Existential therapy

Existential therapy is a special kind of help for people called psychotherapy that focuses on a person's own experiences and how they see the world. The goal is to help people use their freedom to live happy and true lives. This type of therapy believes that everyone has the power to shape their own life, even when things are hard.

It also thinks that feelings about big questions—like life, being alone, making choices, and finding purpose—are normal parts of being human. These feelings can actually help people live better lives. Instead of telling people what their feelings mean, this therapy helps them explore their own world and ideas together.

Existential therapy does not rely on strict steps or tools. It is more about having honest and open talks between the person and the therapist. This way, they can discover what matters most to the person in a way that feels right for them. It also questions simple ways of explaining tough feelings, which might only look at symptoms or biology, and instead encourages looking deeper into what makes each person unique.

Background

The philosophers who helped create existential therapy focused on understanding what it means to be human. Two main fields, phenomenology and existential philosophy, shaped this type of therapy. The ideas began with the work of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. They questioned common beliefs of their time and explored deeper truths about life.

Kierkegaard believed people must face their own truths bravely, making choices with passion and commitment. Nietzsche added that old ideas about God and truth were outdated, and people needed to find their own meaning. Other thinkers like Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, and Martin Heidegger developed methods to study human experience closely. Jean-Paul Sartre emphasized that people are free but also responsible for their choices. Together, these ideas help therapists guide people to live more meaningful lives.

Existentialism and therapy

Throughout the 20th century, therapists started using ideas from existentialism and phenomenological methods in their work. Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank talked about the importance of "will" in human motivation and the fears of living authentically. In the 1930s and 1940s, Swiss psychiatrists Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss created Daseinsanalysis, which combines Freudian ideas with Martin Heidegger's concept of Dasein, or "being." This approach focuses on understanding a person's experience of being in the world.

In America, Rollo May introduced existential therapy in the 1950s, working with Paul Tillich, James Bugental, Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow. Viktor Frankl wrote Man's Search for Meaning, which led to Logotherapy, focusing on finding meaning in life. In the 1980s, Irvin D. Yalom identified four main concerns in life: death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness, guiding clients to explore these challenges.

Schools

Existential therapy includes several approaches. Daseinsanalysis, started by Binswanger and Boss, looks at how people relate to time, space, and others. Logotherapy, founded by Frankl, helps people find meaning in life. Existential-humanistic therapy, developed by May and Bugental, emphasizes personal growth and freedom of choice. Existential-phenomenological therapy, influenced by R.D. Laing, focuses on understanding a person's experience in detail. These schools all aim to help people live more authentic and meaningful lives.

Development

The European School of existential analysis includes two main types of therapy: Logotherapy and Daseinsanalysis. Logotherapy was created by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl. It focuses on helping people find meaning in life. This idea came from Frankl’s own hard times during World War II.

In Britain, thinkers like R. D. Laing and David Cooper used ideas from a famous philosopher to question how we understand mental health. They created places where people could live without usual medical rules. Today, groups like the Philadelphia Association continue this work, studying ideas from many thinkers.

In recent years, new ways to help people have grown in Canada. These include adding ideas from positive psychology to traditional methods, helping people find happiness and purpose in their lives.

Themes

Existential themes are big ideas about what it means to be human. One famous thinker, Irvin Yalom, says there are four main themes:

• Death: Knowing that we will all die someday can be hard. Some people try not to think about it, while others feel sad or hopeless. Existential therapy helps people accept life by understanding that life is short.
• Freedom and responsibility: People have the freedom to make their own choices and decide what their life means. But with freedom comes responsibility for our choices. Sometimes, people feel guilty about choices they made or ones they didn’t make. Existential therapy helps people understand their freedom and make choices that feel right to them.
• Isolation: Everyone feels alone sometimes. We want to connect with others, but no one can truly feel exactly what another person feels. People may try to hide their loneliness by depending too much on others or fitting in with everyone else. Existential therapy helps people build real connections based on respect.
• Meaning and meaninglessness: People often wonder what life means. Some believe life has no built-in meaning, and each person must find or create their own. This can be upsetting, but existential therapy helps people find meaning through their actions, values, and relationships.

Existential therapy also talks about anxiety that comes from thinking about these big questions. Instead of seeing anxiety as something bad, it is seen as a natural part of life. By facing these feelings, people can grow and change. A big goal of this therapy is to help people live authentically—which means living in a way that feels true to themselves, not just following others or fitting in. Therapists help people think about their values and choices to find a path that feels right for them.

Psychological dysfunction

Existential therapy looks at how people feel about big life questions, like death, freedom, being alone, and finding meaning. Some believe that trouble comes when someone can’t handle these feelings. Others think there is no such thing as mental illness—all ways of living are just choices.

Everyone has the power to choose how they live, but sometimes it feels hard to make decisions. People might stay unaware of other choices because of society, but a therapist can help someone accept these feelings instead of seeing them as wrong.

Personal element

Existential counselors believe it is important for people to think deeply about their own lives before they can help others. When working with teenagers, a counselor can show how to make good choices, even when things don’t always go as planned. This helps young people understand that even when they feel worried, they still have the power to choose how to act.

This type of counseling doesn’t focus much on what happened in the past. Instead, it looks at the choices a person can make right now and in the future. By thinking about how they’ve handled life’s challenges before, people can learn to see life in a new way. They can realize that they are free to make their own path, even if it means facing some worries along the way.

Four worlds

Existential thinkers try to understand what makes us human without putting people into boxes or labels. They believe that everyone faces certain big questions about life, no matter where they come from.

People deal with four main areas of life: the physical (our bodies and the world around us), the social (how we connect with others), the psychological (our thoughts and feelings), and the spiritual (our deeper meaning and purpose). Some people focus only on the first three areas. In each area, we hope for good things and worry about bad things. How we choose to see and act in these areas shapes our own reality. These four areas all connect and create a complex space where we live our lives.

Research support

Existential therapies can help adults find more meaning in their lives. Some types of these therapies, like those focused on meaning, have shown they can help people feel better about their lives and reduce difficult feelings. Other types have not shown strong results. Even though there isn’t a lot of strong research, therapies that include learning, activities, and talking about what life means seem to work best. Existential therapists believe it’s important to look at both numbers and personal stories when studying how well therapy works. They also think it’s important to use methods that have been shown to help, even if it’s not always easy to tell what works best.