Working Through Existential Anxiety Toward Authenticity: A Spiritual Journey of Meaning Making

Abstract

All human beings experience life’s givens or the ultimate concerns of death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness. Whether there is awareness or not, these givens influence how individuals interact and relate to self, others, and the world. Failure to understand these existential concerns can lead an individual to behave inauthentically in relation to her core values. This article will illuminate the role of existential psychotherapy in revealing the effect of life’s givens on an individual’s lived experience. First, this article will ground existential therapy within its philosophical roots. Second, it will highlight the use of the phenomenological method in existential psychotherapy as a means of building a strong therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. Attention to the client’s lived experience in a value-free way will provide space for the client to work through his or her existential anxiety toward authenticity. The client, in feeling deeply understood will be able to respond more authentically to the therapeutic relationship and by extension to others in his or her world. A framework for understanding how life’s givens can manifest across the physical, personal, social, and spiritual life dimensions are presented. This framework is used to conceptualize a case study of a client struggling with existential issues.

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