PYC4809 - Assignment 2. The Existential Therapeutic Approach

Existential Therapy The existential approach is first and foremost philosophical. It is concerned with the understanding of people’s place in the world and with the explanation of what it means to them to be alive. Human beings are capable of an enormous range of experience. Therefore existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning. This approach highlights a person’s capacity to make rational choices and to develop to their maximum potential. The existential approach stresses that: • All people have the capacity for self-awareness. • Each person has a unique identity that can be known only through relationships with others. • People must continually re-create themselves because life’s meaning constantly changes. • Anxiety is part of the human condition. Existential therapy is a unique form of psychotherapy that looks to explore difficulties from a philosophical perspective, rather than taking a technique-based approach (Corey, 2017). Focusing on the human condition as a whole, existential therapy applauds human capabilities and encourages individuals to take responsibility for their successes. Emotional and psychological difficulties are viewed as inner conflict caused by an individual's confrontation with the givens of existence. Rather than dig into the past, the existential approach looks at the here and now, exploring the human condition as a whole and what it means for an individual (Counselling directory).