Existential Therapy

Question 1

3 Important Influences

Answer 1

Victor Frankl
Rollo May
Irvin Yalom

Question 2

Givens of Existence

Answer 2

1. Isolation and Relationships with Others
2. Death and living fully
3. Meaninglessness and Meaning

Question 3

Existentialism

Answer 3

Meaning of human existence

Sense of value/meaning in life (present/future view)

Question 4

Nondeterministic

Answer 4

People are more than predetermined factors

Free- will / we recreate ourselves

Question 5

1. Capacity for Self- Awareness

Answer 5

time is limited
we have the choice to act or not to act
must seek meaning
We are subject to loneliness, meaninglessness, emptiness, and isolation

Question 6

6 Propositions/ Basic Dimensions of Human Condition

Answer 6

1. The capacity for self awareness
2. Freedom and Responsibility
3. Identity and Relationship to Others
4. The search for meaning
5. Anxiety as a condition of living
6. Awareness of Death and Nonbeing

Question 7

2. Freedom and Responsibility

Answer 7

• a large role in shaping personal destinies
• Manner in which we live and what we become are result of our choices
• accept responsibility for directing their own lives

Question 8

3. Identity and Relationship to Others

Answer 8

Identity- We must trust ourselves to search within and find our own answers
Balancing aloneness and relatedness helps us develop unique identity and live authentically

Question 9

4. The search for meaning

Answer 9

Finding meaning in life is a by-product of a commitment to creating, loving, and working
Trying to understand how to make sense of voids that have occurred in life and their meaning

Question 10

5. Anxiety as a condition of living

Answer 10

Existential anxiety is normal

Neurotic anxiety is out of proportion

Question 11

Existential anxiety

Answer 11

outcome of being confronted with four givens of existence-

life cannot be lived meaningfully and with responsibility, nor can isolation or death be faced, without anxiety

Question 12

Neurotic anxiety

Answer 12

we typically are unaware, is anxiety about concrete things that are out of proportion to the situation

Question 13

6. Awareness of Death and Non-being

Answer 13

Awareness of death is a basic human condition which gives significance to living

Question 14

Phases of Existential Therapy

Answer 14

Initial phase: Clients identifying/ clarifying their assumptions about the world
Middle phase: Clients examining the source/authority of their present value system
Final phase: Clients translate what they have learned about themselves into action