1. From Psychoanalysis to Existentialism Composed by Lucie Johnson 11/2/99, revised 10/18/00 Next

2. The psychoanalytic tree

3. Next Existentialism’s main themes Freedom Alienation Authenticity Awareness Emphasis on the “now”

4. Next Knowing one’s finitude (Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860) Awareness of death is unique to human beings Though pleasure results from need satisfaction, it is only temporary. When needs are satisfied, one becomes bored. At the center of everything is a universal will.

5. Next A leap of faith (Kierkegaard 1813-1855) Real faith comes from the place where people, ideologies, feelings have let you down. Faith comes from a place of emptiness. It is a leap, an act of the will, an act of freedom. There is no reliable external foundation. One finds God, oneself, one’s freedom, within one’s subjectivity.

6. Next The phenomenological method (Edmund Husserl 1859-1938) Phenomenology = reporting what one sees now, and only what one sees. Husserl, thought that it would be possible in this way to study the content of conscious experience.

7. Next Most influential in Psychology Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) Dasein (lit: being here). Humans exist and develop here and now. Authenticity: coming to grips with the fact of one’s own death renders a person free. It makes authenticity possible. Guilt comes from the realization one did not exercise one’s freedom. Anxiety is normal in the face of one’s mortality. Courage is needed.

8. Next Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1997) Image of the ski jumper: only as the jumper detaches from the snow does s/he exist as a jumper. Being: heavy, non aware, unknowable. Existence: known through distance, through negation (I am not this…) Fundamental human experience is that of emptiness, hence freedom.

9. Next Mental health and existentialism HEALTHY Freedom Authenticity Congruence Being Search for meaning UNHEALTHY Conformity Alienation Fragmentation Having Search for happiness

10. Next How is Carl Rogers an existentialist? Emphasis on the now. The problem is alienation from the self. One gets better through increase in awareness, leading to a sense of freedom, leading to more authentic living, and to internal congruence. This is done through reflective listening and no judgment nor interpretation.

11. There is still much to say. We have just begun. … but this will have to do for now. Start again