Existentialism: The Basics

Irvin Yalom defines existential psychotherapy as an approach to therapy that helps clients face concerns of existence: meaninglessness, isolation, death, and freedom. This approach to therapy is based on the fact that human beings are free to make choices and they are responsible for their actions and choices. It emphasizes on freedom, choices, and existence of an individual. Existentialists believe that humans try to find meaning in their lives and make rational decisions. 

Existentialism disregards the deterministic view of humans as suggested by radical behaviorists and psychoanalysts. This therapy is based on the fact that people are not victims of circumstances but victims of their own choice. Viktor Frankl in his book says that man can be deprived of everything but no one can take away his freedom to make choices. Life puts man in a situation and it is the man’s choice that defines the consequences.

This therapy encourages clients to reflect on their life, look at alternatives, and identify the pros and cons of the alternatives and then make choice. Clients need to accept responsibility for their life. In the therapy, a therapist needs to help the client recognize how they have surrendered to circumstances in life and gave up on their freedom to make their own decisions.

Existential therapy movement started in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s. It aimed at helping people to resolve issues such as isolation, meaninglessness, and alienation in their life. Some of the main theorists of existentialism are Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, and Viktor Frankl. Viktor Frankl is an important figure in this school of thought. He started the movement in Europe and brought to the United States.

LOGOTHERAPY

Viktor Frankl developed logotherapy. Logotherapy aims to understand the meaning of one’s life. Viktor Frankl spent three years in the concentration camp. His experiences in the camp led to the development of this approach to psychotherapy. In the concentration camps, the prisoners were deprived of everything materialistic and non-materialistic. Their necessities were not fulfilled. All they got was watery soup, a piece of bread and rags. Their identity was reduced to a number. Nobody cared about who the person was, what mattered was the prisoner’s number, and “the list.” This was the state of deprivation. 

Frankl says that a man can be deprived of everything but no one can take away his freedom to make a choice. In such situations, a man’s choice of action will determine his future. In his book, Frankl quoted various instances from prison where people gave up and succumbed to the circumstances.

Frankl in his book mentions that man is responsible for his actions and life consequences. Life puts man in a situation and how a person deals with the situation depends on him. Like prisoners, every human being is a result of their own decisions. The external environment does play a role but doesn’t completely determine the consequence. The way a person accepts his sufferings in life and deals with them- adds deeper meaning to his life. It is these difficult situations in life that allow a man to learn and grow. Viktor Frankl states that expectations lead to suffering.

He states that man needs to change his attitude towards life and suffering. It doesn’t matter what a person expects from life but how life expects us to be. Life puts people in difficult situations and expects them to find the right answers and take responsibility for these answers. He also talks about the importance of being hopeful. Having hope helped prisoners survive the brutal camps. Those who gave up hope found it difficult to survive and finally gave in.

Viktor Frankl talks about a man becoming emotionally dead in the concentration camp. Apathy helped prisoners survived, it was their defense mechanism. Apathy gave them the strength to deal with the torture which they faced every day. It also resulted from their lack of sleep and extreme hunger.

He discusses three phases of the psychology of prisoners. In the first stage, when the person enters the camp, he is deprived of everything. This results in shock. The second phase is where the person becomes habitual to camp life. This phase is characterized by emotional numbness or apathy. The third phase is the prisoner’s release from the camp. The initial reaction of the prisoners was disbelief. This can be called “depersonalization.” Everything appears like a dream. All these experiences in the camp, helped Frankl develop logotherapy.

Logotherapy aims to help the client understand the meaning of their life. Logotherapy emphasizes on future and is meaning-centered. This search for meaning in life gives the motivation to live. This meaning is unique. Frankl describes existence in three ways: the existence of the self, meaning of existence, and striving to find meaning in life. Man’s search for meaning can also result in frustration known as existential frustration. This can result in noogenic neurosis. 

There are three basic assumptions of logotherapy. Life has meaning in all circumstances. Even in the most difficult situations, life will offer meaning and motivate the person to search for that meaning. People strive to find meaning in life (will to meaning). 

Every human being at some point in their life questions about the purpose in life, meaning in life. Logotherapy doesn’t provide an answer to these questions but motivates the person to look for these answers. People have the freedom to make their own decisions in even extremely deprived conditions. Life puts us in a situation and it is our choices that determine the consequences.

Frankl states that logotherapy can be used to treat anticipatory anxiety wherein the person's actions make his fears happen. For example, a woman who fears that she won’t be able to address 50 people starts feeling anxious during her speech. Her fear makes it difficult to address people. He also discusses the concept of hyper reflection wherein the person gives too much attention to an issue. This in turn affects their life. Logotherapy uses techniques such as de-reflection, paradoxical intentions, and Socratic dialogues. De-reflection can be used with clients who are absorbed into themselves. Paradoxical intention is used to treat anxiety and phobias.