NSG 527 Midterm Exam Questions with
Verified Correct Answers
Existential Psychotherapy
"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
◦ 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
◦ Leading figures include Frankl, May and Yalom
The existential therapist and the subjective world
The function of the existential therapist is to understand the client's subjective world
Anxiety in existential therapy
,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
◦ 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)
◦ Freedom and Responsibility
◦ Isolation
◦ Meaninglessness
◦ Death
The three forms of the world- "being in the world" (Dimensions of the World Views) -
Existential therapy
◦ 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
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
Existential approach and philosophy
◦ 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
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
◦ 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
Verified Correct Answers
Existential Psychotherapy
"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
◦ 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
◦ Leading figures include Frankl, May and Yalom
The existential therapist and the subjective world
The function of the existential therapist is to understand the client's subjective world
Anxiety in existential therapy
,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
◦ 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)
◦ Freedom and Responsibility
◦ Isolation
◦ Meaninglessness
◦ Death
The three forms of the world- "being in the world" (Dimensions of the World Views) -
Existential therapy
◦ 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
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
Existential approach and philosophy
◦ 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
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
◦ 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
