the tendency to identify therapy with a set of techniques. Instead, it bases therapeutic practice on an understanding of what it means to be human."
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What exactly is existential therapy?
(2011-09-14)
Existential therapy is a way of thinking, or an attitude about psychotherapy. This type of therapy is the basis for clients to begin new chapters in their lives. The clients must be opening to whatever issues that occurred in the past and move on to a more rewarding path accepting full responsibility of a better life to work toward, in other words being open and willing to change their life for the better. Existential therapy was introduced by Victor Frankl, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom. Existentialism is an area of philosophy concerned with the true meaning of human existence. It looks at issues such as love, death and the
meaning of life - and how one deals with the sense of value and meanings in
their own life. In an existentialist approach to therapy, there are basic
dimensions of the human condition. These are the capacity for self-awareness,
the tension between freedom and responsibility, the creation of an identity and
the establishment of meaningful relationships, the search for meaning, the
acceptance of anxiety as a condition of living and the awareness of death and
non-being. Existential therapy tries to encourage clients to reflect on
life, recognize their range of alternatives and decide among them.
According to a recent article from (Corey, 2012, p.140) "The existential therapy movement was not founded by any particular person or group; many streams of thought contributed to it." However; Viktor Frankl, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom were a few figures that stood out as key figures in contemporary existential therapy.
Goals of the theory: According to a recent article (Corey, 2012, p.154) "Existential therapy is best considered as an invitation to clients to recognize the ways in which they are not living fully authentic lives and to make choices that will lead to their becoming what they are capable of being."
Techniques of Existential Therapy: The therapies central tasks are to invite the client to recognize how
they have allowed others to decide for them, and to encourage clients to take
steps towards autonomy (independence). According to a recent article (Corey, 2012, p. 10) "Reacting against the tendency to view therapy as a system of well-defined techniques, this model stresses building therapy on the basic conditions of human existence, such as choice, the freedom and responsibilty to shape one's life, and self-determination."
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