Midterm Exam: NSG 527 Midterm Exam Study Guide
Existential Psychotherapy - ANSWER:"A phenomenological-personal psychotherapy with the aim of
enabling a person to experience his or her life freely at the spiritual and emotional levels, to arrive at
authentic decisions and to come to a responsible way of dealing with himself or herself and the world
around them."
· Key themes and principles of existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Choice- free to choose
◦ Freedom- free to shape their destiny
◦ Responsibility- responsible for their own actions or inactions
◦ Awareness- through self-awareness, people can choose their actions and create their own destiny
◦ Aloneness- part of the human condition that people enter and depart the world alone
◦ Meaning- part of the human condition is the struggle for a sense of meaning
◦ Anxiety- is a condition of living and is inevitable
◦ Death- the fear of death must be faced before one can truly live
Founders of existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Leading figures include Frankl, May and Yalom
The existential therapist and the subjective world - ANSWER:The function of the existential therapist is to
understand the client's subjective world
Anxiety in existential therapy - ANSWER:The goals of existential psychotherapy center on the given
themes of existence and help people face the anxieties of life, freely choose their life direction, take
responsibility for their choices, and create a meaningful existence.
Guilt in existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Existential psychotherapy is centered in resolving life's existential
themes.
◦ Dysfunction occurs when existential themes are unresolved, and people live a meaningless life.
The "Givens" of existence (Yalom) - ANSWER:◦ Freedom and Responsibility
◦ Isolation
◦ Meaninglessness
◦ Death
The three forms of the world- "being in the world" (Dimensions of the World Views) - Existential therapy
- ANSWER:◦ Umwelt - the biological world, environment
◦ Mitwelt - literally means "with world" is the relationship with others in society and culture
◦ Eigenwelt - "own world" self-awareness and self-relatedness. It is grasping of what something in the
world personally means to the individual
, ◦ Überwelt - A person's connection to abstract and absolute aspects of living - the ideological beliefs
about life, death and existence
Umwelt - ANSWER:the biological world, environment
Mitwelt - ANSWER:literally means "with world" is the relationship with others in society and culture
Eigenwelt - ANSWER:"own world" self-awareness and self-relatedness. It is grasping of what something
in the world personally means to the individual
Überwelt - ANSWER:A person's connection to abstract and absolute aspects of living - the ideological
beliefs about life, death and existence
Existential approach and philosophy - ANSWER:◦ Explores the here and now without looking into the
past and emphasizes a person's responsibility for their own existence.
◦ The approach is experiential/relational and based on the philosophical concern with what it means to
be fully human.
◦ Emphasis is based on understanding the human experience and focuses on the client rather than the
symptom.
Gestalt Therapy - ANSWER:Gestalt, a German word meaning organized whole, recognizes the unity of
humans as integrated wholes, not divided into parts, taken out of context, or generalized
Key themes and principles of gestalt therapy - ANSWER:◦ The more we work at becoming who or what
we are not, the more we remain the same
◦ Authentic change occurs more from being who we are, rather than trying to be who we are not (ex.-
focusing on your inherent strengths, instead of working on weaknesses)
◦ Be here, be now
Founder of gestalt therapy - ANSWER:◦ Founded by Fritz Perls
Awareness in Gestalt - ANSWER:◦ The initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what they are
experiencing in the present moment
◦ Increased awareness is considered curative and by becoming aware, clients can be integrated, or whole
"Here and Now" (Gestalt) - ANSWER:◦ The focus of Gestalt is NOT on the why of behavior, but rather on
the what and how of behavior & the here and now
◦ Gestalt therapists are sensitive to how the here and now includes residues from the past, such as body
posture, habits, and beliefs
Impasse (Gestalt) - ANSWER:that point where we don't progress in our self-support maturity but need to
continue the manipulation of their environment (including people) to survive. This manipulation may
include playing helpless, crazy, angry, whatever it takes to get the other support they feel they need.
Dialogue (Gestalt) - ANSWER:◦ Inclusion, presence, commitment to dialogue, no exploitation, dialogue is
lived
Existential Psychotherapy - ANSWER:"A phenomenological-personal psychotherapy with the aim of
enabling a person to experience his or her life freely at the spiritual and emotional levels, to arrive at
authentic decisions and to come to a responsible way of dealing with himself or herself and the world
around them."
· Key themes and principles of existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Choice- free to choose
◦ Freedom- free to shape their destiny
◦ Responsibility- responsible for their own actions or inactions
◦ Awareness- through self-awareness, people can choose their actions and create their own destiny
◦ Aloneness- part of the human condition that people enter and depart the world alone
◦ Meaning- part of the human condition is the struggle for a sense of meaning
◦ Anxiety- is a condition of living and is inevitable
◦ Death- the fear of death must be faced before one can truly live
Founders of existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Leading figures include Frankl, May and Yalom
The existential therapist and the subjective world - ANSWER:The function of the existential therapist is to
understand the client's subjective world
Anxiety in existential therapy - ANSWER:The goals of existential psychotherapy center on the given
themes of existence and help people face the anxieties of life, freely choose their life direction, take
responsibility for their choices, and create a meaningful existence.
Guilt in existential therapy - ANSWER:◦ Existential psychotherapy is centered in resolving life's existential
themes.
◦ Dysfunction occurs when existential themes are unresolved, and people live a meaningless life.
The "Givens" of existence (Yalom) - ANSWER:◦ Freedom and Responsibility
◦ Isolation
◦ Meaninglessness
◦ Death
The three forms of the world- "being in the world" (Dimensions of the World Views) - Existential therapy
- ANSWER:◦ Umwelt - the biological world, environment
◦ Mitwelt - literally means "with world" is the relationship with others in society and culture
◦ Eigenwelt - "own world" self-awareness and self-relatedness. It is grasping of what something in the
world personally means to the individual
, ◦ Überwelt - A person's connection to abstract and absolute aspects of living - the ideological beliefs
about life, death and existence
Umwelt - ANSWER:the biological world, environment
Mitwelt - ANSWER:literally means "with world" is the relationship with others in society and culture
Eigenwelt - ANSWER:"own world" self-awareness and self-relatedness. It is grasping of what something
in the world personally means to the individual
Überwelt - ANSWER:A person's connection to abstract and absolute aspects of living - the ideological
beliefs about life, death and existence
Existential approach and philosophy - ANSWER:◦ Explores the here and now without looking into the
past and emphasizes a person's responsibility for their own existence.
◦ The approach is experiential/relational and based on the philosophical concern with what it means to
be fully human.
◦ Emphasis is based on understanding the human experience and focuses on the client rather than the
symptom.
Gestalt Therapy - ANSWER:Gestalt, a German word meaning organized whole, recognizes the unity of
humans as integrated wholes, not divided into parts, taken out of context, or generalized
Key themes and principles of gestalt therapy - ANSWER:◦ The more we work at becoming who or what
we are not, the more we remain the same
◦ Authentic change occurs more from being who we are, rather than trying to be who we are not (ex.-
focusing on your inherent strengths, instead of working on weaknesses)
◦ Be here, be now
Founder of gestalt therapy - ANSWER:◦ Founded by Fritz Perls
Awareness in Gestalt - ANSWER:◦ The initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what they are
experiencing in the present moment
◦ Increased awareness is considered curative and by becoming aware, clients can be integrated, or whole
"Here and Now" (Gestalt) - ANSWER:◦ The focus of Gestalt is NOT on the why of behavior, but rather on
the what and how of behavior & the here and now
◦ Gestalt therapists are sensitive to how the here and now includes residues from the past, such as body
posture, habits, and beliefs
Impasse (Gestalt) - ANSWER:that point where we don't progress in our self-support maturity but need to
continue the manipulation of their environment (including people) to survive. This manipulation may
include playing helpless, crazy, angry, whatever it takes to get the other support they feel they need.
Dialogue (Gestalt) - ANSWER:◦ Inclusion, presence, commitment to dialogue, no exploitation, dialogue is
lived
