Existential therapy

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Existential therapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on the psychological experience revolving around universal human truths of existence such as death, freedom, isolation and the search for the meaning of life.^[1] Existential therapists largely reject the medical model of mental illness that views mental health symptoms as the result of biological causes. Rather, symptoms such as anxiety, alienation and depression arise because of attempts to deny or avoid the givens of existence, often resulting in an existential crisis. For example, existential therapists highlight the fact that since we have the freedom to choose, there will always be uncertainty - and therefore, there will always be a level of existential anxiety present in our lives.

Existential therapists also draw heavily from the methods of phenomenology, a philosophical approach developed by Edmund Husserl and later expanded on by Martin Heidegger that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience. When working with clients, existential therapists focus on the client's lived experience of their subjective reality. While other types of therapies like Freudian psychoanalysis are aimed at analyzing and interpreting the client's experience, existential therapists are encouraged to "bracket", or set aside, their preconceived notions and biases in order to identify the core aspects of the client's experience. In existential therapy, clients gain self-awareness into their own existence, confront existential concerns, and are encouraged to use their freedom to choose a path towards a more authentic and meaningful life.^[2]