MetaTOC stay on top of your field, easily

Existential Experimentation: Structure and Principles for a Short-Term Psychological Therapy

,

Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Published online on

Abstract

This article follows and expands upon the description of an intervention that attained promising results with depressed and anxious patients in a feasibility study run in a U.K. primary care setting. This protocol for short-term existential therapy will also represent the primary reference for training and supervision of an ongoing pilot. The therapeutic approach described here aims to address in a constructive way the issues raised by the topical criticism around the application of the medical model in psychology. At the same time, this article will address the theoretical issues emerging, while trying to describe in a pragmatic way, how to apply an existential and phenomenological approach to low-intensity short-term psychological therapy. This short-term intervention aims to promote a proactive and creative engagement with clients with their personal difficulties and to attain recovery as a result of a greater sense of empowered resilience.