Existentialism & Irvin Yalom: Meaning-ful Therapy - PSYC 485

Irvin Yalom

Renowned psychiatrist and author known for group therapy & existential psychotherapy

Acclaimed Books:

• Love’s Executioner

• The Gift of Therapy

• Staring at the Sun

Existential Philosophy

• Kierkegaard: creative anxiety. despair, fear, guilt, nothingness

• Nietzsche: death, suicide and will

• Heidegger: authentic being, death, caring, guilty, responsibility, isolation

• Buber: interpersonal relationships

Existentialist Therapy

Focusing on how individuals can find meaning and authenticity in life

A philosophical approach

Existentialist View of Human Nature

• With Freedom Comes Responsibility

• We Must Create Meaning

• Not Shaped by Environment Alone

Six Propositions for Existentialism 

• Capacity for Self Awareness

• Freedom & Responsibility

• We have free will to “author” our own lives

• Striving for Identity/Relationship

• Search for Meaning

• Anxiety is Part of Living

• Being Aware of Death/Nonbeing

Existential Therapeutic Goals

• Expand awareness

• Accept Freedom & Responsibility

• Find Meaning

• Face Anxieties

Therapist Role & Client Experience

Therapist’s Role/Qualities:”

• Authentic, engaged

• Flexible therapist

• “Fellow traveler” on client’s journey

Client Experience: 

• Clients are (not sick) facing a human experience

• Discover their freedom

• Face anxiety head on

Relationship is Central

• Empathy and concern are key

• “It’s the relationship that heals.”

Phases of Existential Counseling

Initial Phase

• therapist helps clients notice and question the assumptions they live by

Middle Phase

• Clients are encouraged to explore where these values come from

Final Phase:

• Clients take new insights and begin acting authentically

• Focus is on living with purpose