What is Existential Therapy? A material which can be used by MA Guidance and Counseling students.

1. EXISTENTIAL
THERAPY
Julienne Rose P. Saballa
Jessy Lyn L. Teves

3. View of Human Nature
The existential movement stands for respect for
the person, for exploring new aspects of human
behavior, and for divergent methods of
understanding people.
The significance of our existence is never fixed
once and for all; rather, we continually recreate
ourselves through our projects.

4. THE BASIC DIMENSIONS OF THE
HUMAN CONDITION
The Capacity for
Self-Awareness
Striving for Identity
and Relationship to
Others
Freedom and
Responsibility
The Search for
Meaning
01
02
03
04

5. THE BASIC DIMENSIONS OF THE
HUMAN CONDITION
Anxiety as a
Condition of
Living
Awareness of Death
and Nonbeing
05 06
04

6. Counseling Goals
To help clients become more present to
both themselves and others
To assist clients in identifying ways they
block themselves from fuller presence

7. Counseling Goals
To challenge clients to assume responsibility
for designing their present lives
To encourage clients to choose more
expanded ways of being in their daily lives

8. Relationship Between the Client and
the Therapist
The core of the therapeutic
relationship is respect,
which implies faith in
clients’ potential to cope
authentically with their
troubles and in their
ability to discover
alternative ways of being.
Existential therapists
give central prominence
to their relationship
with the client

9. Counseling Strategies and Procedures
Initial Phase
Assist clients in identifying
and clarifying their
assumptions about the world.
Middle
Phase
Clients are encouraged to more
fully examine the source and
authority of their present
value system.
Final Phase
Focuses on helping people take
what they are learning about
themselves and put it into
action.

10. 3
2
1
Clients Appropriate for Existential Counseling
People who are
coping with
developmental
crises, experiencing
grief and loss,
confronting death,
or facing a major life
decision.
Clients who are
committed to dealing
with their problems
about living, for people
who feel alienated from
the current
expectations of
society, or for those
who are searching for
meaning in their lives.
The existential
orientation is
particularly suited to
individuals who are
experiencing a lack of a
sense of identity.

11. Summary
As humans, we are
capable of self-
awareness, which is the
distinctive capacity
that allows us to
reflect and decide.
Our task is to
create a life
that has meaning
and purpose.
Whatever meaning our
life has is developed
through freedom and a
commitment to make
choices in the face
of uncertainty.

12. Fostering creativity, love, authenticity, and
free will are common avenues that help
move you toward transformation. You
learn to make more willful decisions about
how to live, drawing on creativity and love,
instead of letting outside events determine
your behavior.

13. References
Mangaoil, A. Ph.D.(2021).
Existential Therapy.DC 801
Advanceed Individual Counseling :
An Academic Module for LisQup
Course Program, 46-48.
Corey, G.(2009). Existential
Therapy.Theory and Practice of
Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th
Ed.), 131-163.