Existential Therapy

Or to put it more specifically (and with too many syllables) – existential phenomenological psychotherapy.

People often ask me about Existential Therapy and how it differs from other forms. As research confirms it is the therapeutic relationship that makes the most difference, I suspect our types of therapies are less important than each of us individually and what we bring to the work. 

Nevertheless, there are various approaches we take to our work, so here’s a little piece on Existential Psychotherapy I’ve written for Humankind Psychotherapy in Peckham where I’ve see clients in person as well as at The Brixton Practice.  It’s very much MY take on existential phenomenological psychotherapy – what I think it is – for now. This too will change.

Existential phenomenological psychotherapy is rooted in the here and now – how do you want to be in your life now and in the future? How is your life, in the world (your culture, your society, your worklife etc), right now? What is it like to be you, living and interacting with those around you? How else might you want to be as you grow in your life? The here and now part is the phenomenological bit – what is it like being you?

In existential therapy we work with clients to have a clearer sense of self – not ‘self’ as a solid thing, but as the always-developing, ever-changing selves that we all are, moving towards centring ourselves in our own lives.
We emphasise choice, including considering how best to live in situations where it seems there is no choice. This makes existential therapy especially relevant for major life transitions over which we have little control, such as bereavement, infertility, serious illness, and end of life, as well as experiences like becoming a parent, menopause, and ageing, all of which involve our bodies – and therefore our lives – going through sometimes unsettling change. 

Because existential therapy understands our bodies to be how we access the world, our experiences of being othered – be that through racism, ableism, misogyny, genderism, ageism, or any of the myriad other ways – all play a part.