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Existential Theory Case Study

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Running Head: EXISTENTIAL THEORY APPLICATION 1

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EXISTENTIAL THEORY APPLICATION

Existential Theory: A Case Study
Thomas J. McCarthy
Grand Canyon University: PCN-500
April 20, 2016

Existential Theory: A Case Study The therapist will choose the existential theory in this case study because it focuses on the both the present and the past. The person-centered theory and the Gestalt theory only tend to focus on the client?s present. And in this case, the therapist needs to delve deeper into the underlying problems of the client?s depression, anxiety, family situations, and job status.
Ana?s Assessment The existential therapist does not assessment his client because to do so …show more content…

185) There are four ultimate concerns that existential therapists rely on in applying the therapeutic techniques being used. They are death, freedom, Meaning, and Isolation. We all face the idea of our own mortality. But when the therapists uses the death concern in Ana?s case, he compares it to her problems and sees in the present a much better situation: meaning for life. Ana is going through this right now. She is probably feeling she would like to die than to live with depression. But we need to give her strength so that she can live on and be a light for her infant …show more content…

But if we lose all hope to connect, it just leads to emptiness. Ana needs to reconnect with her parents and to find the meaning about the distance she put herself in.
Therapeutic Techniques The goal of the existential therapist in Ana?s case is to relieve her of her depression and anxiety and to find the underlying cause of such. Ana has a lot of worry regarding her current status in maintaining a home and the fact that her husband is in a combat zone. Will he make it back? The therapeutic techniques (Murdock, 2013, pp. 192-193) to help with this goal could start with paying attention to Ana?s nonverbal behavior. She arrives 30 minutes ahead of schedule, which is a good sign, showing that she is eager to be alleviated of her depression and anxiety. Crying and shaking of her hands while filling out the intake paperwork tells the therapist that she is suffering, probably with depression and anxiety. Her halting speech show a lack in confidence in herself to turn things around; hence hoping for the therapist to work

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