Existential Philosophy

1. Existential Philosophy • Informed by the existential school of philosophy • First phase: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche • Second phase: Sartre, Camus, Buber, Heidegger • Concern with the way in which contemporary systems of thought, religion, and science have tended to dehumanize our human existencedown to a series of universal, abstract, and impersonal essences.

2. Schools of Existential Therapy Daseinsanalysis Logotherapy Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy R.D. Laing and the British School of Existential Analysis

3. 9 Basic Dimensions of Existential Psychotherapy • Bracketing assumptions vs. adopting existential assumptions • Directivity vs. nondirectivity • Working descriptively vs. analytical work • Psychological orientation vs. philosophical orientation • Individualizing the client’s difficulties vs. normalizing them • Pathologizing the client’s difficulties vs. depathologizing them • Intrapersonal focus vs. being-in-the-world focus • Orienting the therapeutic work around the therapeutic relationship vs. placing no great emphasis on the client-therapist relationship • Therapeutic spontaneity vs. using techniques

4. Key Aspects of Theory of Personality/Psychopathology Verblike-ness Uniqueness Freedom and choice Being-toward-the-future Limited Being-in-the-world Being-with-others

5. Health and Pathology • Anxiety and pain are a way of being-toward-the-future • Freedom to choose comes with anxiety • Freedom comes with responsibility toward others and the possibility of guilt • Anxiety, restriction, unfairness, and loss come from living within limitations • All meanings, goals, and deeply held values are only social constructions • Mental illness arises when a person denies the realities of their existence

6. Theory of Psychotherapy • No specific goals, assessment procedures, or therapeutic process • Each differs depending on the specific psychotherapists and clients • Husserl’s phenomenological method • Bracket any prejudices and encounter clients from a place of openness • Listen and attune to the client’s being • Work descriptively

7. Other Therapeutic Techniques • Challenge • Vivification and confrontation to challenge resistance • Exploring the givens of existence • E.g., death, freedom, isolation, meaningless (Yalom, 1980) • Curative factor: “There is no cure for life”

8. Existential Therapy Clients Value honesty over reassurance Have a critical, inquiring mind Question the status quo Are concerned with existential issues Distrust or dislike diagnostic systems or psychotherapy Want to find out more about themselves, not just symptom-relief Want a more meaningful life, not just a happier one

9. Feminist Therapy, Psychology, and Theory Traditional psychotherapy is itself construed as a potential component of the patriarchic system of oppression Patriarchy: the social system in which attributes associated with maleness are privileged and those attributed to women are denigrated Feminist therapy’s origins lie in several political movements (liberation psychology, multicultural psychology, and narrative therapy)

10. Development of Feminist Therapy Theory • No-difference feminism (1960s - 1980s) • There are no actual differences between women and men • Difference feminism (1980s - 1990s) • Women and men are different in essential ways, though those differences simply mean different distributions of skills and talents • Difference with equal value feminism (1990s - present) • Women and men are different in essential ways and these ways are equally valuable

11. Criteria for Feminist Therapy Theory The theory is clinically useful The theory reflects the diversity and complexity of human experience Views women centrally and positively Arises from the experience of women Remains close to the data of experience Theorizes behavior as arising from an interplay of internal and external worlds Avoids using particularistic terminology Supports feminist modes of practice

12. Theory of Psychotherapy • The therapist and client have an egalitarian relationship • Both bring expert, equally valuable information to the therapy • The main goal of therapy is to empower the client

13. Power • Power is traditionally referred to as control over human and material resources and the ability to force others to do things • Power in feminist therapy is much more broad. For example: • Thinking critically about own and others thoughts • Recognize and appropriately manage emotions • Have an effective impact on others • Can form relationships • Approach roles in life with intention, choice, and desire

14. Feminist Therapy • There are not specific strategies that all therapists utilize, nor do individual therapists utilize a one-size-fits-all approach for all clients • Encourages therapist self-disclosure • Overlapping roles • Boundary maintenance • Biopsychosocial-spiritual emphasis • Values medication as a possible component of treatment

15. Multicultural Practice Issues of privilege, race, and sexuality are integrated into the therapy Recognizes multiple, intersecting, and overlapping aspects of identity that are present in each person