PSY 4140 Week 3 Existential Therapy Exam
Study Guide
We are what we choose to be - answer A basic existential premise is that we are not
victims of circumstance because, to a large extent:
Existentialism - answer A philosophical movement stressing individual responsibility for
creating one's ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Yalom - answer Who founded existential therapy?
Kierkegaard - answer Creative anxiety, despair, fear and dread, guilt, and nothingness
Nietzsche - answer Death, suicide, and will
Heidegger - answer Authentic being, caring, death, guilt, individual responsibility, and
isolation
Sartre - answer Meaninglessness, responsibility, and choice.
Buber - answer Interpersonal relationships, I/Thou perspective in therapy, and self-
transcendence
Angst - answer A Danish and German word whose meaning lies between the English
words dread and anxiety. This term refers to the uncertainty in life and the role of anxiety
in making decisions about how we want to live.
Existential analysis (Daseinanalysis) - answer The emphasis of this therapy approach is on
the subjective and spiritual dimensions of human existence.
Life-changing psychotherapy - answer The effort to help clients examine how they have
answered life's existential questions and to invite them to revise their answers so they can
live more authentically.
Existential-humanistic - answer From an _____________ perspective, resistance manifests as
a failure to be fully present both during the therapy hour and in life.
Existential tradition - answer Seeks a balance between recognizing the limits and the tragic
dimensions of human existence and the possibilities and opportunities of human life.
