Existential Psychotherapy

There is no single, simple, and clear view in the world about what existential psychotherapy truly is. And it seems — that is very fitting for one of the fundamental ideas of existentialism — that a person is not predefined, but at each moment determines who they are. The same goes for existential psychotherapy — each therapist creates it anew each time. From a formal standpoint, it is clear that this therapeutic approach is grounded in existentialist philosophy — in all its contradictions. The philosophical foundation draws from such great thinkers as Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, as well as Martin Buber and Paul Tillich. It is the application of existential thought to psychological counseling. Among the most renowned practitioners, one must mention Erich Fromm, Viktor Frankl, Ludwig Binswanger, James Bugental, Rollo May, Karl Jaspers, Irvin Yalom, Ronald Laing, as well as Alexander Alexeychik and Rimantas Kociunas. In practice, existential therapy addresses such universal areas of human life as freedom, choice, meaning and meaninglessness, responsibility, and death. While other therapeutic approaches pay greater attention to the unconscious, psychological processes, and the like, the focus of existential therapy is on a person’s life — how they themselves shape, experience, and live it. The goal of therapy is to help a person meet themselves and become the author of their own life. To live more consciously in this world, where what is, is — both the pleasant and the not-so-pleasant things. I once read this comparison of existential therapy and the psychoanalytic approach: If in psychoanalysis one asks “Why?”, then in existential therapy the question is “Why not?”. Existential therapy allows a person to better know themselves — their life, as well as to once again, anew, explore those possibilities that were previously rejected for various reasons. To live more fully and more vibrantly. I studied existential therapy in Lithuania, at the Institute of Humanistic and Existential Psychology HEPI (Lithuania, Birstonas) under the guidance of Professor R. Kociunas.