Introduction
Psychotherapy is "the endeavor to heal people
who suffer from pain or stress that is caused
by the problems and difficulties of life."
(Colaizzi 2002, p.73). Others define it as:
"Psychotherapy can be defined as a means
of treating psychological or emotional problems
such as neurosis or personality disorder through
verbal and nonverbal communication. It is the
treatment of psychological distress through talking
with a specially trained therapist and learning
new ways to cope rather than merely using medication
to alleviate the distress. It is done with the
immediate goal of aiding the person in increasing
self-knowledge and awareness of relationships
with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist
people in becoming more conscious of their unconscious
thoughts, feelings, and motives." (Schonbeck
2001).
According to these definitions problems such as
eating disorders, addiction, survivor issues,
conflicts at work and in relationship, work pressures,
identity crises, sleep disturbances etc. all fall
under the field of psychotherapy. The most important
aspect of this aspect of psychology is that the
practice allows experts to find solutions to address
life situations and problems. Thus psychotherapy
deals with life problems and issues.
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There are four schools of thoughts in psychotherapy.
These are behavioral, cognitive, existential and
psychoanalysis. The purpose of this paper is to
focus on one school of thought, the existential
psychotherapy schools and outline the contribution
of Albert Ellis, an existential psychotherapist.
Discussion
The cognitive approach to psychotherapy focuses
on the influential behaviors of individuals. People
according to this approach are rational individuals
and they are influenced by the environment in
which they live. Their attitudes, behaviors, decision
making and emotional response all depends on the
events that surrounds them. This has been dealt
with by different psychologist in this field who
believe that problems that are inherent in the
existence of individuals and the environment can
be resolved through existential therapy. Existential
therapy (Schonbeck 2001) deals with issues of
existence such as dealing with existence issues,
spiritual problems, as well as the problem of
logically dealing with the world that does not
have a substantial existence. Existential therapy
therefore connects the boundaries of life and
existence by finding the reason for deaths, births,
life and individuals' existence. In every day
life, existential therapy deals with the meaning
of life, loneliness, and challenges of free will
and how one takes responsibility in finding the
meaning of life. In most cases, it deals with
individuals who have reached a certain age group
(such as elderly individuals) who experience life
crises and forced to deal with death and dying
issues. However, it does not restrict itself with
this age group but can be useful for other individuals
of different age groups as well. It is a relatively
new school of thought in psychotherapy.
The study of existentialism stem from modern
philosopher Nietzsche (1954) who describes Zarathustra
as the concept for explaining the living and self
existence. He explains support the concept of
people's existence relating to the substantial
material surrounding them and how their actions
make the process of life possible. Heidegger (1961)
follows Nietzsche’s lead and furthers this
thought by explaining that transcendence of existing
things and their intercourse with people basically
make them experience pains and miseries. Suppression
of this existential transcendence would suppress
our own way of being. As Heidegger (1962) writes:
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When I return to my-Self as carnal existence,
I am able to re-engage carnal perception and thereby
see the Way of beings.... Then I see that objective
and gigantified Reality is an artifact of death-evasion.
Then I am able to existentially understand and
realize Heidegger's saying, "Reality has
no priority". (Heidegger, 1962, p. 255)
In the field of psychotherapy the existential
psychotherapy is thus the study of a combination
of individual spiritual health as well as mental
health. The objectivity is to enable individuals
to find clarity in their existence. According
to Emmy van Deursen (Dryden 2002) existential
therapy deals with how therapists enable individuals
to become truthful to themselves by widening their
perspectives on themselves and on the world around
them. The purpose is to find clarity in how to
deal with the future by referring to past lessons
and in essence create valuable living for the
present.
Another therapist, Ernesto Spinelli (is of the
opinion that the aim of existential psychotherapy
is to examine, confront and clarify and reassess
the understanding of life, problems in life and
the limits imposed by the world around them. Irvin
Yalom (1989, p. 127) is another thinker who thinks
that there are four existence which include the
freedom to make our lives as we will, finding
the meaning of life, how aloneness can affect
us and how existential therapy can enable us to
comprehend these.Among these psychotherapists
is Albert Ellis. Ellis belongs to modern day psychotherapists.
Born at Pittsburgh in 1913 and grew up in New
York, Ellis has been a chief psychologist at the
New Jersey Diagnostic Center and New Jersey Department
of Institutions and Agencies during the 1940s.
By 1955 Ellis has formed his own rational emotive
behavioral therapy and gave up psychoanalysis.
Basically Ellis has followed the philosophical
school Stoicism who believes in planned determinants
or natural set of laws. Since everything is determined,
there is little free will involved and as a result
individuals have little control over their lives
("Albert Ellis" 2004). He outlines two
key areas that would enable one to rationally
find the root cause of life. Firstly he identifies
beliefs as the source for unhappiness and the
consequences of such beliefs that result in symptoms
such as rate, depression and anxieties etc. hence
to resolve one must find alternate ways to deal
with these problems. The idea is to investigate
the sources of happiness to negate unhappiness
such as self respect, self esteem, socializing
behaviors, self responsibilities and the tendency
to take risks etc. These would enable the individual
to take into account of the negativity existence
in their lives by resolving these issues (Ellis
1994). Thus Ellis' theory is based on rationality,
individualism and self sufficiency ("Albert
Ellis" 2004). According to Claire Warga (1988)
"His Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) teaches
people how to evaluate critically their own thought
processes to solve their emotional problems, and
to trust in their own reason, not the perfectionist
standards and moral imperatives with which society
has overburdened them. It is based on the power
of people to transform their lives by examining
and challenging their current beliefs."
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Another aspect of Ellis' existential therapy
is that it is an evolving theory and a revolution
in the field of therapy. According to Ellis, existential
therapy is still a relatively new concept and
not accepted by many. One of the reasons being
that the field deals with both cognitive as well
as behavioral; especially Ellis' RET which allows
one to explore individual behaviors and emotions
to various cause and effect. The dynamic nature
of the concept therefore tends to evolve the concept
as more and more individuals are exposed to it.
Ellis's theory is relatively new nevertheless
it resolves many problems that modern day individuals
have to face in the course of the day. Many critics
claim that Ellis' theory does not make sense while
others praise the rationality that underlies his
theory. Experts in the field of psychology such
as Paul Wachtel believe that prior to Ellis, behavioral
psychologists believed in the predominance of
cognitive therapy whereas RET has brought about
with it a new conceptual framework that support
both the external environment as well as the cognitive
influence (Warga 1988).
Conclusion
From the above discussion one gathers that the
field of psychotherapy has undergone great transformation
with the latest inclusion of the RET as a theoretical
framework for psychotherapy. There is no doubt
that with each therapist's theory, the field has
taken a new turn. Albert Ellis is unique in the
sense that he's furthered the concept of existential
psychotherapy which in essence works in the interest
of the individuals from the dynamic point of view
that takes into account of all aspects of life
and the emotional response individuals elicit.
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