* an inability to accept the realities that limit life; for example, anxiety experienced by older persons as they become more aware of the need to face the reality that life will end or anger and frustration experienced by individuals who must cope with real limitations—persons with physical impairments and chronic pain, individuals whose opportunities are limited by poverty, by their ties of responsibility to others, or by social disadvantage
Individuals who benefit most from existential psychotherapy tend to have these characteristics:
* They are reflective and analytical.
* They tend to be introverted.
* They have lost faith—in their sense of social commitment, in their identity and role within their families, in their belief that their work is of value, or in their religion.
11
PSYCHOTHERAPY, PART II
Logotherapy, Reality Therapy
Adlerian Therapy,
Emotional Flooding Therapies,
Direct Decision Therapy
In this second chapter devoted to major approaches to psychotherapy, we will look at logotherapy, reality therapy, Adlerian therapy, the family of emotional flooding therapies, and direct decision therapy. Like the five psychotherapies described in Chapter 10, these focus special attention on a client's personal style of relating to the world and others. They all seek to help a person to free himself or herself from troubling feelings and negative attitudes and to replace these with a stronger and more confident self-concept. Each therapy is a different path to that goal.
LOGOTHERAPY
For reflective individuals who are sensitive to
values and who are in search of a richer sense
of meaning in life.
He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche