In this article we treat a number of existential approaches to therapy that have a complex relationship to client-centered and experiential psychotherapy. The paper begins with an exploration of how existential philosophers - the thinkers behind existential therapeutic practice - tend to view human being. It then goes on to look at five key existential approaches to therapy - Daseinsanalysis, logotherapy, existential-humanistic therapy, the work of R.D. Laing, and the British school of existential analysis - all the time comparing and contrasting these practices with a client-centered and experiential approach. To conclude this paper we make some very broad generalizations about the similarities and differences between an existential approach to therapy and a client-centered and experiential one.
existential therapy, freedom, meaning, limitations, authenticity
The tPeP (Journal Person-centered experiential Psychotherapy) is the scientific journal for Dutch and Flemish psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, that work from, or are interested in a client-centered perspective.
