Existential Psychology Essay

The emergence of humanism in psychology, was a result of opposition to see humans only as parts. Humanistic school of thought, often called as the third force in psychology emphasized on viewing humans as more integrated spirits who are beyond testing and proving. Existential thought in psychology is linked to humanism. The existential assumption of humanistic psychology is that human experiences are central and that they have free will (McLeod, 2007).

Existential psychology has its roots in the writings of philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) (Wong, 2005). Existential philosophy emphasizes that all humans

The two important contributors of existential psychology who applied existential philosophy to psychotherapy and psychology are Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber (Wong, 2005). The advent of existential therapy in psychology came from the belief that human existence cannot be understood through mere experimentation but through phenomenological study of describing lived experiences (Biswanger, 1958 as cited in Wong, 2005). Another important assumption of existential psychology is that people struggle with the confrontation of their own existence (Nelson- Jones, 2011). However, it is important to note that existential philosophy is diverse and complex. Consequently, the therapy based on existential philosophy cannot be narrowed down to one authoritative source (Halling & Nill, 1995 as cited in

Over the course of his academic life, he worked on understanding the nature of anxiety. He proposed that to be human is to be anxious and therefore, anxiety is inevitable in human life. The psychoanalytical approach to therapy emphasizes on internal drives as the basis of anxiety that leads to differ defense mechanisms. According to May, 1977 (as cited in Nelson - Jones, 2011) the awareness of threat to existence as the source of anxiety in humans. For example, a client comes for therapy with anxiety over death. The role of therapist is show the client that the anxiety is proportionate to the objective reality or the context (recent loss of a loved one) of her anxiety. The therapist would also help client understand that anxiety over death is a common human existential vulnerability. Therefore, existential psychology based on theoretical approach of Rollo May would focus on making clients come to terms with anxieties that are part of human