Existential therapy
Founder? - ANSWER:Rollo May & Irvin Yalom
Existential therapy
Focus? - ANSWER:- Universal features of the human condition and the acceptance of pain as an
important part of the search for inner peace and happiness.
- Anxiety is viewed as part of the human condition
- Anxiety arises from our personal need to survive, to preserve our being, and to assert our being can be
neurotic or normal.
Existential therapy
Goal? - ANSWER:-embracing the true nature of human existence to overcome anxiety and find the
meaning in life
-Believing you are capable of making choices about who you want to be.
- patient to express an increase in his or her private world by making choices in order to confront and
overcome feelings of meaningless and isolation.
Existential therapy
Philosophy - ANSWER:You can make changes to be the person that you want to be.
- Based on the philosophical concern with what it means to be fully human.
- Based on a personal relationship between client and therapist
- Stresses personal freedom in deciding one's fate
-Places value on self-awareness
Existential therapy
Yalom's four givens of existence - ANSWER:1. Death: Death anxiety influences human behavior
subconsciously.
2. freedom: responsible for one's life or destiny.
3. existential isolation: conformity to society's norms in order to not be isolated from the masses.
4. Meaning of life: finding one's purpose (self-actualization)
Existential therapy
Function of the therapist? - ANSWER:Understand client's subjective world
, Existential therapy
Individuals world view - ANSWER:1. Eigenwelt: own world (self identity, thoughts)
2. Mitwelt: with public world (interaction with society)
3. Unwelt: natural world around (how we relate to environment)
4. Uberwelt: ideal world (based on beliefs and values)
Existential therapy
Techniques - ANSWER:- focusing on freedom and responsibility
- confronting negative thoughts and fears
- encouraging the embrace of life with hope, despite anxiety
- it does not focus on past, but past are used as tools to promote self-awareness and assertiveness
- the use empathetic approach to foster personal responsibility for choices
Existential therapy
Applications - ANSWER:Can be used for substance abuse, depression, anxiety, PTSD.
Gestalt therapy
Founder - ANSWER:Fredrick Perls and Laura Perls
Gestalt therapy
Perls Belief - ANSWER:Perls believed that one of the reasons patients develop mental health symptoms
was because they weren't aware of their sense or emotion. They didn't have recognition of bodily
sensations, and poor awareness of their environment. He also believed mental health symptoms could
be caused by unfinished business (feelings are not expressed) and not taking responsibility.
Gestalt therapy
Premise - ANSWER:- Change occurs through the increase the awareness of the here and now
- it focuses on what's happening in the moment, both within the client and therapist.
Gestalt therapy
Goal - ANSWER:- move from environmental support to self support through awareness and self-
determination.
- the goal is to have the patient gain more awareness and eventually be able to support themselves for
regulation instead of relying on the environment.
Gestalt therapy
Focus - ANSWER:- Focus is on "what" and "how" of behavior (what does the client encounter and how
do they respond?)