Skip to main content

Existential Psychotherapy—The Genetic-Phenomenological Approach: Beyond a Dichotomy Between Relating and Skills

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy
  • 1448 Accesses

Abstract

There is a lack of clarity about the technical interventions of existential psychotherapy. The approach has been described dichotomously as being more descriptive or more hermeneutic, as being anti-technique or relying on interventions exclusively experiential in nature. This chapter presents a genetic-phenomenological approach of existential psychotherapy and argues that it uses both postures and therapeutic techniques that are interconnected and influence each other in the therapeutic process. The existential therapist’s interventions are based in part on common factors but also on specific techniques. The chapter presents a theoretical framework of existential psychotherapy and a definition of the postures and intervention techniques of the genetic-phenomenological approach of existential psychotherapy. The aim is to contribute to the clarification of what type of interventions the existential therapist may use during the therapeutic process.

ORIGINAL PAPER. Published online: 26 August 2014 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, T., Lunnen, K. M., & Ogles, B. M. (2009). Putting models and techniques in context. In B. L. Duncan, S. D. Miller, B. E. Wampold, & M. A. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (pp. 143–166). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asay, T. P., & Lambert, M. J. (1999). The empirical case for the common factors in therapy: Quantitative findings. In M. A. Hubble, B. L. Duncan, & S. D. Miller (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: What works in therapy (pp. 33–55). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cain, J. D., & Seeman, J. (2001). Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice. Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castonguay, L. G., & Beutler, L. E. (Eds.). (2006). Principles of therapeutic change that work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambless, D. L., & Hollon, S. D. (1998). Defining empirically supported therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(1), 7–18.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, M. (2003). Existential therapies. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, M. (2008). Essential research findings in counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donohoe, J. (2004). Husserl on ethics and intersubjectivity: From static to genetic phenomenology. New York: Humanity Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elkins, D. N. (2012). The humanistic and behavioral traditions: Areas of agreement and disagreement. Psychotherapy, 49(4), 465–468.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, J., & Frank, J. (1993). Persuasion and healing. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankl, V. (1992). Man’s search for meaning. London: Rider Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadamer, H. G. (2003). Truth and method. New York: The Continuumm International Publishing Group, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geller, J. D. (2005). Style and its contribution to a patient-specific model of therapeutic technique. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(4), 469–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldfried, M. R., & Davila, J. (2005). The role of the relationship and technique in therapeutic change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(4), 421–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, S. C. (2012). The choice humanistic psychology faces. Psychotherapy, 49(4), 461–464.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (1988). The basic problems of phenomenology. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. (1995). Therapist techniques, client involvement, and the therapeutic relationship: Inextricably intertwined in the therapy process. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(4), 431–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubble, M. A., Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. C., & Wampold, B. E. (2009). Introduction. In B. L. Duncan, S. C. Miller, B. E. Wampold, & M. A. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (2nd ed., pp. 23–46). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (1989). Ideas II pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (1994). Lições para uma fenomenologia da consciência interna do tempo. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (2001a). Analyses concerning passive and active synthesis: Lectures on transcendental logic. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (2001b). Meditações cartesianas. Porto: Rés.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (2001c). Logical investigations. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E. (2006). The basic problems of phenomenology. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kierkegaard, S. (1980). The concept of anxiety. Chichester: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, M. J., & Ogles, B. M. (2004). The efficacy and effectiveness of psychotherapy. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed., pp. 139–193). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, R. (2004). Contributions of existential psychotherapy. In R. May, E. Angel, & H. Ellenberger (Eds.), Existence (pp. 37–91). Lanham: Aronson.

    Google Scholar 

  • McAleavey, A. A., & Castonguay, L. G. (2013). Insight as a common and specific impact of psychotherapy: Therapist-reported exploratory, directive, and common factor interventions. Psychotherapy, 51(2), 283–294.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of perception. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, J. N. (2008). The philosophy of Edmund Husserl. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montavont, A. (1999). De la passivité dans la phenomenology de Husserl. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norcross, J. C., & Wampold, B. E. (2011). Evidence-based therapy relationships: Research conclusions and clinical practices. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 98–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Orlinsky, D. E., Ronnestad, M. H., & Willutzki, U. (2004). Fifty years of psychotherapy process-outcome research: Continuity and change. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed., pp. 307–389). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig, S. (1936). Some implicit common factors in diverse methods of psycho-therapy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 6, 412–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samstag, L. W. (2002). The common versus unique factors hypothesis in psychotherapy research: Did we misinterpret Rosenzweig? Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 12(1), 58–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, J. P. (1943). L’être et le néant. Paris: Gallimard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, J. P. (1994a). A transcedência do ego. Lisboa: Edições Colibri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, J. P. (1994b). A consciência de si e conhecimento de si. Lisboa: Edições Colibri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, K., & May, R. (1995). The psychology of existence: An integrative, clinical perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sousa, D. (2014). Phenomenological psychology: Husserl’s static and genetic methods. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 45, 27–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spinelli, E. (2007). Practising existential psychotherapy: The relational world. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinbock, A. J. (1995). Home and beyond: Generative phenomenology after Husserl. Evanston: Northwest University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tallman, K., & Bohart, A. (1999). The client as a common factor: Clients as self-healers. In M. A. Hubble, B. L. Duncan, & S. D. Miller (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: What works in therapy (pp. 91–131). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Deurzen, E. (1995). Existential therapy. London: Society for Existential Analysis.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Deurzen, E., & Adams, M. (2011). Skills in existential counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • van Kaam, A. (1966). The art of existential counselling. Pennsylvania: Dimensions Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, R., & McElwain, B. (2002). Existential psychotherapies. In D. J. Cain & J. Seeman (Eds.), Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice (pp. 253–278). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wampold, B. E. (2001). The great psychotherapy debate: Models, methods, and findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wampold, B. E. (2012). Humanism as a common factor in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 49(4), 445–449.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (1998). Self-awareness and affection. In N. Depraz & D. Zahavi (Eds.), Alterity and facticity (pp. 205–228). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (1999). Self-awareness and alterity: A phenomenological investigation. Evanston: Northwest University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (2000). Self and consciousness. In D. Zahavi (Ed.), Exploring the self: Advances in counsciouness research (pp. 55–74). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (2003a). Inner time-consciousness and pre-reflective self-awareness. In D. Welton (Ed.), The new Husserl: A critical reader (pp. 157–180). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (2003b). Phenomenology of self. In T. Kircher & A. David (Eds.), The self in neuroscience and psychiatry (pp. 56–75). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (2005). Subjectivity and selfhood: Investigating the first-person perspective. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, D. (2007). Self and other: The limits of narrative understanding. In D. Hutto (Ed.), Narrative and understanding persons (pp. 179–202). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Sousa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sousa, D. (2016). Existential Psychotherapy—The Genetic-Phenomenological Approach: Beyond a Dichotomy Between Relating and Skills. In: Schulenberg, S. (eds) Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31086-2_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics