...contemporary context help us better understand individuals and their relation to the world they live in. Through an existential reading of King Lear, we see Lear’s challenge of his identity crisis, thus providing us with a deeper understanding of Lear and his diegetic world. Likewise, a feminist reading of the text gives insight to females and their challenge to achieve equality in King Lear’s diegetic world when read from a contemporary viewpoint. Furthermore, the representations of the existential challenges in The invention of Love demonstrate how existential philosophy is inherent within the characters and the diegetic world of the text. Through an existential reading, Lear’s challenge of achieving “existential freedom” can give us insight to Lear’s own identity crisis and it’s association with his world. Lear’s identity crisis in splitting of the kingdom can be considered, “good faith” from an existential reading. “We have divided in three our kingdom.” Shakespeare uses the collective pronoun, “we” to show the decision has come from a new identity created within himself. His action is based on his internal new identity in contrast with external stimuli, thus having “good faith.” The challenge inherent in Lear’s identity crisis can help us understand Lear’s splitting of the kingdom as good faith and rejection of the diegetic world. The next step in Lear’s existential journey is Lear’s challenge of understanding of the absurdity of the universe. “I tax not you elements… I never...
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...Existential Psychotherapy is the only branch of psychotherapy that emphasizes on intricate subjective conditions that influence our behavior. Krug, 2009, said that existentialism aims to understand people as spiritual beings in the world who make their physical, psychological, social, and interpersonal reality from their own life experiences. According to him, and other eminent contributors of existentialism, there are four basic dimensions in human life that is responsible for all emotions, and conflicts. They are : Self awareness Freedom and autonomy Making own identity and maintaining social relationships The search for meaning and purpose in life Awareness of death as an inevitable part of human life Anxiety and conflict that appears...
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...meaning in life is brought into light by way of embracing experiences in the universe. In view of the fact that affirmation is not the same in all cases, this essay will discuss how atheist Nietzsche and Christian Paul Tillich take upon their unique existentialist perspectives to understand human existence with respect to the condition of existential crisis as respectively discussed in The Gay Science and The Courage to Be. Often on the edge of despairing disbelief, existential crisis may be deemed as the cultural condition in which one finds his or her self when questioned with the meaning of life. With a personal stance and mostly in reference to the texts, it is believed that individuals ought to strive for Tillich’s courage rather than seek to become Nietzsche’s...
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...Existential Case Study of George Costanza A Conceptualization and Treatment Plan Abstract An existential case study of G.C. was developed to address his maladaptive behaviors caused from strong generalized anxiety, relational, and employment concerns. The treatment was prompted by his employer who wanted to make sure G.C. could work professionally. A brief introduction of G.C. is followed by an introduction to Existential therapy and its theory and principles. Existential psychotherapy, with a focus on growth and development, is an approach that primarily utilizes the therapeutic relationship and has no specific methodology. Four givens or major concerns in Existentialism are identified and three target areas are determined. Several Existential approaches are used to reach experiential goals for the client. The addition of spirituality to the treatment modality is considered for its utility, compatibility, and possible incompatibility. Empirical evidence is used to support the treatment choices and the rational for the sequence of changes. The anticipated progress and results are considered with possible challenges to the process. Existential Case Study of George Costanza A Conceptualization and Treatment Plan A gentleman with strong generalized anxiety issues was referred by his employer for counseling. It was decided that the most effective approach would be Existential psychotherapy because of its flexibility and efficacy with all of the issues. In addition, the client’s...
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...Education in Crisis and the Threat of Privatization There is a crisis regarding our public schools, but it is not the one you usually read about by Diane Ravitch 8 Comments 'The crisis in education today,' writes Ravitch, 'is an existential threat to the survival of public education.' (Image: Photo by Dean Hochman/flickr/cc w/ overlay) It has become conventional wisdom that “education is in crisis.” I have been asked about this question by many interviewers. They say something like: “Do you think American education is in crisis? What is the cause of the crisis?” And I answer, “Yes, there is a crisis, but it is not the one you have read about. The crisis in education today is an existential threat to the survival of public education. The threat comes from those who unfairly blame the school for social conditions, and then create a false narrative of failure. The real threat is privatization and the loss of a fundamental democratic institution.” As we have seen again and again, the corporate education industry is eager to break into U.S. public education and turn it into a free marketplace, where they can monetize the schools and be assured of government subsidization. On the whole, these privatized institutions do not produce higher test scores than regular public schools, except for those that cherry-pick their students and exclude the neediest and lowest performing students. The promotion of privatization by philanthropies, by the U.S. Department...
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...Existential counselling is a philosophical form of counselling which addresses the situation of a person's life and situates the person firmly within the predictable challenges of the human condition. Existential counselling considers human living to take place within four dimensions: physical, social, psychological and spiritual. It shows each of these dimensions to be constituted like a force field, within which predictable paradoxes, tensions and dilemmas play out. Human beings can learn to deal with these tensions and conflicts more effectively by facing up to the negatives as well as the positives of their lives, including the tensions of life and death, love and hate, strength and weakness and meaning and absurdity. Best known authors on existential counselling are Irvin Yalom in the USA through his book Existential Psychotherapy (1981) New York: Basic Books and Emmy van Deurzen, who created the British School and who published her bookExistential Counselling and Psychotherapy in 1988 (London: Sage Publications; second edition 2002, third edition 2011). Existential therapy essentially helps deal with the problems of everyday living, such as relationship difficulties (both with Individuals & in Couple Therapy), anxiety/fear, food/body-image issues, addictions, mood disorders, social anxiety, panic, trauma, low self-esteem, unresolved childhood issues, sexual issues and others. It is a clear, direct and honest approach helping clients work on their particular, unique...
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...personal model of helping called the existential therapy model. The model of therapy is used to help people in counseling live better, stress free lives by exploring themselves and learning to live an authentic life. This model is effective when the therapist is authentic themselves and are genuine about helping others, which builds a positive relationship between the therapist and the client. This kind of model allows the client to open up and gives them the ability to explore themselves; past, present, and future. Existential therapy allows the client to understand that their lives are a direct response from the choices that they make in their lives. The therapist also gives the client tools to help change the new found negative behaviors. And although change is sometimes hard to adapt to, with the proper tools from the therapist and motivation from the client, the correct path to an authentic live can began and goals achieved. Existential therapy recognizes the problems of the human condition and existence while at the same time emphasizing human beings' great potential and freedom to respond constructively to these challenges. It helps individuals who choose depression as a response to existential difficulties to break this negative pattern ("Ehow.com", 2013). Existential Model of Helping From my viewpoint, I feel that the existential approach to counseling model of helping is very effective. I have formed this viewpoint because the existential approach characterizes human beings...
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...new challenges. Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future. However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. Erikson's stage theory characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of negotiating his or her biological forces and sociocultural forces. Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial crisis of these two conflicting forces (as shown in the table below). If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first mentioned attribute in the crisis), he or she emerges from the stage with the corresponding virtue. For example, if an infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame and doubt) with more trust than mistrust, he or she carries the virtue of hope into the remaining life stages.[1] Hopes: trust vs. mistrust (oral-sensory, birth – 2 years)[edit] * Existential Question: Can I Trust the World? The first stage of Erik Erikson's theory centers around the infant's basic needs being met by the parents and this interaction leading to trust or mistrust. Trust as defined by Erikson is "an essential truthfulness of others as well as a fundamental sense of one's own trustworthiness."[5] The infant depends on the parents, especially the mother, for sustenance and comfort. The child's relative understanding of world and society come from the parents...
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...all grounds. I would think that Michael would want to know things about the counseling session, but as a counselor you have to keep in mind that permission needs to be granted from George. Breaching confidentiality can harm the counseling relationship and potentially the client (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011). With George not talking that much in the first session, we want to start building his trust and develop a rapport. In this situation, I feel there is no room for error with George when it comes to him expressing his feelings. Obtaining an informed consent from George would be necessary in order to discuss the significant finding during the therapy sessions. When looking into George’s case study I would use the Existential therapy. Existential therapy involves bringing the client to...
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...Psy/201 Tabitha R. Kelleher Developmental Stage and analysis Paper. People during the course of their lifetimes, go through various changes as grown-ups and children. During the individual's life, they will go through various possible cognitive, social, physical, and character changes. Annie, who is 13 years of age, teenager and in 6th grade, begins her pubescent stage following the adolescence time ending. She is described as a “youth” or “young adult” by a majority of folks. Ages of teens are from 13 years old to 21 years of age. Noticeably, Annie, like a lot of other young girls during this stage, arrives from several changes in her life as her body prepares to evolve. Throughout this period in Annie’s life, she will begin puberty bringing on multiple emotional, physical and cognitive alterations in her character and physique. “Puberty” is the moment of development at which the person can reproduce sexually. (Lahey, 2010, p.334). A number of distinct physical changes take place throughout puberty. As a result, Annie’s body will start evolving, because of the increase in estrogen. Annie’s Transformation The largest and distinct developmental transition in Annie’s body will be growth spurts. Throughout the time, this girl can develop in any place from 8 inches and 12 inches in stature, and it is healthy for consuming habits to move from consuming small servings to eating bigger meals. While Annie starts to eat more substantial portions, causing her body to begin...
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...presented in such an ornate fashion that the whole theory baffled me. As a result, I resorted to thinking that existentialism was futile in therapy and too elusive to the average client or those who were not the overly intellectual type. In addition, I presumed that existential therapy lived in the state of “why,” and the therapy would just be a nonstop questioning session of why things are they way they are. My assumption was that the style of therapy seemed so passive. People come to therapy because they desire some type of change, and a questioning session just did not seem to aim for change. However, Frankl and Yalom presented the themes and concepts in such a way that I was able to truly grasp the concept and recognize the relevance for therapy. In particular, the existential theme of meaning resonated with me. Individuals often seek therapy when they are in distress. Initially, I thought that people came to therapy as a result of something that has or has not occurred in their life. I realize now that it is not the actual event that causes distress, but rather the event causes people to lose their sense of being. Consequently, people do not know who to be or how to be. I understand now why people in an existential crisis are constantly in questioning mode. They are in questioning mode because they are in a constant state of uncertainty. It is a state of nothingness and nonexistence. It is such a disappointing and unlivable state. Yalom indicated that “human beings…require meaning...
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...God and the Absurd: Faith and Other Myths “Faith means the will to avoid knowing what is true.” (Nietszche) The invention of God came from the human search for purpose, truth, and certainty. As an intellectually evolved species, humankind has looked for answers and meaning since the beginning of time. The existence of a God gives humans a sense of security and purpose in a world full of injustice, suffering and emptiness. God is an easy way to give meaning when there is none and to console human anxieties. Humans will always be hungry for a universal truth, an answer. Humans create stories about God, morality, an afterlife, and so on to attempt to give a higher truth or purpose for living. Truth is an illusion. There are no answers. The search for truth by humankind will always fight against the answer that there is none. The effort to give inherent meaning to life met with the conflict of the failure to do so and that the search to define meaning in life will always fail is the basic philosophy of a school of thought known as absurdism. Humanity lives in conflict with the universe and the universe will never validate the importance or meaningfulness of human life in a way that is desperately sought for by human beings. The metaphysical space between the search for truth and the resulting lack thereof is known as the absurd. In absurdist philosophy, the absurd is made visible from the unavoidable conflict between humankind’s search for meaning and the overbearing...
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...Nihilism 1. .Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy. While few philosophers would claim to be nihilists, nihilism is most often associated with Friedrich Nietzsche who argued that its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. “Nihilism" comes from the Latin nihil, or nothing, which means not anything. It appears in the verb "annihilate," meaning to bring to nothing, to destroy completely. Early in the nineteenth century, Friedrich Jacobi used the word to negatively characterize transcendental idealism. Nihilists denounced God and religious authority as antithetical to freedom. By the late 1870s, a nihilist was anyone associated with clandestine political groups advocating terrorism and assassination. 2. Nihilism, in fact, can be understood in several different ways. Political Nihilism, as noted, is associated with the belief that the destruction of all existing political, social, and religious order is a prerequisite for any future improvement. Ethical nihilism or moral nihilism rejects the possibility of absolute moral or ethical values. Instead, good and evil are nebulous, and values addressing...
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...Following the dictionary, existentialism is a philosophical theory that “is centered upon the analysis of existence and the way humans find themselves existing in the world”; besides, it also “emphasizes the responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will”. In other words, it refers the freedom and how people are responsible for their action. "The Guest" is an example of an existential crisis because of Daru, the main character in this article, shows up his existential character clearly. For me, Daru's decision to let The Arab choose his own destiny is neither a heroic nor cowardly decision, but he did it for himself. At the beginning, he did not want to receive the task that delivering The Arab to the prison:...
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...Discuss, illustrate and reflect on three main concepts of Existential psychotherapy and their application to practice. To illustrate my discussions and reflections I must use a case from a helping relationship in everyday life. * Existential therapy is based on philosophy (Deurzen, 2012). The techniques used in this type of therapy is not specific, it is based on our existence in life. The conflicts that are experienced in life are based on the givens of existence. The therapeutic relationship is between the client and the therapist and most importantly it highlights the client’s personal freedom in deciding their own direction. 0 Some of the key figures regarding existential psychotherapy are Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Viktor Frankl, Jean-Paul Sartre (Van Deurzen, 2012, May, 1969, Cox, 2012) 0 Some of the basic concepts of extentialism are freedom and responsibility, isolation, meaninglessness, nothingness, uncertainty, death, anxiety, just to name a few (Cox, 2012). In this essay three of these concepts will be discussed and illustrated followed by a case study to illustrate how these concepts relate to existence. 0 Freedom and Responsibility 0 The fact that we are responsible for ourselves mean that we have to make choices and to take responsibilities for our actions. In this respect we have to make decisions where we have...
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