RT Article
T1 Existential Empathy: The Challenge of 'Being' in Therapy and Counseling
JF Religions
VO 13
IS 8
A1 Vanhooren, Siebrecht
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1814615253
AB Although probably all psychotherapists and counselors care for the lives of their clients, not every therapist is invested in helping their clients make sense of their existence. Departing from the question if clients are actually bringing their existential concerns to therapy, studies actually show that a significant proportion of clients brings their ultimate concerns to the consultation room. However, therapists do not always feel comfortable with the existential concerns of their clients. Therapists seem to underestimate their clients’ existential needs. Furthermore, therapists and counselors report that the existential concerns of clients can be overwhelming and evoke an existential quest in therapists. Existential empathy, or the capacity to resonate with the client’s existential concerns and to communicate this empathy, could be enlarged in therapists in order to help clients find different avenues to be with their human condition. Inspired by Tillich, Rank, and Rogers, grounding in ‘being’ is suggested to help therapists being fully present with the clients’ ultimate concerns.
K1 Counseling
K1 Psychotherapy
K1 person-centered
K1 humanistic
K1 Empathy
K1 Existential
DO 10.3390/rel13080752