The Psychology Podcast Kirk Schneider || Existential-Humanistic Therapy
Dec 27, 2017
Kirk Schneider, a leading psychotherapist in existential-humanistic therapy and author of influential books, dives deep into how we can embrace life’s mysteries. He emphasizes the importance of adventure and awe in our daily experiences. The conversation explores existential-humanistic therapy’s focus on freedom and responsibility, contrasting it with CBT. Kirk also discusses the vital role of therapists' presence, critiques absolutist spirituality, and presents a vision for fostering human creativity amidst technological advances.
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Two Core Questions Of Existential Therapy
- Existential-humanistic therapy centers on two questions: how are you presently living and how are you willing to live?
- These questions foreground freedom, responsibility, and an invitation to deepen one's awareness and choices.
Adapt Interventions To Client Capacity
- Coordinate therapies to meet the client's current capacity, using CBT, physiological support, or deeper experiential work as appropriate.
- Stay available to deeper embodied contact and test for openings even when working at cognitive or behavioral levels.
Meeting Rollo May Was 'Almost Magical'
- Kirk described meeting Rollo May during a nine-month mentorship class at the Humanistic Psychology Institute, calling the encounter almost magical.
- That meeting led to periodic visits, interviews, and a close professional kinship with May.
