xplicit the client's assumptions, values and themes in their life.
. Facing limitations - Helping clients to face the existential givens such as self-deception, existential anxiety , existential guilt and the consequences of their actions.
. Exploring personal world view - Exploring with the client the physical, social , psychological and spiritual dimensions. This may be facilitated by the use of questions and the exploration of dreams.
. Enquiring into meaning - The client will understand what is meaningful to them by exploring emotions and beliefs. The counselor will listen with an ear for the client's talents, including those they take for granted.
Existential counselors, as Corey (1986, 1991) has pointed out, draw heavily upon the ideas that were advanced by Sartre, Frankl, and others in recognizing that all individuals possess the capacity for self-awareness, that most people strive for both identity and a connectedness with others, and that much of life involves a search for meaning. Consequently, the therapeutic process encourages clients to take seriously their own subjective experience of their world and challenges them to take responsibility for how they choose to be in their world. Further, therapists invite clients to grow by modeling authentic experiences and attitudes. They work directly to demonstrate to their clients how one functions authentically, coping with anxieties and beginning to take responsibility for their own lives and actions (Corey, 1986).
Karl Jaspers coined the term existence philosophy and borrowed the term existence from Kierkegaard to demonstrate the central significance within the therapeutic relationship of focusing on the actual being-in-the-world of the client (Schroeder, 1984). Thus, therapists and counselors who subscribe to existentialism are very much focused on dealing with the present and the perceptions of the client regarding his or her present actions and future ...