Existential Therapy

[Hashi]

I would just like to say that Frankl's book may be helpful to some and not to others. I'm someone who was completely unhelped by it. I had quite a lot of issues with it.

I don't mean to detract from the help it could give. I just want to say that I've come up against an idea of "this book is what you need if you struggle with meaning" and have never heard anything less than that said about it, except quietly in person. I'm one of those people. It didn't help me with meaning at all. It may still help you and you certainly wouldn't be alone in that. If it doesn't, you wouldn't be alone in that either.

 

[Soli]

I think the therapist I just fired would have called himself an existentialist (he wasn't fired because he was an existentialist). In retrospect, for myself, it would have made more sense to do some CBT to make some relatively quick improvements in my circumstances and increase my ability to cope with my symptoms, and then start the other, harder work.

I didn't find existential therapy particularly helpful for processing trauma because it is so heavily rooted in the "here and now". There wasn't any discouragement to deal with my past trauma, nor was there any encouragement. I think it depends on where you are in your journey and what you want from therapy. If you're wanting to focus on the meaning of your life in the here and now, I think existential therapy could be good.

 

[Powder]

@Hashi : I think the fact you or I have issues with Frankl's ideas is perhaps a sign that he was writing about his perspective on a personal and collective trauma set but at the same time using it to put forth his own theories about how to help ourselves and others with a personal sense of meaning in life as service to something greater than oneself.

If it were the usual non-offensive pop psychology, there would be nothing of substance to disagree with him about. There is much to disagree with in that we live in a different time and place in history. Science is more informed about trauma and other diagnoses. Now we can't explain it all away with the idea that we've lost sight of something to which one might dedicate one's life. Now we are aware that just that is not going to help compared to drug therapy, CBT, EMDR, somatic, and various other methods of processing and integrating one's traumas along with psycho-education, holistic therapy, and meaningful work, economic freedom, and a healthy relationship.

But I don't think this invalidates his experience or his work for its time. I agree that his story, like the stories of most survivors, is inspiring if looked at in context.