Reddit reviews Existential Psychotherapy

Pardon the tangent, but I love the underlying themes of Pacific Rim. It touches on so many of the deeper things that give meaning to life, or cause anxiety. I'm going to go a bit wild here, but bear with me... I've been reading this book called Existential Psychotherapy, and it focuses on four key fears that are distinct to the human experience and must be overcome for a person to have a peaceful life. They are: the fear of death, the fear of squandering one's freedom, the fear of isolation (i.e. the inability to connect fully with any other human), and the fear of a meaninglessnes universe. Pacific Rim addresses each of these in exciting ways. The fear of death is often overcome by a simulated sense of immortality gained through personal achievement: a jager pilot definitely gets to tap into this sense of fulfillment. The fear of squandering freedom is overcome by Raleigh when he makes the decision to return to piloting, instead of wasting his life in futility working on the wall. Mako also gets to relish empowerment by exercising her will (an embodiment of freedom) in becoming the pilot she wants to be. The fear of psychological isolation is dealt with in a literal and compelling manner when two pilots get to fuse their minds in the drift. And the fear of meaningless is ameliorated when the entire population of the earth is threatened by a menacing force: what could be more meaningful than pushing back against this threat?

Thank you for that. Just a few months ago i had this exact problem, although you seem to have analyze it a whole lot better than me.

There are books that analyze all possibilities of death and afterlife, and just the meaning of life really, one of them is: http://www.amazon.com/Existential-Psychotherapy-Irvin-D-Yalom/dp/0465021476

"We create answers to these questions to help us stop from feeling afraid.". This is exactly what i did. After months of thinking about it, i decided that i need to believe in something, like you said, humans will become extinct at one point, there is no reason to live if there is no life after death. I won't tell you what i believe in because most likely it won't apply to you. You spoke about legacy, well i believe that what we need to do is to help other people raise these exact questions that you have raised, to help humanity evolve to a point where we find a meaning for us that is more than just a car or a house.

If you reach a state of mind of understanding life and it's meaning, maybe that means that you are ready, i don't know for what, maybe transcendence, but you are ready. We will find out when we die, but until then, we need to question everything, learn as much as possible and help other people to question everything as well.

Like most have posted already, existentialism wont be a brief experience. You mentioned that clients are seeing the world as meaningless. I would suggest looking at Motivational Interviewing. This would be a brief form of therapy that you can incorporate some existential teachings. I describe existentialism as my cornerstone to therapy but I use CBT/MI as my main voice. There are some good books that will give you some specific means of existential therapy. I have used these:
Skills in Existential Counselling & Psychotherapy: Van Deurzen,
Existential Counselling & Psychotherapy in Practice: Van Deurzen,
and dont forget Yalom

There are a lot of existential philosophers that wrote novels like camus and sartre (my favorite) that will help with your understanding of existentialism.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Try checking out the book Existential Psychotherapy by Irvin Yalom. It won't make the feelings go away but it will help you understand your feelings and maybe help you better accept them. Also, doing activities that you really love, things that make you lose track of time and get lost in the moment is the best way to cope. It's living rather than the contemplation of the act of living.

http://www.amazon.com/Existential-Psychotherapy-Irvin-D-Yalom/dp/0465021476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317955267&sr=1-1

Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Existential-Psychotherapy-Irvin-D-Yalom/dp/0465021476

Also, if possible take loan from relative. You can pay it off later but it will save your life now. Did you ask your doctor to refer you to existential therapist? You can also find these kind of therapy in gov hospital. If this is your problem then money shouldn't hold you back. Don't you have anyone to take loan from?

1. BA psychology, MA psychology, PhD in progress - counseling psychology (a clinical or applied specialty)
   
   
2. Just general for undergrad, and counseling psych
   
   
3. 11 years (geeze)
   
   
4. yes of course, with a BA you can advance in a company just like anything else. For instance I started out as a case manager, then a supervisor, then after my addictions certification began facilitating group treatment on the clinical team.
   
   
5. email, poster presentations, convention symposia, peer-reviewed journal articles, pop-psych periodicals
   
   
6. not really, although I've only been in the clinical realm. I suppose the important, must-attend conferences are different for each specialty, and within each individual area of interest.
   
   
7. Yes, statistical analysis packages (e.g. SPSS, SAS, R), online literature searches (e.g. psychinfo, google scholar), email, citation software (e.g. endnote, mendeley), online journal submission portals (e.g. scholar one), telecounseling, and many more have made things easier and more accessible.
   
   
8. These are different for each specialty, for me: DSM-5, Interpersonal Process in Therapy, and Existential Psychotherapy.
   
   
9. A grant writing class, publishing class, presentation class, and addictions curriculum would improve things.
   
   
10. Well you'll learn by doing, but these would help in preparation to enter the field.
    
    
11. Addictions treatment
    
    
12. A BA/BS may not get you in the mental health field. Be okay with this, or be prepared to take on postgraduate study.

You might be able to connect it to existential theories. Yalom discusses people (and especially adolescents) "tempting" death as a means to defend against our innate fear of it (most commonly through things like daredevil behavior or other risky behavior). Prank calls to suicide hotlines might be in that same line of thought. Humor as a defense of existential tension?

I hate any pickle that comes my way. They are gross.

Here is my mandatory linked item =). This is for my own personal practice and work and such. I like reading textbook type things.

Even though I hate pickles, my boyfriend loves them dearly, so I figure we even the pickle hate/love out that way.