Existential and Person-Centered Therapy Critiques

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy has been plagued by so many misconceptions due to one simple fact : its theoretical framework itself is bewildering (Corey 2005 . Like all theories , problems arise when there are too many attempts for definition , one as complex , if not oversimplified , as the other (Corey , 2005 . theless , the common thread that runs through them all is the unifying theme of understanding human existence . Why do we exist ? How profound is our existence ? What makes us exist ? However most would agree that the fundamental constructs of humanity that encapsulates existential

theory are freedom , relationship , death and responsibility (Cooper , 2003

Existentialism was born after the Second World War (Cooper , 2003 . Many have linked the philosophy to Jean-Paul Sartre and his popular discussions of meaninglessness and angst in most of his works (Lehmann and Coady , 2001 . Sartre 's melancholia was understandable at the time considering the amount of destruction and disillusionment caused by the damages of war . People were desperate , loved ones were killed or missing in action , and life , it seemed , required a new sense of understanding (Lehmann and Coady , 2001 . Society began to see an increased number of atheists , and Christianity was gradually attacked for being nothing more than an opiate of the mass ' as how the Marxists believed (Blackledge 2006 . Other key contributors to the theory include Soren Kierkegaard - known as the father of modern existentialism , Friedrich Nietzsche Martin Heidegger , Karl Jaspers , and Albert Camus , to name a few

Existential therapy looks into the freedom of making one 's choices . A therapist 's job is to guide the client into understanding his individual uniqueness which is shaped from infancy (Corey , 2005 ) and the life paths he chooses . That uniqueness is then utilized as a tool to enlighten the client to focus on his present and future . The therapist will also make him be clearly aware that he is free of his own destiny , and is responsible for the choices he makes under no constraints to pursue any possibilities he wants for his future . This technique of therapy teaches the client to be conscious of his life and his surrounding and to understand that no one other than himself is responsible for the decisions made for him (Corey , 2005 . This is the complete opposite to psychoanalysis where the individual 's freedom is impinged , if not restrained , by his unconscious and primitive desires

In the early 1930s , a Swiss psychiatrist by the name of Ludwig Binswanger founded Daseinsanalytic , or phenomenological anthropology , to further develop existential thinking (Cooper , 2003 . The basic tenets of existential therapy are for the clients to understand the following we are what we choose to be and once we know our range of alternatives we can decide among them as we have the power to do so (Cooper , 2003 But this method of therapy is not designed to cure (Cooper , 2003 Therapists see the clients as people who are not neurotic or mentally ill . Instead , they are seen as people who are sick ' of their lives because...