Usually the emergence of existential psychology is counted from the appearance of the 1930 article "Dreams and Existence" by the Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger. He was a great friend of Sigmund Freud and at the same time an admirer of the philosopher Martin Heidegger. Binswanger tried to directly transfer the ideas of Heidegger and other existentialist philosophers into clinical psychiatric practice.
Martin Heidegger, portrait of Herbert Wetterauer // wikipedia.org
From philosophy to psychology
Seren Kierkegaard, who lived in the first half of the 19th century, is considered to be the founder of existential philosophy. After his early death, he was forgotten for more than half a century, and at the beginning of the 20th century, his works began to be translated, republished, and a number of philosophers discovered much that was in tune with Kierkegaard's ideas. It was then, between the First and Second World Wars, that existential philosophy took shape. The first authors who worked in this vein were Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus. One can also name such authors as Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bakhtin - their ideas are not completely reduced to existentialism, but they made a great contribution to it.
The main philosophical formula of existentialism, which was published by Jean-Paul Sartre, says: "Existence precedes essence." Existence is what is happening at the moment. Essence is something deep, reproduced in different situations over and over again. The translation of this formula into a simpler language: "What is happening is not completely deduced from something previously known and existed before." This idea underlies the existential worldview in the broadest sense of the word. You can find its counterparts in antiquity, for example in Heraclitus, in Eastern teachings, in the offshoots of all world religions.
In existential psychology, all ideas and approaches are heavily philosophically loaded. And this is not just a refraction of the ideas of existentialist philosophers, but these are psychologists' own philosophical and psychological theories, each of whom was partly a philosopher.
Schools of Existential Psychology
The first version of existential psychology, more precisely, the existential psychiatry of Ludwig Binswanger, was not very successful. More serious and holistic approaches began to take shape after World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, major schools emerged in existential psychology. Their field of application was mainly psychotherapy, but nevertheless these were absolutely original psychological theories, the independent significance of which went beyond the framework of an auxiliary tool for the psychotherapist.
Ludwig Binswanger, portrait by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner // wikipedia.org
The Swiss school founded by Binswanger is also called Dasein analysis. Heidegger's hard-to- translate concept of Dasein means 'being here and now as it is'. In the post-war period, the main leader of the Swiss school was Medard Boss, a follower and at the same time rival of Binswanger. Today the Swiss school has receded into the background, there are no leaders of the level of Binswanger and Boss. The Swiss were the first to start a movement in the field of existential psychology, but everything worthwhile that they did was later assimilated by other schools.
In the 1940s – 1950s, the philosophical and psychological doctrine of the pursuit of meaning by Viktor Frankl, an outstanding thinker, was created. Later, the Austrian school of existential psychology was formed around him - the school of logotherapy and existential analysis. In the 1960s, a British school appeared, associated with the name of Ronald Laing, also a unique thinker. The American, California, school is associated with the names of Rollo May and James Bugenthal. All four main directions developed more or less independently, and their leaders formed the field of existential psychology.
Existential psychology developed in the 20th century away from the main line of development of psychological thought, existential ideas were marginal. The trends of recent decades, on the contrary, are associated with the fact that, firstly, schools are increasingly aware of their common foundations. Secondly, the ideas developed in existential psychology are beginning to be in demand in the main line of scientific psychology, becoming a serious part of the mainstream. The peculiarity of the leaders of existential psychology was that they always focused not so much on their professional colleagues as on a wide audience. They wrote books that were published and reprinted in huge editions. First of all, these books were addressed to people without psychological education. Frankl, Laing, and May are both bestselling authors, and their books are popular with a wide audience.
Schools of Existential Psychology Today
The Austrian school split into two directions. The development of orthodox logotherapy, based on the teachings of Frankl, is being pursued by his students: the scientific leader of the school, Elizabeth Lucas, and the organizational leader, Alexander Battiani, who is younger. Another peculiar direction is also based on the teachings of Frankl, but at the same time it went beyond it and received an independent status. This offshoot of the Austrian school is associated with the name of Alfried Langle.
In the British school today, two scientifically equal key figures are in a competitive relationship and have a great influence on the formation of this field - Emmy van Dorzen and Ernesto Spinelli. At the same time, Van Dorzen has a strong social temperament, and she makes a great organizational contribution to the formation of the community. For example, she played a key role in organizing the First World Congress on Existential Psychotherapy in London in 2015, which united most schools.
The main heir to the American school was Kirk Schneider, a student of James Bugenthal. We should also mention Irvin Yalom, who always worked alone. Yalom has created unique genres: he has a number of books in the genre of therapeutic stories, historical novels with real characters. His books are also translated into different languages and published in hundreds of thousands and millions of copies. Yalom is meaningfully close to the California school, but works without followers, without creating a school of its own. He, in fact, turned into an existential writer and in this way spreads his ideas to a wide audience.
Existential Psychology Ideas
Trying to determine what the essence of existential psychology is, each time it is necessary to build a rather complex system of explanation, because one position cannot be distinguished. We can say that existential psychology proceeds from the fact that there is a lot of indeterminate, unpredictable in human life. Traditional psychology explains a person in those aspects in which he is predictable, controllable, and explainable. We can test a person, draw some conclusions, and the person will behave as a whole in accordance with the predictions.
But in people there is always something that goes beyond this determinism, conditioning, predictability, because we are dealing with a fairly large degree of uncertainty in the world. And the further we go, the more we realize the role of uncertainty and ambiguity. Outstanding scientists, not only humanitarians, wrote about this: we are parting with the idea of a world where clear, rigid, unambiguous laws and predictability rule, in fact, everything is more complicated. The difference between the existential approach is due to the fact that it primarily considers the aspect of our life that deals with this uncertainty. At our own peril and risk, we bring certainty into our lives both in terms of the general worldview and in terms of professional and life practice.
Problems of existential psychology
Different directions of existential psychology came to a common language independently of each other. Irwin Yalom once formulated a number of key problem areas that existential psychology deals with. The first knot is the problems of time, life and death. The second knot is the problems of communication, love and loneliness. The third one is the problems of freedom, responsibility and choice. And the fourth knot is the problem of meaning and meaninglessness of existence.
But the concepts and problems themselves do not yet determine the approach, because all these things can be approached existentially and non-existentially, even the problem of meaning. A non-existential approach to the meaning of life is possible: “I must find out exactly what the meaning of life is, and when I know it, it will be clear why I live”. The existential approach to the meaning of life is expressed in the good old principle: "It is important to seek, not find." When you find something, it disappears, disappears, and you have to search again. The meaning of life is not the ultimate truth, but it is what gives direction, guides the process of searching and the process of life. But that's not where we can stop. After all, if we, having found the meaning of life, stop in search, then a boring, deterministic life begins.
Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? ", Paul Gauguin // wikipedia.org
Existential psychotherapy
There is a lot of speculation about the specifics of existential therapy. Rollo May said that it does not fundamentally differ from other types of therapy. Existential therapy is not an alternative to other approaches, but it is a superstructure, addition, or deepening. It addresses a level of our existence that other therapies simply do not work with.
This level of existence is associated with reflective consciousness. In classical ancient Eastern philosophy, it was called awakening, in contrast to the dream in which we stay most of our life. We are in a slumber, but sometimes we wake up, start awake and discover something that we have not noticed all this time - new possibilities. Existential psychotherapy opens up a new dimension of life associated with self-determination in relation to possibilities.
The ideas of the existential worldview are realized in therapy, but not only: there are many similarities in the work of a therapist, a good teacher and a preacher. In different forms of communication with people, there are similar ways of expanding the world and awakening, supporting self-determination, accepting responsibility and opening up opportunities. This is used not only in a psychotherapeutic way, but also in other contexts of life. In fact, the most specific and most important in existential psychotherapy is that which does not belong to the classical skills and abilities of psychotherapy, but goes beyond it and connects it with other forms of practice. This is an expansion of consciousness, an expansion of the picture of the world.
Benefits of an existential worldview
An existential worldview provides the resources to live in the most satisfying way possible. It opens up a new dimension of life, which is associated with development, with control over life. Existential psychology is the psychology of an adult who is responsible for himself and finds solutions to problems, in contrast to an impulsive and short-sighted child, therefore it represents an alternative to infantilism, which is now widespread throughout the world.
Infantilism is largely supported by mass culture and leads to the fact that a huge number of people do not want to think about the meaning, about the perspective, about relationships with other people at all. In the “golden billion” favorable conditions for people have formed: there is no need to worry and think about difficulties. These conditions are favorable for relaxation and unfavorable for development: people drive away from themselves thoughts about how the world works, and stay in an infantile state in which they are comfortable enough until circumstances change for the worse.
Existential psychology reveals an alternative to infantilism, in which a person is his own master and independently decides how to live, not focusing on external sources and internal impulses, but using the resources of his mature consciousness and recognizing the uncertainty and unpredictability of the future.
It is in the movement towards the existential dimension that we realize our potential. Our human capabilities, even in favorable conditions, are often demanded and realized to a very insignificant extent. Existential psychology allows you to discover non-trivial opportunities for those who are interested not only in survival and adaptation to what is, but in development and complication. It is in the existential view of the world that they discover what is in tune with them.
Martin Heidegger, portrait of Herbert Wetterauer // wikipedia.org
From philosophy to psychology
Seren Kierkegaard, who lived in the first half of the 19th century, is considered to be the founder of existential philosophy. After his early death, he was forgotten for more than half a century, and at the beginning of the 20th century, his works began to be translated, republished, and a number of philosophers discovered much that was in tune with Kierkegaard's ideas. It was then, between the First and Second World Wars, that existential philosophy took shape. The first authors who worked in this vein were Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus. One can also name such authors as Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bakhtin - their ideas are not completely reduced to existentialism, but they made a great contribution to it.
The main philosophical formula of existentialism, which was published by Jean-Paul Sartre, says: "Existence precedes essence." Existence is what is happening at the moment. Essence is something deep, reproduced in different situations over and over again. The translation of this formula into a simpler language: "What is happening is not completely deduced from something previously known and existed before." This idea underlies the existential worldview in the broadest sense of the word. You can find its counterparts in antiquity, for example in Heraclitus, in Eastern teachings, in the offshoots of all world religions.
In existential psychology, all ideas and approaches are heavily philosophically loaded. And this is not just a refraction of the ideas of existentialist philosophers, but these are psychologists' own philosophical and psychological theories, each of whom was partly a philosopher.
Schools of Existential Psychology
The first version of existential psychology, more precisely, the existential psychiatry of Ludwig Binswanger, was not very successful. More serious and holistic approaches began to take shape after World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, major schools emerged in existential psychology. Their field of application was mainly psychotherapy, but nevertheless these were absolutely original psychological theories, the independent significance of which went beyond the framework of an auxiliary tool for the psychotherapist.
Ludwig Binswanger, portrait by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner // wikipedia.org
The Swiss school founded by Binswanger is also called Dasein analysis. Heidegger's hard-to- translate concept of Dasein means 'being here and now as it is'. In the post-war period, the main leader of the Swiss school was Medard Boss, a follower and at the same time rival of Binswanger. Today the Swiss school has receded into the background, there are no leaders of the level of Binswanger and Boss. The Swiss were the first to start a movement in the field of existential psychology, but everything worthwhile that they did was later assimilated by other schools.
In the 1940s – 1950s, the philosophical and psychological doctrine of the pursuit of meaning by Viktor Frankl, an outstanding thinker, was created. Later, the Austrian school of existential psychology was formed around him - the school of logotherapy and existential analysis. In the 1960s, a British school appeared, associated with the name of Ronald Laing, also a unique thinker. The American, California, school is associated with the names of Rollo May and James Bugenthal. All four main directions developed more or less independently, and their leaders formed the field of existential psychology.
Existential psychology developed in the 20th century away from the main line of development of psychological thought, existential ideas were marginal. The trends of recent decades, on the contrary, are associated with the fact that, firstly, schools are increasingly aware of their common foundations. Secondly, the ideas developed in existential psychology are beginning to be in demand in the main line of scientific psychology, becoming a serious part of the mainstream. The peculiarity of the leaders of existential psychology was that they always focused not so much on their professional colleagues as on a wide audience. They wrote books that were published and reprinted in huge editions. First of all, these books were addressed to people without psychological education. Frankl, Laing, and May are both bestselling authors, and their books are popular with a wide audience.
Schools of Existential Psychology Today
The Austrian school split into two directions. The development of orthodox logotherapy, based on the teachings of Frankl, is being pursued by his students: the scientific leader of the school, Elizabeth Lucas, and the organizational leader, Alexander Battiani, who is younger. Another peculiar direction is also based on the teachings of Frankl, but at the same time it went beyond it and received an independent status. This offshoot of the Austrian school is associated with the name of Alfried Langle.
In the British school today, two scientifically equal key figures are in a competitive relationship and have a great influence on the formation of this field - Emmy van Dorzen and Ernesto Spinelli. At the same time, Van Dorzen has a strong social temperament, and she makes a great organizational contribution to the formation of the community. For example, she played a key role in organizing the First World Congress on Existential Psychotherapy in London in 2015, which united most schools.
The main heir to the American school was Kirk Schneider, a student of James Bugenthal. We should also mention Irvin Yalom, who always worked alone. Yalom has created unique genres: he has a number of books in the genre of therapeutic stories, historical novels with real characters. His books are also translated into different languages and published in hundreds of thousands and millions of copies. Yalom is meaningfully close to the California school, but works without followers, without creating a school of its own. He, in fact, turned into an existential writer and in this way spreads his ideas to a wide audience.
Existential Psychology Ideas
Trying to determine what the essence of existential psychology is, each time it is necessary to build a rather complex system of explanation, because one position cannot be distinguished. We can say that existential psychology proceeds from the fact that there is a lot of indeterminate, unpredictable in human life. Traditional psychology explains a person in those aspects in which he is predictable, controllable, and explainable. We can test a person, draw some conclusions, and the person will behave as a whole in accordance with the predictions.
But in people there is always something that goes beyond this determinism, conditioning, predictability, because we are dealing with a fairly large degree of uncertainty in the world. And the further we go, the more we realize the role of uncertainty and ambiguity. Outstanding scientists, not only humanitarians, wrote about this: we are parting with the idea of a world where clear, rigid, unambiguous laws and predictability rule, in fact, everything is more complicated. The difference between the existential approach is due to the fact that it primarily considers the aspect of our life that deals with this uncertainty. At our own peril and risk, we bring certainty into our lives both in terms of the general worldview and in terms of professional and life practice.
Problems of existential psychology
Different directions of existential psychology came to a common language independently of each other. Irwin Yalom once formulated a number of key problem areas that existential psychology deals with. The first knot is the problems of time, life and death. The second knot is the problems of communication, love and loneliness. The third one is the problems of freedom, responsibility and choice. And the fourth knot is the problem of meaning and meaninglessness of existence.
But the concepts and problems themselves do not yet determine the approach, because all these things can be approached existentially and non-existentially, even the problem of meaning. A non-existential approach to the meaning of life is possible: “I must find out exactly what the meaning of life is, and when I know it, it will be clear why I live”. The existential approach to the meaning of life is expressed in the good old principle: "It is important to seek, not find." When you find something, it disappears, disappears, and you have to search again. The meaning of life is not the ultimate truth, but it is what gives direction, guides the process of searching and the process of life. But that's not where we can stop. After all, if we, having found the meaning of life, stop in search, then a boring, deterministic life begins.
Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? ", Paul Gauguin // wikipedia.org
Existential psychotherapy
There is a lot of speculation about the specifics of existential therapy. Rollo May said that it does not fundamentally differ from other types of therapy. Existential therapy is not an alternative to other approaches, but it is a superstructure, addition, or deepening. It addresses a level of our existence that other therapies simply do not work with.
This level of existence is associated with reflective consciousness. In classical ancient Eastern philosophy, it was called awakening, in contrast to the dream in which we stay most of our life. We are in a slumber, but sometimes we wake up, start awake and discover something that we have not noticed all this time - new possibilities. Existential psychotherapy opens up a new dimension of life associated with self-determination in relation to possibilities.
The ideas of the existential worldview are realized in therapy, but not only: there are many similarities in the work of a therapist, a good teacher and a preacher. In different forms of communication with people, there are similar ways of expanding the world and awakening, supporting self-determination, accepting responsibility and opening up opportunities. This is used not only in a psychotherapeutic way, but also in other contexts of life. In fact, the most specific and most important in existential psychotherapy is that which does not belong to the classical skills and abilities of psychotherapy, but goes beyond it and connects it with other forms of practice. This is an expansion of consciousness, an expansion of the picture of the world.
Benefits of an existential worldview
An existential worldview provides the resources to live in the most satisfying way possible. It opens up a new dimension of life, which is associated with development, with control over life. Existential psychology is the psychology of an adult who is responsible for himself and finds solutions to problems, in contrast to an impulsive and short-sighted child, therefore it represents an alternative to infantilism, which is now widespread throughout the world.
Infantilism is largely supported by mass culture and leads to the fact that a huge number of people do not want to think about the meaning, about the perspective, about relationships with other people at all. In the “golden billion” favorable conditions for people have formed: there is no need to worry and think about difficulties. These conditions are favorable for relaxation and unfavorable for development: people drive away from themselves thoughts about how the world works, and stay in an infantile state in which they are comfortable enough until circumstances change for the worse.
Existential psychology reveals an alternative to infantilism, in which a person is his own master and independently decides how to live, not focusing on external sources and internal impulses, but using the resources of his mature consciousness and recognizing the uncertainty and unpredictability of the future.
It is in the movement towards the existential dimension that we realize our potential. Our human capabilities, even in favorable conditions, are often demanded and realized to a very insignificant extent. Existential psychology allows you to discover non-trivial opportunities for those who are interested not only in survival and adaptation to what is, but in development and complication. It is in the existential view of the world that they discover what is in tune with them.
