Existential Psychotherapy: Nothing Is Real Until It Has Been Lived

Sören Kirkegaard, father of existentialism, stated: “what is characteristic of the human is personal experience.” And it is that the existential approach is interested in the truth of the human being. For our truth.

Existential psychology is a current very much in line with the existentialist philosophy born in Europe before the Second World War. Shortly afterwards she arrived in the United States, where renowned psychologists, such as Allport, Roger, Fromm or Maslow, referred to her explicitly.

On the other hand, existential psychology had a powerful influence on humanistic psychology. So much so that it took up some of its procedures and its fundamental themes.

The humanistic-existential models

Existential analysis is part of the so-called existential-humanistic models. Furthermore, the appearance of these models in the North American context of the sixties is the result of multiple influences. Its evolution must be viewed in the light of its social and cultural impact on the North American scene first, and later on the European scene. Thus, its development has been carried out outside of academic psychology.

On the other hand, despite being considered a third force against behaviorism and psychoanalysis, it lacks a paradigmatic vocation. At present, the humanistic-existential models must be considered as a set of therapeutic procedures, for the most part detached from the main academic currents.

The main antecedents of these models are existentialism and phenomenology. The phenomenological current finds its most immediate origins in the thought of Franz Brentano. This is so because of Brentano’s emphasis on experience, on the active character of the psyche, and on the intentional nature of every psychic act. Brentano influenced the main representative of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl.

For Husserl the immediate experience of the act of knowing is that it can reveal the nature of things. To do this, you have to take what is known as the “epoché” or phenomenological attitude. That is, we must take the pure observation of the phenomenon, without prejudices or a priori beliefs (before the experience).

Existential psychotherapy

The central notion of this approach is that of the existential project. According to JP Sartre, existence precedes essence. This means that the human being does not come with a being to develop, but has to find it by himself. Sartre considers man as a radically free and indeterminate being, although limited by his factuality. Without it, he cannot be understood. Thus, the human being determines himself through the existential project.

The central idea of ​​existential analysis could be expressed with a phrase by Ortega y Gasset: to live you always have to do something (even if it is only to breathe). The objective of existential psychotherapy is to analyze the structure of what is done in life. Biswanger called this structure “Dasein”. Sartre called it the existential project. In Spain this tradition was cultivated by L. Martín-Santos (1964) and, at present, by M. Villegas.

Villegas defined existential psychotherapy as ” a method of interpersonal relationship and psychological analysis. ” Its purpose would be to provoke sufficient self-knowledge and autonomy to freely assume and develop one’s own existence. (Villegas, 1998, p. 55).

Existential psychotherapy clarifies and understands the values, meanings and beliefs that the patient has implemented (as strategies) to understand the world. It evidences the assumptions regarding our way of living, as we have begun to doubt about the appropriation of our existence.

Psychotherapy in humanistic-existential models

From the psychotherapeutic point of view, the most relevant feature of the humanistic-existential models is the importance given to immediate experience as a primary phenomenon. This implies that both the theoretical explanations and the manifest behavior are subordinate to the experience itself and the meaning that the person gives it.

Also characteristic of these models is the emphasis they place on the volitional, creative, and evaluative aspects of human behavior. Beyond these general features, it is difficult to talk about basic concepts.

To do this, reference should be made to the specific theories in which they make sense. These theories are existential analysis, person-centered approach, Gestalt approach, transactional analysis, psychodrama, and bioenergetics.

Existential voids as psychopathological disorders

As we have commented, the central notion of existential psychotherapy is that of the existential project. The purpose of psychotherapy is to analyze this project and modify it. Psychotherapy does not intend to change the external, physical or social reality, but the person and their perception of things. It is radically assumed that it is the only thing that depends on itself, where there is ultimately a greater capacity for control.

Its objective is to recover the human being, to recover him for his self-possession and self-determination. This implies in some way confronting him with himself.

Often the individual is lost or alienated in the attempt to solve the problems posed by his radical significance. Thus, the purpose of analyzing the structures of your world is to discover the forms and points of alienation. Only in this way can basic freedom be restored. Only in this way can an alternative reconstruction of your experience be allowed. According to existential psychotherapy, nothing is real until it has been lived.

Therefore, from existential psychotherapy it is considered that the different psychopathological disorders are inauthentic forms of existence. They are existential stagnations or voids. They are defenses or denials of “being-in-the-world”, resignations or losses of freedom (Villegas, 1981).

It is not easy to clearly define existential psychotherapy, but we can remain with the idea that it tries to promote a personal analysis that motivates the possibility of choosing and constructing individual schemes for living. It also aims to diversify and enrich the daily life of the person through a philosophical provocation.

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