Existential approach in psychotherapy. Existential psychotherapy: techniques, methods, representatives, basic concepts

At all times, people have faced psychological manifestations, such as disappointment, fatigue from life, self-doubt, turning into depression. The problems in different eras were also different, but the feelings and feelings of people are similar. Today, more and more often, a person suffers from the loss of the meaning of life and internal emptiness, the cause of which are some life troubles. Existential psychotherapy is called upon to help such people.

The concept of existential psychotherapy

Existential psychotherapy is a set of rules and psychological approaches for returning a person to a normal life, full of worries and meaning. Here, emphasis is placed on self-awareness not as a separate object, enclosed in itself and its experiences, but as part of being, reality around. Therapy forms a responsibility for one's life and what is happening in it. The term itself came from the Latin existentia - "existence". Existential psychology and psychotherapy closely overlap with philosophy. In the twentieth century, a direction such as the “philosophy of existence” arose, which is inherently close to existential psychotherapy.

The existential direction in psychotherapy originated thanks to Seren Kierkegaard. Fundamental was his teaching, on which he worked in the 1830s. 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. Overestimating the past, a person becomes free. Kierkegaard introduced the concept of existence, a unique and one-of-a-kind human life, separate for each individual. He found a connection with the turning points in fate and self-awareness, a different view of himself and life after the shock.

Buigental's postulates

James Buigental is president of the Existential Psychotherapy Association. In 1963, he identified the basic concepts of existential psychotherapy:

• Man is a holistic being that must be evaluated and studied in the sum of all its components. In other words, partial functions cannot serve to evaluate an individual, only all factors as a whole.
• Human life is not isolated, but tied to interpersonal relationships. A person cannot be studied without taking into account his communication experience.
• Understanding a person is only possible given his identity. The individual continuously evaluates himself, his actions, thoughts.
• A man is the creator of his life, he is not an outside observer, past which pictures of being fly by, but an active participant in the action. He creates the resulting experience himself.
• In human life there is a sense and purpose, 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 gains his life experience in communication with the outside world, with other people. This adds up to our psychological picture, without which it is impossible to help the patient in psychotherapy. A set of personal qualities will not give full awareness of the person, a person does not live in isolation, inside his cocoon, he is constantly developing, changing forms of behavior, evaluates the environment and, based on this, performs certain actions. Therefore, some psychologists avoid the concept of personality, since it does not allow to fully study all aspects of human existence and consciousness.

Therapy Goals

Existential psychotherapy aims to direct a person’s thoughts in the right direction, to help understand life, to understand its importance and all the opportunities provided. Therapy does not provide for a change in the patient's personality. All attention is directed precisely at life itself, at rethinking certain events. This makes it possible to take a fresh look at reality, without illusions and speculation, and build plans for the future, define goals. Existential psychotherapy defines the meaning of life in everyday worries, in responsibility for one's own life and in freedom of choice. The ultimate goal is to create a harmonious view by creating a new outlook on being. We can say that therapy helps to understand life, teaches to confront problems, find ways to solve them, explores all possibilities to improve 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, a big mistake is to treat him as a patient. So say representatives of existential psychotherapy. You can’t treat him as a helpless person, you just need to help him rethink what is happening around him and choose the right path along which he will go into the future meaningfully and with a specific purpose. The goal is not to change personality, but after undergoing therapy, a person can understand that he needs to change something in order to improve his life, that now he does not live as he wants, because decisive action is needed. Existential psychotherapy is an opportunity to gain knowledge and freedom, strength, patience. She teaches not to hide from reality, not to hide from problems, but to study and feel life through suffering, feelings, disappointments, but to perceive them adequately.

Psychotherapy and Philosophy

Now it becomes clear why the existential tradition in psychotherapy came from philosophy, and why it is closely interconnected with it. This is the only psychotherapeutic teaching whose principles are justified with the help of philosophy. The founder of existential teaching can be called the Danish thinker Seren Kierkegaard. 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 has become widespread. Representatives of Russian philosophy also did not stand aside and invested no less than strength and knowledge in existential teaching. These 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 area in practice, but was able to determine the basic principles of the person’s inner world, his behavior and reaction to the surrounding reality, and lay the foundation for therapy. He can be called the founder of existential psychotherapy. Medard Boss, a Swiss psychiatrist, proposed his concept, the first of its kind. This 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 directions of existential therapy - dasine analysis, which contains a model of human understanding. In the 60s, Boss organized a training program for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in his own way. Existential psychotherapy now has many currents, its techniques differ, but one goal is to make a person's life comfortable and of high quality.

Frankl Psychotherapy

One of the most typical representatives of existential psychotherapy is Victor Frankl. This is an Austrian psychologist, psychotherapist and neurologist. Existential psychotherapy, whose methods are based on Frankl’s teachings, 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 point, his life turns into a void. Frankl's existential psychotherapy is based on the understanding that existence itself poses questions to a person about the meaning of being, and not vice versa, and a person needs to respond to them with actions. Existentialists believe that each of us can make sense, 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 convinced that man himself is able to do this, they call conscience the main guideline, which Frankl considered the “organ of meaning”, and called the opportunity to find it self-transcendence. An individual can get out of a state of emptiness only by interacting with the surrounding reality; Locked in and focusing on our inner experiences, 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 concentrates on himself, trying to find happiness in it; this is also a false path. Logotherapy developed by Frankl is based on counteracting reflection - dereflexia, as well as paradoxical intention.

Logotherapy methods. Dereflexia

Dereflexion provides for complete self-giving outside, the cessation of digging in one’s own experiences. This method is used in the presence of neuroses of obsessive states. Examples of such violations are often problems in sexual life associated with a fear of impotence, frigidity. Frankl believed that the neurosis of obsessive states of a sexual nature is associated with a desire to enjoy and fear of his absence. Trying to find happiness, constantly concentrating on this attention, a person does not find it. He goes into reflection, observing himself as if from the outside, analyzing his feelings and not getting any satisfaction from what is happening in the end. Frankl sees the solution to the problem as getting rid of reflection, self-forgetfulness. As an example of the successful application of the dereflexia method in Frankl's practice, we can single out the case of a young woman who complained of frigidity. In her youth, she was abused and was constantly afraid that this fact would leave an imprint on her sex life and the ability to enjoy her. And it was precisely this focus on oneself, one's feelings and emotions, digging in oneself that provoked a deviation, but not the very fact of violence. When the girl was able to shift attention from herself to a partner, the situation changed in favor of her. She was able to enjoy sexual intercourse, the problem disappeared. The range of application of the method of dereflexia is wide and can be useful in solving many psychological problems.

Paradoxical intention

Paradoxical intention is a concept based on Frankl's doctrine of 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 pre-experiences the emotions and feelings of such a person, being afraid to become him. The term "intention" comes from the Latin intentio - "attention, aspiration", which means an internal orientation to something, and "paradoxical" means the opposite of action, a contradiction. The essence of this method is to deliberately create the situation that causes fear. Instead of avoiding any circumstance, you need to meet him, this is the paradox.

You can give an example with a scene. The man, once speaking on stage to the audience and at the same time worried, noticed that his hands were shaking. The next time before leaving, he began to fear that his hands would shake again, and this fear came true. Fear gives rise to fear, as a result of all this turned into a phobia, the symptoms recurred and intensified, there was a fear of expectation. In order to get rid of this condition and live in peace, 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 we would like to get rid of. Here are a couple of examples.

One boy urinated every night in his sleep, and his psychotherapist decided to apply the method of paradoxical intention to him. He told the child that every time this happens again, he will receive a reward. Thus, the doctor transformed the boy’s fear into a desire for this situation to happen again. So the child got rid of his ailment.

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 gets it. The solution is simple - stop digging in yourself, be afraid of insomnia and plan to intentionally stay awake all night. Existential psychotherapy (the reception of paradoxical intentions 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 technology 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 a desire for development, professional and material growth, using the available opportunities. It is so arranged that it must solve the problems that arise before it, direct its actions in the right direction. But only this ability can develop in the presence of social values. Rogers introduced concepts that define the basic criteria for personality development:

• Field of experience. This is a man’s internal world, through the prism of which he perceives external reality.
• The self. The union of bodily and spiritual experience.
• I am real. Self-image based on life situations, the attitude of people around.
• I am perfect. How a person presents himself in the event of the embodiment of his capabilities.

The "I-real" strives for the "I-ideal." The less differences between them, the more harmoniously the individual feels himself in life. According to Rogers, adequate self-esteem, accepting a person as he is, is a sign of mental and mental health. Then they talk about congruency (internal coherence). If the difference is great, a person is characterized by ambitiousness and pride, overestimation of their capabilities, and this can lead to neurosis. The real Self may not come close to the ideal due to life circumstances, insufficient experience, or due to the fact that a person imposes on himself attitudes, a model of behavior, feelings that alienate him from the "I-ideal." The main principle of the client-centered method is the tendency to self-actualization. A person must accept himself as he is, acquire self-esteem and strive for growth and development to the extent that does not violate his self.

Client Centered Techniques

The existential approach in psychotherapy according to the method of Karl Rogers identifies seven stages of development, awareness and self-acceptance:

1. There is a detachment from problems, a lack of desire to change your life for the better.
2. A person begins to show his feelings, to express himself, to reveal his problems.
3. The development of self-expression, self-acceptance with all the complexity of the situation, their problems.
4. There is a need for identity, a desire to be yourself.
5. Behavior becomes organic, spontaneous, easy. Inner freedom appears.
6. Man reveals himself and the world. Classes with a psychologist can be canceled.
7. The appearance of a realistic balance between the I-real and I-ideal.

The main components of the method are distinguished:

• reflection of emotions
• verbalization,
• establishing congruency.

Let us briefly dwell on each of them.

Reflection of emotions. During the conversation, the psychologist calls out loud 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 the story. This principle was created to highlight the most significant of the client’s narrative, the most disturbing moments.

Establishment of congruency. A healthy balance between the real and ideal I. The rehabilitation process can be considered successful if the state of the client changes in the following direction:

• perceives himself adequately, is open to other people and new experiences, the level of self-esteem is returning to normal;
• increased efficiency;
• realistic view of problems;
• vulnerability decreases, adaptability to a situation increases;
• anxiety reduction;
• change in behavior in a positive way.

Rogers technique is quite successfully used in school with teenagers, in conflict management. She also has a contraindication - its use is undesirable if a person really has no 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 much. Aware of the inevitable finiteness of being, death, existential psychotherapy makes you rethink your attitude to the entire world around us, 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, shut yourself off from others, lock yourself in, or begin to take revenge on all healthy people around him. The psychologist's work on this method should lead to the acceptance by the client of the disease as an opportunity for personal growth. The proximity of death for a prepared person leads to a reassessment of values, concentration on the present moment. It is revealed to other people, its relatives and friends are no exception: relationships become close and sincere.

Existential psychotherapy, the techniques of which death will seem gloomy to someone, actually helps many people to survive the difficulties that have happened to them worthily.