Existential Therapy

Introduction

Existential therapy is a form of psychotherapy that draws on the theories of existential philosophy. It helps people work through mental health challenges by creating new meaning in their lives. The goal of existential therapy is to help people live authentic and meaningful lives by helping them address issues related to identity, self-esteem, meaning, and freedom.

Existential therapy, sometimes called existential psychotherapy, is a form of psychological therapy that works with issues surrounding mental health by employing theories and concepts from existential philosophy. This type of therapy emerged in the mid-20th century as an offshoot of humanistic psychology and is primarily employed to help people cope with feelings of anxiety, depression, and grief.

Existential philosophy refers to the ideas put forth by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) and Albert Camus (1913–1960). These thinkers all had very different views about how humans should live their lives but they shared some common themes: we are free beings who make choices; we must find meaning in life instead of searching for happiness; death is inevitable; our actions have consequences; life has no ultimate meaning outside ourselves.

Principles of Existential Therapy

Existential therapy is based on the idea that human beings are responsible for their own lives and have the ability to make choices. In this sense, it differs from other approaches to therapy, which might focus more on changing negative thoughts or behaviors. Existential therapy doesn’t aim to cure mental illness; rather, it helps people cope with the difficulties they face in life.

Existential psychotherapy can help clients explore what it means to be alive and how they want to live their lives—and how these questions relate to their feelings and experiences. This process can be helpful when you’re having trouble figuring out what’s important in your life or when you’re struggling with difficult situations.

The Goal of Existential Therapy

The goal of existential therapy is to help people find meaning in their lives. The ultimate goal of this type of therapy is for the client to be able to understand and accept who they are and what has happened in their life so far, as well as find a sense of purpose in their actions.

Existential therapists believe that every person has the freedom to make choices about how they want to live their lives, but that sometimes those choices can lead people down paths that cause them distress or make them feel isolated. By helping clients recognize these issues, existential therapists hope that clients will learn how to cope with difficult situations without feeling hopeless or isolated by them.

What Does Existential Therapy Help With?

Existential therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps people overcome existential issues. These issues include:

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • meaninglessness and purposelessness in life, despite having a life purpose (this happens when people have low self-esteem)

It is helpful to think of existential therapy as being “therapy for the soul”. It helps you understand yourself better so that you can live the best life possible.

How Is Existential Therapy Used?

Existential therapists believe that everyone has an inner drive for self-actualization, which means seeking fulfillment and purposeful living. They also believe that everyone has the potential for freedom from themselves as well as from external experiences, including relationships or events that cause problems.

In addition, they believe that people need to be free from anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems in order to reach their full potential.

It helps people work through mental health challenges by creating new meaning in their lives

Existential psychotherapy is a form of therapy that encourages individuals to find meaning and purpose in their lives, regardless of the circumstances. It helps people cope with mental health challenges by creating new meaning in their lives. Existential psychotherapy focuses on how you make sense of your experiences and guides you through existential crises or difficult periods in your life.

Existential psychotherapy is most well-known for helping people overcome trauma, depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues caused by events like divorce or death. If you’re struggling with any type of negative thought patterns or behaviors that affect your well-being on a day-to-day basis—and they don’t seem likely to go away on their own—existential psychotherapy may be able to help you resolve some of those issues by giving them new meaning.