Three Phases Of Existential Therapy

Description and Overview
In the 19th century Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and Theologist Fredrick Nietzsche began to explore the meaning of existence in their own way. Of course it was too soon to call it an approach or even a style of therapy . Not until the early 1900’s did the existential approach was taken into consideration by psychologists such as Viktor Frankl, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May just to mention a few. The existential approach was developed with the intention to understand that a ‘complete’ person is more than the sum of his or her parts. Most importantly, existentialism is grounded on the belief that we are free; therefore, we have free will and self determination. Which makes us responsible for our choices and actions.

Furthermore, understand the subjective world of the client to come to new understanding of the client’s stands. While, therapists aim to understand their client’s subjective world, the existential approach doesn’t have specific techniques. Instead, therapists are welcomed to incorporate techniques from other approaches. Despite its unconventional style of therapy, there are 3 phases a therapist follows in order to understand the client’s subjective world. First, the therapist attempts to understand the client’s idea of life; for example, what does he/ she believes or what do they stand for, such as its values. Second, the therapist explores those values in a much thorough way. Lastly, the client is expected to use what he/ she learned in therapy and apply it to their everyday life with the intention of living a purposeful

She lacks enthusiasm in life and seems like she is living life because she just so happens to be alive. Unfortunately she fails to see that she is a good example to her sons by attending school, working, seeking therapy and taking the initiative of changing her outlook on life. My goal is to understand why Diana can’t seem to shake off the disappointments she has encountered. Why has she allowed these unfortunate events to determine the way she sees life. I plan to achieve this goal by applying the 3 Phases of existential therapy. I want to learn what are her values and what does she believes is the righteous thing to do. I am also interested in learning about her life as a teenager. Perhaps she encountered a major life event during that time that made her begin to questioned human existence or purpose in life . After all, she did move from a third world country to a developing country. I questioned if she has ever experienced bullying . During this part of therapy I will incorporate psychotherapy to get some insight to her past. My intention is to get Diana to realize and focus on her current experiences which is school and raising her two sons. Diana needs to realize that she does have a purpose in life. Namely she had choices in all her decisions she’s made thus far. I fear that I might run into some ethical problem with my