Todays Class - 20 JuneTwo

Thousand and Seven - the days

are ticking
Time - Pink Floyd
Experiential Exercise
Begin Existential Theory
Existential Psychotherapy - Review Principles
and goals of therapy
Case study - Anthony Jr.
Other videos


Pink Floyd - Time
Ticking away the moments that make up the dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the
rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill
today
And then one day you find that ten years have got
behind you No one told you when to run, you missed
the starting gun
Time, part II
And you run and run to catch up with the sun, but it's
sinking And racing around to come up behind you
again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or a half page of
scribbled lines
Hanging on in a quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone the song is over, thought i'd something
more to say

Important Influences
Victor Frankl
Prisoner, Nazi Concentration Camps-1942-45-
lost entire family; Spiritual freedom & independence
of mind can be had in the worst situations;
Essence lies in searching for meaning & purpose
Rollo May
American psychiatrist; many books on existential
therapy, integrated psychoanalysis and existential
therapy - He had two failed marriages- wrote extensively
regarding questions of intimacy, monogamy, morals of
relationships, studied with Adler
Irvin
Yalom:
Therapy through Meaning, therapeutic love
themes of existential work


Existentialism
Area of philosophy concerned with the meaning of
human existence
Asking questions about issues of love, death and the
meaning of life
How one deals with the sense of value and meaning
of ones life
Frequently referenced as more of a philosophy than a
specific theoretical approach - SOME DEBATE
HERE
Nondeterministic
Similar to client-centered approaches
Existentialist argue that it is an
oversimplification to view people as controlled
by fixed physical laws

Focus on active, positive aspects of human
growth and achievement
Existential perspective to key
therapeutic dynamics:
Resistance - Occurs when a client does not
take responsibility, is not aware of feelings, or
otherwise is inauthentic in dealing with life.
Rarely directed at therapist-- rather a way of dealing
with overwhelming threats, an inaccurate view of the
world, or an inaccurate view of the self.
Transference - important to note when clients
attention focuses on the therapist - Work to
make progress in the process of developing a
real and authentic relationship
The Capacity for Self-Awareness
The greater our awareness, the greater our
possibilities for freedom
Awareness is realizing that:
We are finite - time is limited
We have the potential, the choice, to act or not to
act
Meaning is not automatic - we must seek it
We are subject to loneliness, meaninglessness,
emptiness, guilt, and isolation
Freedom and Responsibility
People are free to choose among
alternatives and have a large role in
shaping personal destinies
Manner in which we live and what we
become are result of our choices
People must accept responsibility for
directing their own lives
The Search for Meaning
Meaning ~ like pleasure, meaning must be pursued
Finding meaning in life is a by-product of a
commitment to creating, loving, and working
The will to meaning is our primary striving
Life is not meaningful in itself; the individual must
create and discover meaning

Tony Jr - Sopranos
What is Tony Jr. Struggling with
What is the therapist trying to overview to
Tony relative to the lecture?
What is the Grandmother in the nursing
home struggling with - and how she has
been able to overcome certain existential
themes in her life
Steve Jobs commencement talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-
jKKp3NA
What did people see that had relevance to the
lecture?

Anxiety, continued: 2 types
Normal anxiety (also called existential anxiety):
Proportionate to its cause, does not require
repression, and can be used constructively to identify
and confront the dilemma from which it arose.
Neurotic Anxiety
When a person tries to evade normal or existential
anxiety. It commonly manifests itself as a loss of a
subjective sense of free will and an inability to take
responsibility for ones own life.

Primary Goals & Techniques
Pertaining To Anxiety
Eliminate neurotic anxiety to degree possible
Help the client learn to tolerate the unavoidable
existential anxiety of living.
Help clients to reach higher levels of authenticity
Techniques:
Identifying instances when the patient avoids
responsibility, helping the patient to consider options
make decisions, and pointing out how grief reactions
and sadness about life milestones COULD BE related
to underlying fears of isolation and death.

Role of the therapy relationship
Very important - strive toward an honest, open, and
egalitarian relationship with patients.
The goal is development of an authentic and intimate
relationship between the therapist and the client. --
Serves to model authenticity, freedom of choice,
and appropriate handling of anxiety circumstances

Awareness of Death & Nonbeing
Awareness of death is a basic human
condition which gives significance to living
We must think about death if we are to
thing significantly about life
If we defend against death our lives can
become meaningless
Central Tasks of Existential
Therapists
1. Inviting clients to recognize how they have
allowed others to decide for them
2. Encouraging clients to take responsibility
3. Recognize ways clients passively accepted
circumstances & surrendered control-

Although you have lived in a certain pattern, now
that your recognize the price of some of your
ways, are you willing to consider creating new
patterns?
Stance on Techniques
Little to not specific techniques designated
within theory
Commonly integrated within other
frameworks
Pros and Cons

PROS: Something to offer all counselors, stresses
self-determination, accepting the personal
responsibility, provides perspective for understanding
the value of anxiety and guilt, the role of death, and
the creative aspects of being alone and choosing for
oneself.
CONS: Lacks a systematic statement of principles
and practices; writers use vague and global terms or
abstract concepts; little research, limited applications
for lower-functioning clients, clients in extreme crisis
who need direction, poor clients, and those who are
nonverbal.