Existential Thought and Therapeutic Practice

An Introduction to Existential Psychotherapy

Although many practitioners have discovered existential-phenomenological thought, they may wonder what relevance these philosophical ideas have to their actual practice, to their day-to-day meetings with clients, and to the relationship between client and therapist. There is often a divide between thought and practice, and this book bridges that gap. In Existential Thought and Therapeutic Practice, author Hans W. Cohn introduces the history and ideas of existential phenomenology and existential psychotherapy and shows how therapeutic phenomena familiar to all therapists and counselors can be understood from an existential viewpoint. He also demonstrates how the existential approach opens up access to issues that other therapeutic orientations have neglected, such as the difficulty of choice, the burden of responsibility, and the inevitability of death. Existential Thought and Therapeutic Practice is clearly written and jargon-free. The existential approach is constantly compared to the relevant psychodynamic counterpart so that the reader can assess the unfamiliar against a background of the more familiar. The book will be of interest to training and practicing therapists and counselors and anyone concerned with new approaches in philosophy and psychotherapy.