Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy
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Transcript Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy
Existential Therapy
View of Human Nature:
people..
Have capacity for self-awareness
Have freedom, responsibility, and choice
Strive for identity
Establish meaningful relationships
Search for meaning of life
View anxiety as a condition of living
Are Aware of death
The Capacity for Self-Awareness
We can reflect and make choices because
we are capable of self-awareness.
Expanding our awareness by realizing that:
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Time is limited
We have the choice to act or not to act
We must search for meanings in our life
We are alone
Freedom, Responsibility, & Choice
We are
– free to choose among alternatives
– responsible for our choices, lives,
actions…
Responsibility is not to blame others for our
problems
Striving for Identity
Identity is “the courage to be”
– We must trust ourselves to find our own answers
– Our greatest fear is that there is no self
Struggling with our identity:
– Challenging clients---in what ways have they lost
touch with their identity and instead let others to
run their life.
Relationship to others
Aloneness
– We are alone---So, we must give meaning to life,
decide how we will live, have a relationship with
ourselves, and learn to listen to ourselves.
Relatedness
– We need to create a close relationship with others
– Challenging clients----What do they get from their
relationships? How do they avoid close
relationships?
The Search for Meaning
Therapists’ trust is important in teaching clients
to trust their own capacity to find their way of
being.
Meaninglessness in life leads to emptiness
Human beings need a sense of meaningfulness
in their lives.
Anxiety – A Condition of Living
Anxiety arises from one’s strivings to
survive.
Existential anxiety is normal
Awareness of Death
Death provides the motivation for us
– to live our lives fully
– to take advantage of each opportunity
to do something meaningful
– to live in the present
Therapeutic Goals
To help clients become authentic
To expand self-awareness
To increase potential choices
To help clients accept responsibility for
their choice
Therapist’s Function and Role
Understand the client’s subjective world
Encourage clients to accept personal
responsibility
When clients blame others, therapist will ask
them what they have done to contribute to
their situation.
Client’s Experience in Therapy
They are challenged to take responsibility for
their decision and to take actions to change.
Major themes in therapy sessions are anxiety,
freedom and responsibility, isolation, death,
and the search for meaning.
Assist client in facing life with courage, hope,
and a willingness to find meaning in life.
Therapeutic Relationship
Truly caring for the clients
An authentic love for the clients (is nonreciprocal)
Trusting clients’ potential to cope with their problems
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Therapists have an authentic with themselves and
are authentically open to the client
Therapists share their reactions with the clients by
showing genuine concern and empathy as one way
of deepening the therapeutic relationship.
Therapeutic techniques & procedures
It is not technique-oriented
The interventions are based on philosophical
views about the nature of human existence
Free for draw techniques from other orientations
The use of therapist self is the core of therapy
Research on existential therapy
More studies are related to existential themes such
as death and anxiety, or meaninglessness.
– Purpose-in Life (PIL) Test (Crumbaugh & Henrios
(1988): measuring meaninglessness.
Yalom and colleagues conducted a series of
research on existential group therapy
Comparing with a waiting list control or no treatment
group, participants in the existential group therapy
showed increase in psychological functioning,
increase in existential awareness, and improvements
in immune functioning.
From a multicultural perspective:
contribution
Is applicable to diverse clients who are searching
for meaning of life
Many similarities between Eastern thought and
existential psychotherapy
Existential therapy is particularly relevant for
working with cross-cultural issue (Van DeurzenSmith,1988)
From a multicultural perspective
limitations
Ignore social factors that cause human problems
Even if clients change internally, they see little hope
that the external realities of racism will change
For many cultures, it is not possible to talk about
self outside the context of the social network
Many clients expect a structured and problemoriented approach instead of a discussion on
philosophical questions.