Existential Therapy As A Psychodynamic Approach

1912 Words8 Pages

Abstract This essay argumentatively analyses the existential therapy as a psychotherapy approach. The main focus of this essay is on the therapy’s key concepts such as their therapeutic aims, therapeutic alliance, application of the therapy to the population and evaluation of the therapy. The existential therapy has some of its strengths and limitations which were also discussed in this essay. Existential therapy is a philosophical journey rather than a structured treatment system. It is not an independent therapy that has been neatly defined with specified techniques. (journal 10) It is a sincere philosophical attempt that focuses on helping people to face their uncertainties and anxieties in life through the influence of a counsellor’s …show more content…

(book 4) When a client is able to authentically connect themselves with their real self, the awareness is greater and so is the ability to find parts of their self that have been ignored before. It is not the duty of an existential therapist to find meaning of their client’s life but to facilitate the therapy sessions that enables their client to find and create purposes and goals in their lives so that it will be meaningful and worthwhile. (journal 10) According to the existential theory, every individual are an architect of their lives and they have the potential to recognize their strengths. (book4) They are also responsible to design their life journey. Rather than blaming themselves as a victim of circumstances, an individual has to accept that they are what they choose to be. This makes existential theory an optimistic and hopeful theory. Application of the Existential Therapy Because existential therapy focuses more on philosophical issues and does not have many specified techniques, the therapy has been known to be suitable for clients’ with mild mental conditions that does not need fast or immediate recovery. Existential therapy has been proven to be effective on clients with general anxiety …show more content…

Although existential therapy highlights the main concerns an individual would face in life, the therapy lacks in structure or directions. It does not indicate any specific steps a therapist should use during the intervention period. It relies solely on therapist and client relationships thus making it difficult for recovery process to take place if these connections cannot be achieved. The treatment also has little direction from the clinician as most responsibilities come from the client. People these days also seek for therapies that are direct and time –limited and existential therapy sessions can be a lengthy process as some clients are not well versed in verbal communications or are not as expressive as some people thus making very few people to opt existential therapy as their choice. (book 4) It is also one of the biggest limitations of this therapy if a client is reluctant or unable to get involved in deep self-exploration or critical thinking of the values and meaning in their life. This is because they have very little choices as their environment restricts them from making a change in the direction of their lives. Despite being one of the most influential theory, the attention toward existential theory has declined over the years as there was more emphasis on the accountability of the treatment and growth of structured and empirically supported theories such as

Open Document