Existential Psychotherapy

Existential therapy focuses on exploring the challenges and paradoxes of human existence. It views human beings as creatures of continual change and transformation, living essentially finite lives in a context that emphasises the fundamentally relational aspect of being human – we seek to understand the ways in which as individuals we relate both to ourselves, others and the world in general. As such, Existential – Phenomenology endeavours to understand the way we come to construct an understanding of the world – our worldview – and challenges us to make the most out of our lives by facing the defining choices that lay before each one us. Existential therapy considers the problems that we encounter as human beings as not necessarily being indicators of potential ‘mental illness’ or of diagnostically-derived symptoms that need to be removed, but rather as a consequence of the difficulties we face with living. Its approach seeks to engage people in dialogue with the aim of describing, clarifying and exploring the meanings they maintain and how these impact upon and give shape to their current experience of being.