Key note given to conference of Swedish Association of Psychologists, Stockholm, by Emmy van Deurzen, 7May 2010

3. www.existentialpsychotherapy.net www.dilemmas.org www.nspc.org.uk www.existentialacademy.com

4. Author of Books on Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling

6. RECENT BOOK: 2009

7. 2010: 1. Second Edition Everyday Mysteries 2. Skills in Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy

10. Today: introduction to existential ideas and their focus on paradox and passion

12. Not in the sense of martyrdom, sacrifice and suffering

13. In the sense of living life to the full in all its stark reality and contradictions

15. Dark ages of therapy: blind leading the blind.

16. Descartes’ belief in doubt. 1596-1650 I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all. (Meditations II, p.12.)

17. Descartes worldview cogito ergo sum

19. School of Life

21. Existential Approach The existential approach to counselling and psychotherapy is a philosophical method for understanding human difficulties.

22. HUMAN CONDITION It focuses on the way in which the individual struggles with the human condition and in particular with our inevitable limitations: only if we deal with the negatives are the positives on option: paradox and conflict are central to the approach.

24. Neither positive nor negative

26. Making sense of life

27. Energy is the flow between two poles Source: kidzoneweather.com

28. Dialectics: transcendence in space Synthesis: a wider view future Thesis: my view (past ) Antithesis: your view (present)

29. Dimensions and Tensions of Human Existence Desires Fears Physical (earth) Life pleasure Death pain Social (world) Love belonging Hate isolation Personal (man) Identity integrity Freedom disintegration Spiritual (gods) Good purpose Evil futility

30. Human values rediscovered. DESIRES FEARS VALUES PHYSICAL life death vitality SOCIAL love hate reciprocity PERSONAL identity freedom integrity SPIRITUAL good evil transparency

36. Paradox and tensions of existence. Existential approach: related to, but not the same as positive psychology and well-being research: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ed Diener, Ruut Veenhoven, Martin Seligman . The tragic depth of being human is as important as human potential and joy.

38. Different aspects of therapeutic relationship

39. Wheels within wheels Being me

46. Existential Space Physical space Social space Personal space Spiritual space

47. Your own little sphere of existence matters

48. Imagine a person like a sphere

49. That person is located in a universe with other planets, stars, suns, moons and spheres

50. Sphere as a planet or a cell: micro or macro level.

51. If a cell: connection with other cells, function and internal constitution are paramount

52. If planet: orbit and position matter

54. You experience yourself as having a nucleus: a core, a heart or a soul

55. Perhaps we are more like suns, generating heat and light

56. Solar anatomy

58. Layers of a person’s life. 4.Physical: Umwelt 3.Social: Mitwelt 2.Personal: Eigenwelt 1.Spiritual: Uberwelt

60. Layers of a person’s life. 4.Physical: Umwelt 3.Social: Mitwelt 2.Personal: Eigenwelt 1.Spiritual: Uberwelt

61. Dimensions of existence Spiritual: Good/Evil Intuitions, values, beliefs, purpose, meaning. Worldview/Ideas. Personal: Strength/Weakness Thoughts, memories, identity, freedom. Selfhood/Me. Social: Love/Hate Feelings, relations, belonging, acknowledgement. Communication/Others. Physical: Life/Death Sensations, actions, environment, body, things. Survival/World.

66. pride jealousy anger- despair fear sorrow shame envy hope- desire love joy Sadness Low Happiness High Anxiety Excitement Engagement Depression Disappointment Disengagement

67. Emotional Compass 1:Pride-confidence-arrogance 2:Jealousy-worry-vigilance 3:Anger-hate-despair 4:Fear-confusion-cowardice 5:Sorrow-misery-resignation Shame-emptiness-guilt:7 Envy-curiosity-aspiration:8 Hope-desire-resolve:9 Love-courage-commitment:10 Joy-thrill-excitement:11 6. Low Despondency Depression Exhilaration Happiness 12:High Up gain Down loss

68. The colour of emotion

71. Depressed worldview

72. Compass of Physical Sensation Greed Stinginess Frustration Disgust Pain Need Craving Excitement Lust Pleasure Deprivation Emptiness Satisfaction Fullness Gain Survival Loss Threat

73. Compass of Social Feeling Care Jealousy Anger Fear Rejection Shame Envy Approval Love Acceptance Isolation Separateness Belonging Oneness Engagement Disengagement

74. Compass of Personal Thinking Superiority Stubbornness Defiance Deflation Humiliation Inferiority Anxiety Courage Commitment Confidence Imperfection Weakness Perfection Strength Success Failure

75. Compass of Spiritual Intuition Pride Prudence Wrath Resignation Disillusionment Guilt Aspiration Hope Resoluteness Bliss Futility Absurdity Meaning Purpose Good Evil

79. When crisis strikes our lives are revolutionized In the whirlwind of change we need to find steadiness, persistence and resilience

85. Rita World Physical Social Personal Spiritual Umwelt Take interest in objects, space Meet others Relate to own body again Recognize value Mitwelt Leave dead behind Love dead still Find self valid Find others valid Eigenwelt Recover sense of self care Rediscover love Love self Find project Uberwelt Make sense of disaster Life with others is worthwhile I am me and this matters There is a purpose to it all

86. Existential Approach The existential approach to counselling and psychotherapy is a philosophical method for understanding human difficulties: not in order to eliminate problems but in order to face them to thrive on them.

88. EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHERS Philosophers of freedom Pheno- menology Existentialism Post-modernism S Ö ren Kierkegaard 1813-1855 Franz Brentano 1838-1917 Jean Paul Sartre 1905-1980 Michel Foucault 1926-1984 Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900 Edmund Husserl 1859-1938 Maurice Merleau Ponty 1908-1961 Paul Ricoeur 1913-2005 Karl Jaspers 1883-1969 Martin Heidegger 1889-1976 Albert Camus 1913-1960 Jacques Derrida 1931-2004

95. Being-in-the-world

99. Different dimensions of the four spheres of existence Umwelt Mitwelt Eigenwelt Uberwelt Physical survival Nature Things Body Cosmos Social affiliation Public Others Ego Culture Personal identity Private Me Self Consciousness Spiritual meaning Sacred God Soul Transcendence

101. Find your own way Be clear of your goal and make the most of the journey Learn to live deliberately rather than by default

103. Magritte: Empire of Lights. Learning to live with paradox and the tensions of life

104. Tillich, 1966:15

106. Inspiration and expiration

107. pride jealousy anger- despair fear sorrow shame envy hope- desire love joy Sadness Low Happiness High Anxiety Excitement Engagement Depression Disappointment Disengagement

108. Accept unspoken givens of life: engage with them: Human evolution from: passionate engagement with problems and conflicts: understanding and overcoming

109. Rely on your capacity to face whatever may come.

110. Optimal living All living things are struggling for existence, even unwittingly and unwillingly. They struggle passively just to exist, to be left in what seems to be peace and quiet; and they struggle actively to grow and to expand. (Jaspers,1951:204)

112. www.existentialpsychotherapy.net www.dilemmas.org www.nspc.org.uk www.existentialacademy.com

116. Find a new perspective

118. Finding space and direction.

128. Leading a philosophical life. To lead a philosophical life means also to take seriously our experience of men, of happiness and hurt, of success and failure, of the obscure and confused. It means not to forget but to possess ourselves inwardly of our experience, not to let ourselves be distracted but to think problems through, not to take things for granted but to elucidate them. (Jaspers,1951:122)

134. Magritte: Empire of Lights: In the chaos of life and in the throes of our passion we learn to be whole, to be both wrong and right. Paradox and Passion, 98.