At all times, people have faced psychological manifestations, such as disappointment, fatigue from life, self-doubt, turning into depression. Problems in different eras were also different, but the feelings and experiences of people are similar. Today, more and more often a person suffers from the loss of the meaning of life and inner emptiness, the cause of which is some kind of life troubles. Existential psychotherapy is designed to help such people.
The concept of existential psychotherapy
Existential psychotherapy is a set of rules and psychological approaches to return a person to a normal life, full of worries and meaning. Here the emphasis is on awareness of oneself not as a separate object, closed in oneself and one's experiences, but as a part of being, the reality around. Therapy creates responsibility for your life and what happens in it. The term itself comes from the Latin existentia - "existence". Existential psychology and psychotherapy are closely related to philosophy. In the 20th century, there was a trend"philosophy of existence", which is close in essence to existential psychotherapy.
The existential direction in psychotherapy was born thanks to Soren Kierkegaard. His teaching, on which he worked in the 1830s, became fundamental. His main postulates said that a person is inseparable from the outside world, social life. The main components of human existence are conscience, love, fear, care, determination. A person begins to realize his essence in extreme situations, which are death, struggle, suffering. By reevaluating the past, a person becomes free. Kierkegaard introduced the concept of existence, a unique and unique human life, separate for each individual. He found a connection with turning points in fate and self-awareness, a different look at oneself and life after the shock experienced.
Bugental Postulates
James Bugenthal is President of the Association for Existential Psychotherapy. In 1963, he outlined the basic concepts of existential psychotherapy:
- Man is an integral being, which must be evaluated and studied in the sum of all its components. In other words, partial features cannot be used to assess personality, only all factors as a whole.
- A person's life is not isolated, but tied with interpersonal relationships. A person cannot be studied without taking into account his experience of communication.
- It is possible to understand a person only by taking into account his self-awareness. The individual constantly evaluates himself, his actions,thoughts.
- A person is the creator of his life, he is not an outside observer, past which pictures of life fly by, but an active participant in the action. He creates the experience he gets.
- There is meaning and purpose in a person's life, his thoughts are directed to the future.
Existential psychotherapy is aimed at studying a person in life, in the world around him, with his life situations. Each of us acquires his life experience in communication with the outside world, with other people. This adds up our psychological picture, without which it is impossible to help the patient in psychotherapy. A set of personal qualities will not give a complete awareness of the personality, a person does not live in isolation, inside his cocoon, he constantly develops, changes forms of behavior, evaluates the environment and, based on this, performs certain actions. Therefore, some psychologists avoid the concept of personality, as it does not allow a full study of all aspects of human existence and consciousness.
Goals of therapy
Existential psychotherapy aims to direct a person's thoughts in the right direction, help to understand life, understand its importance and all the opportunities provided. The therapy does not involve changing the patient's personality. All attention is directed precisely to life itself, to rethinking some events. This makes it possible to take a fresh look at reality, without illusions and conjectures, and make plans for the future, set goals. Existential psychotherapy defines the meaning of life in everyday worries, inresponsibility for one's own life and freedom of choice. The ultimate goal is to make it harmonious by creating a new view of being. It can be said that therapy helps to understand life, teaches to confront problems, find ways to solve them, explores all the possibilities for improving one's existence and encourages action. Patients are not perceived as sick people, but not able to rationally use their capabilities, tired of life. If a person is confused in life and his thoughts, it is a big mistake to treat him as if he were sick. This is what representatives of existential psychotherapy think. You can’t treat him like a helpless person, you just need to help him rethink what is happening around and choose the right path along which he will go into the future meaningfully and with a specific goal. The goal is not to change the personality, but after undergoing therapy, a person can understand for himself that he needs to change something in order to improve his life, that now he does not live the way he wants, because decisive action is needed. Existential psychotherapy is an opportunity to gain knowledge and freedom, strength, patience. It teaches not to close oneself from reality, not to hide from problems, but to study and feel life through suffering, experiences, disappointments, but to perceive them adequately.
Psychotherapy and philosophy
Now it becomes clear why the existential tradition in psychotherapy originated from philosophy, and why it is closely interconnected with it. This is the only psychotherapeutic doctrine, the principles of which are justified with the help of philosophy. The Danish thinker Soren Kierkegaard can be called the founder of the existential doctrine. Other Western philosophers who made a great contribution to the development of the existential school: the German philosopher, the classic of existential philosophy M. Heidegger, as well as M. Buber, P. Tillich, K. Jaspers, the French philosopher Sartre and many others. Over time, existential psychotherapy became widespread. Representatives of Russian philosophy also did not stand aside and invested no less effort and knowledge in the existential doctrine. They are V. Rozanov, S. Frank, S. Trubetskoy, L. Shestov, N. Berdyaev.
For the first time, the Swiss psychoanalyst L. Binswanger decided to combine philosophy and psychotherapy. He made such an attempt in the 30s of the twentieth century, proposing an existential approach to psychotherapy. The paradox is that he did not practice this direction, but was able to determine the basic principles of the inner world of a person, his behavior and reaction to the surrounding reality, and lay the foundations of therapy. He can be called the founder of existential psychotherapy. Medard Boss, a Swiss psychiatrist, proposed his concept, the first of its kind. It happened in the 50s of the twentieth century. He took the teachings of the German philosopher Heidegger as a basis and transformed them for use in psychotherapy. He is considered the founder of one of the areas of existential therapy - dasein analysis, which contains a model of human understanding. In the 60s Boss organized a training program for psychoanalysts andpsychotherapists in their own way. Existential psychotherapy has many currents, its techniques differ, but the goal is the same - to make a person's life comfortable and of high quality.
Frankl's Psychotherapy
One of the most typical representatives of existential psychotherapy can be called Viktor Frankl. This is an Austrian psychologist, psychotherapist and neurologist. Existential psychotherapy, whose methods are based on the teachings of Frankl, is called logotherapy. His main idea is that the main thing for a person is to find the meaning of life and understand his life, he should strive for this. If a person does not see the meaning, his life turns into a void. Frankl's existential psychotherapy is based on the understanding that existence itself raises questions for a person about the meaning of being, and not vice versa, and a person needs to answer them with actions. Existentialists believe that each of us can find meaning, regardless of gender, age, nationality or religion, social status.
The path to meaning is individual for any person, and if he cannot find it himself, therapy comes to the rescue. But existentialists are sure that a person himself is able to do this, they call conscience, which Frankl considered the “organ of meaning”, the main guide, and he called the ability to find it self-transcendence. An individual can get out of the state of emptiness only by interacting with the surrounding reality; withdrawing into oneself and focusing on one's innerexperience, this is impossible. Frankl claimed that 90% of drug addicts and alcoholics became so because of the loss of the meaning of life and the loss of the path to it. Another option is reflection, when a person focuses on himself, trying to find happiness in this; this is also a false path. Logotherapy developed by Frankl is based on counteracting reflection - dereflection, as well as paradoxical intention.
Methods of logotherapy. Dereflection
Dereflection provides for complete dedication to the outside, the cessation of digging into one's own experiences. This method is used in the presence of obsessive-compulsive disorder. An example of such violations are often problems in sexual life associated with fear of impotence, frigidity. Frankl believed that obsessive-compulsive disorder of a sexual nature is associated with the desire for pleasure and the fear of its absence. Trying to find happiness, constantly focusing on it, a person does not find it. He goes into reflection, watching himself as if from the outside, analyzing his feelings and ultimately not getting any satisfaction from what is happening. Frankl sees the solution to the problem as getting rid of reflection, self-forgetfulness. As an example of the successful application of the dereflexion method in Frankl's practice, we can single out the case of a young woman who complained of frigidity. She was abused in her youth and was constantly afraid that this fact would affect her sex life and the ability to enjoy it. And it was precisely this focus on oneself, one’s feelings and emotions, delving into oneself that provoked a deviation, but notthe very fact of violence. When the girl was able to switch attention from herself to her partner, the situation changed in favor of her. She was able to enjoy sexual relations, the problem disappeared. The range of application of the dereflexion method is wide and can be useful in solving many psychological problems.
Paradoxical intention
Paradoxical intention is a concept based on Frankl's teachings about fears and phobias. He argued that a person's fear of some event, turning into an obsessive state, gradually leads him to exactly what he is afraid of. For example, an individual becomes poor or sick because he experiences the emotions and feelings of such a person in advance, fearing to become him. The term "intention" comes from the Latin intentio - "attention, aspiration", which means an internal orientation towards something, and "paradoxical" means the reverse action, contradiction. The essence of this method is the intentional creation of the situation that causes fear. Instead of avoiding any circumstance, you need to go towards it, this is the paradox.
You can give an example with the scene. A man, once speaking on stage in front of the audience and at the same time worried, noticed that his hands were shaking. The next time before going out, he began to fear that his hands would shake again, and this fear came true. Fear breeds fear, as a result, it all turned into a phobia, the symptoms recurred and intensified, there was a fear of waiting. In order to get rid of this state and livecalmly, enjoy life, it is necessary to eliminate the root cause of fear. The method can be applied independently, having formed a clear intention to create a situation opposite to the one from which one would like to get rid of. Here are a couple of examples.
One boy urinated in his sleep every night and his therapist decided to use the paradoxical intention method on him. He told the child that every time it happened again, he would be rewarded. In doing so, the doctor transformed the boy's fear into a desire for the situation to happen again. So the child got rid of his illness.
This method can also be used for insomnia. A person cannot fall asleep for a long time, the fear of a sleepless night begins to haunt him every evening. The more he tries to understand his feelings and tune in to sleep, the less he succeeds. The solution is simple - stop delving into yourself, be afraid of insomnia and plan to intentionally stay up all night. Existential psychotherapy (reception of paradoxical intention in particular) allows you to take a fresh look at the situation, gain control over yourself and your life.
Client-centered method
Another area that includes existential psychotherapy. The basic concepts and technique of its application differ from the classical ones. The method of client-centered therapy was developed by the American psychologist Carl Rogers and described in his book Client-Centered Therapy: Modern Practice, Meaning and Theory. Rogers believed that a person in his life is guided by the desire for development,professional and material growth, while using the available opportunities. He is so arranged that he must solve the problems that arise before him, direct his actions in the right direction. But this ability can only develop in the presence of social values. Rogers introduced concepts that define the main criteria for personality development:
- Experience field. This is his inner world, realized by a person, through the prism of which he perceives external reality.
- Self. Unification of bodily and spiritual experience.
- I am real. Self-image based on life situations, attitudes of people around.
- I am perfect. How a person imagines himself in the event of the embodiment of his capabilities.
"I-real" tends to "I-ideal." The smaller the differences between them, the more harmoniously the individual feels himself in life. According to Rogers, adequate self-esteem, acceptance of a person as he is, is a sign of mental and mental he alth. Then they talk about congruence (internal consistency). If the difference is large, a person is characterized by ambition and pride, overestimation of his capabilities, and this can lead to neuroses. The real I may never come close to the ideal due to life circumstances, insufficient experience, or because a person imposes on himself attitudes, a model of behavior, feelings that move him away from the "I-ideal". The main principle of the client-centered method is the tendency toself-actualization. A person must accept himself as he is, acquire self-respect and strive for growth and development within limits that do not violate his self.
Client-Centered Method Techniques
The existential approach in psychotherapy according to the method of Carl Rogers identifies seven stages of development, awareness and self-acceptance:
- There is a detachment from problems, a lack of desire to change your life for the better.
- A person begins to show his feelings, express himself, reveal his problems.
- Development of self-expression, acceptance of oneself with all the complexity of the situation, one's problems.
- There is a need for identity, a desire to be yourself.
- Behavior becomes organic, spontaneous, easy. Inner freedom appears.
- A person opens up to himself and the world. Classes with a psychologist can be canceled.
- The appearance of a realistic balance between the real me and the ideal me.
Identify the main components of the method:
- reflection of emotions,
- verbalization,
- establishing congruence.
Let's briefly discuss each of them.
Reflection of emotions. During the conversation, the psychologist calls aloud the emotions that the client experienced in a given situation, based on his story.
Verbalization. The psychologist retells the client's messages in his own words, but does not distort the meaning of what was told. This principle is designed to highlight the most significant of the client's narrative, the most disturbinghis moments.
Establishing congruence. A he althy balance between real and ideal self. The rehabilitation process can be considered successful if the client's condition changes in the following direction:
- perceives himself adequately, is open to other people and new experiences, the level of self-esteem returns to normal;
- increases efficiency;
- realistic view of problems;
- decreases vulnerability, increases adaptability to the situation;
- anxiety reduction;
- positive change in behavior.
Rogers' technique is quite successfully used at school with teenagers, in conflict resolution. She also has a contraindication - its use is undesirable if a person really does not have the opportunity to grow and develop.
Death Awareness
There is a judgment that people who have experienced clinical death or serious illness value their lives more and achieve a lot. Realizing the inevitable finiteness of being, death, existential psychotherapy makes you rethink your attitude to the whole world around you, perceive reality in a different light. Usually a person does not constantly think about death, but when faced with a serious illness, he may behave inappropriately. For example, close oneself from others, withdraw into oneself or begin to take revenge on all he althy people around him. The psychologist's work in this method should lead to the client's acceptance of illness as an opportunity for personal growth. The proximity of death for a prepared person leads to a reassessment of values, concentration on the presentmoment. He opens up to other people, his family and friends are no exception: relationships become close and sincere.
Existential psychotherapy, which may seem bleak to some people, actually helps many people get through their hardships with dignity.
