Existential psychotherapy

One of the most common (especially among the creative intelligentsia) types of humanistic psychotherapy is existential psychotherapy. As the name suggests, this therapy arose on the basis of ideas of a much more well-known corresponding philosophical direction - existentialism.

Existentialism arose from the creative combination of the ideas of many prominent figures of science and culture (Kjегоrkegaard, Husserl, Sartre, Camus, Jaspers, Heidegger, etc.). The name of this trend arose from the term existential (that is, essence, existence), constantly used in the works of Kj Кrkögor, which served as the first impetus to the design of existentialism as an independent philosophical direction.

Another source of development of existentialism is the phenomenology of Husserl.

Since the central place in the philosophy of existentialism is occupied by the study of man as a subject and his subjective experiences of his existence, this could not fail to attract the attention of psychologists to this teaching, who later themselves made a significant psychological contribution to existential philosophy, and also applied and developed ideas existentialism in psychology and psychotherapy.

In the design of existential psychology as an independent psychological direction, first of all, the role of such psychologists and philosophers as V.Dilthey, E.Fromm, V.Frankl, F.Perls and others should be noted. Thus, F.Perls always considered that the direction he developed Gestalt therapy is a type (direction) of existential psychotherapy.

At present, existential psychotherapy has many subspecies, schools and modifications that cannot be considered in one work. Therefore, we confine ourselves to acquaintance with the theoretical and practical approaches of one of the most typical representatives and founders of existential psychotherapy - Victor Frankl.

According to V. Frankl, the main desire of a person is to find or understand the meaning of his existence. If this cannot be done, then the person feels frustration or an existential vacuum (emptiness, meaninglessness of existence). V.Frankl believes that it is not the person who puts the question about the meaning of life, but life puts the question before the person, and he has to constantly answer him not with words, but with deeds.

Proponents of existential therapy argue that the acquisition of the meaning of existence is available to every normal person, regardless of gender, age, intelligence, nature, environment, religious and ideological beliefs. At the same time, existentialists emphasize that it is impossible to teach this, since the meaning of existence is always individual and each person must find or understand it himself and not shirk responsibility for understanding his life to himself and to others in any life circumstances.

What allows a person to independently find his life meaning? Existentialists believe that such a guide is the conscience , which V.Frankl calls the organ of meaning, and the ability to independently find this meaning is the self - transcendence of man.

According to the existentialists, a person can find the meaning of his existence only by going beyond the limits of his personal I , switching attention from the inner experiences of his own person to reality, to active cooperation, to practical help to others. The more a person goes out of the passive experience of his problems (into active, useful activity, helping others), the more complete and psychologically healthy he becomes.

There are many historical examples where people with high life goals, faith, ideological conviction, etc., endured extremely harsh conditions and deprivations much more easily. This is Avtopak, Protopop, and Ernst Telman, and numerous prisoners of fascist and Stalin concentration camps. This is V.Frankle himself, who bravely survived Auschwitz and Dachau. He believed that in these conditions that were unbearable for many people, those who concentrated their thoughts and feelings not on longing for the past and not on personal experiences of today, but on the future, on the practical realization of the meaning of their existence for higher goals, deeds and advantages, took precedence. for helping others.

It is an existential vacuum (a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness of life) that does not allow an individual to adequately withstand life cataclysms.

Even in objectively comfortable living conditions, people who have not found the meaning of their existence outside of self-digging and hypertrophied perception of intrapersonal problems begin to suffer from aggravated neuroses, become more susceptible to alcohol and drug addiction. V.Frankl argues that 90% of alcoholics and 100% of drug addicts became such because of their missing or lost meaning of life. These dependences arise from the need to fill this vacuum with the illusion of satisfaction and self-sufficiency. That is, without receiving real satisfaction, a person replaces it with an illusory one, due to the chemical effect on his nervous system. But the problems remain unresolved and the continuation of the illusion of satisfaction requires the continuation of the alcoholic or narcotic effects. A vicious vicious circle is formed.

But even if a person who has not found the meaning of life outside of his own person does not become a drug addict, then he goes into the neuroses of inactive intrapersonal experiences and in the search for some temporary pleasures, relieving the oppressive feeling of the meaninglessness of his existence. At the same time, a paradoxical process takes place - reflection , focusing on one’s own person in search of happiness (or at least avoiding unhappiness) leads him from the possibility of finding this happiness further and further.

Starting from this hypothesis, Frankl developed the original type of psychotherapy, which he called logotherapy in a broad sense, and her specific methods dereflexia (that is, counter reflection, as useless self-digging), paradoxical intention ( paradoxical intention), etc.

So, let us consider the two aforementioned and, perhaps, basic methods of logotherapy: paradoxical intention and dereflexion in overcoming the neuroses of obsessive states and phobias (obsessive, exaggerated fears).

It is believed that the classical characteristics of the mechanisms of formation of phobias and obsessive-compulsive neuroses are given by Freud. The approach of Frankl does not contradict them, but rather clearly complements them.

The mechanism of the formation of phobias, Frankl describes the scheme: fear generates fear . That is, this individual, who has experienced some kind of fear, begins to fear that this fear may recur. He is already afraid not of the root causes of fear, but of the fear itself caused by this cause. He is afraid to re-experience this state, so often he thinks about it, that this fear itself (the abnormality, the painfulness of which he is aware) becomes the cause of his constant experiences.

In severe cases, such a person may refuse to leave the house altogether, from entering the enclosed space, or looking from a height.

Less dangerous and more easily surmountable fears of public speaking, upcoming exams, competitions and others are more frequent. But here, too, difficult barriers arise. So, there are a large number of athletes who over the years at competitions can not even come close to the results that they have long and easily shown in training. Such people at some stage are resigned to the fact that under certain conditions they will have fear, anxiety, which will prevent them from acting as they should and they must fail. To avoid this, they refuse to competition, examinations, finding a better job, life partner and in general - a better life.

In a broad sense (illustrating the basic idea of ​​Frankl) one can say that a person very often becomes unhappy, sick, lonely, unemployed, poor precisely because of fear of becoming unhappy, sick, lonely, etc. That is, not yet becoming who he is afraid to become, he already lives with his emotions, fears and sufferings, enters his image and ultimately becomes such. (An imagotherapy is built on this protivohod (from an image is an image), when an individual gets used to the image of his best Self — such a person (healthy, happy, confident, etc.) that he would like to see himself.)

However, a paradoxical reaction occurs here - the more an individual suppresses an obsessive state in himself, he tries to reject it, the more it puts pressure on him.

Frankl suggests using this paradoxical mechanism in the opposite direction. That is, the individual should try to convince himself that he very much wants to experience as vividly as possible the feeling that he had previously sought to suppress at all costs, to forget, to destroy.

Another, no less popular method of logotherapy of Frankl is dereflection, that is, overcoming reflection - painful self-digging, neuroses of obsessive states.

This method is often used in the treatment of neuroses associated with various sexual disorders and problems, or with the fear of such disorders and problems. As a rule, these are problems of potency and orgasm (or fears of impotence, frigidity, etc.).

Frankl argues that most neurosis obsessive states of sexual disorders associated with the client's desire for sexual pleasure and the fear that he can not get it. That is, the basic idea of ​​Frankl is again illustrated - it is in the pursuit of happiness (pleasure) that a person loses it. The individual goes into reflection, and instead of completely surrendering to sexual contact, he constantly observes himself from the outside, analyzes his feelings with the fear that he will fail.

From here, Frankl concludes that getting rid of such a neurosis lies through overcoming reflection (dereflexia), complete self-forgetfulness and dedication.

It must be said that the attribution of various types of psychotherapy to the humanistic direction is ambiguously interpreted by different authors.

Some of them rightly include here both gestalt therapy and transactional analysis. We will not argue. The main thing is the very essence of humanistic psychology and psychotherapy, which puts the holistic unique personality of each individual individual in the center of attention.