Studying the different theoretical approaches to psychotherapy has always been one of my favorite topics in any psychology course. The origin stories and characters associated to each orientation are almost as fascinating as the theories themselves. I find myself most drawn to the Existential Theory of psychotherapy due to its focus on meaning being the antidote to nihilism and pathology, as well as one of its leading figures: Viktor Frankl.
Man’s Search For Meaning is the most profound book I have ever read and is the book I recommend to anyone who asks for my opinion on a new read. I’ve always been painfully aware of my mortality and the inevitable suffering that comes with life. It may sound pessimistic and often times can be, but it doesn’t have to be.
Viktor’s Frankl understood more than most about just how malevolent people can be, and therefore, how difficult life can be. He endured the horrible suffering of being in Nazi concentration camps, and then learning about the death of his immediate family members as soon as he was freed. In the midst of the absolute worst time of his life he was still able to find meaning in his life. When many in his situation preferred death, he found dignity in the simple fact of living.
Viktor Frankl’s story is what attracted me to existentialism because it points to a very deep insight into human nature. Human beings should not seek happiness, because happiness is not a viable option in which to endure suffering. What man should seek above all else is meaning in that suffering, because meaning provides us with the strength to endure all situations with dignity. When your father dies and your life feels like it’s falling apart, happiness is no longer an option. Happiness is not dependable, meaning is. Friedrich Nietzsche said it best when he said “He who has a why can bear any how.”
“Human beings should not seek happiness, because happiness is not a viable option in which to endure suffering”
Few other theoretical orientations of psychotherapy and pathology take into account the human condition the way Existentialism does. CBT boasts of treating maladaptive cognitive and behavioral patterns, while Psychoanalysis seeks to explore and correct unresolved unconscious conflicts, but all in the pursuit of what exactly? Existentialism understands the fact that we are born alone, have to live with the knowledge of our impending death, and then die alone. When life is conceived in this manner you’re forced to look at behavior much differently now, aren’t you? It’s easy to look at a depressed or nihilistic client through the CBT or REBT perspective and think “something must have gone horribly wrong here”, but Existentialism does not see it that way. Existentialist Theory doesn’t question why people have pathologies, it seeks to discover how some people don’t.
In a way, Existentialism says “Of course that client is nihilistic, they were one day born into a world they didn’t understand, in an existence they couldn’t understand the point of, while being told how they should function by people who operate with no more knowledge than they have access to regarding the reason for existence.”
Existentialism addresses the elephant in the room and builds its epistemology and treatment plans around it. It hold that because life is comprised of great suffering, one must find meaning in order to endure it. When that sense of meaning is compromised, pathology is sure to ensue. The goal of Existentialist therapy is to assist clients in finding their own meaning. What I love most about this process is that in order to do this the counselor must take a holistic understanding of their client and their experiences, as opposed to focusing on one or two aspects of their existence, such as thoughts and behaviors. The person is a complex being and it is necessary that they are understood and treated as such.
Capuzzi and Gross (2017) list some of the main components of resolving pathology in the Existentialist perspective on page 175 of their textbook: freedom, responsibility, isolation, meaning, death, and relationships. Freedom is distinctly important because in emphasizing the autonomy and individuality of each human being, you must also address the responsibility each human being holds in shaping their lives. The idea of responsibility, when tied to freedom, becomes liberating instead of constraining, and ultimately opens one up to the idea of finding and implementing their own meaning to live by.
Existentialist psychology addresses both existence and the human being in a holistic manner, allowing for a treatment plan that provides clients with the proper tools to take on a world of suffering, in ways that no other theoretical orientation allows for. Because Existentialism is a way of thinking about reality and the human experience of it, it allows for a counselor to use the methods and techniques of any school of therapy in collaboration with it in order to achieve the best therapeutic results.
