Case Studies in Existential Therapy: Translating Theory Into Practice

The ethos of existential therapy is that practitioners seek to co-create a therapeutic alliance with clients that emphasises being with rather than doing to. Trainees and practitioners alike are therefore eager to have access to accounts of what senior practitioners do in their day-to-day practice. Also, it is rare that books both show the reader what the therapist does and explicitly relate this to cutting-edge thinking in theory. Case Studies in Existential Therapy is designed to address both these gaps by providing, through the medium of the case study, a platform for leading practitioners in the existential therapy community to show how they are applying their own innovations in theory to enrich their practice. Each of the contributors describes a specific innovation in theory, and then brings this to life in an account of their engagement with a specific client. Every chapter concludes with a `Question and Answer’ section in which the author reflects on the significance of their work in dialogue with the editor. This is a book both for students of therapy and for the experienced practitioner keen to expand their repertoire. It will also be of interest to the psychologically minded general public.

Table of Contents:
1. Creative existential therapy with children: Tom in his therapy world – Verity J Gavin; 2. Why me, why now? On discovering that time is passing – Martin Adams; 3. Gay sexuality: `I am what I am; I am my own special creation’ – Helen Acton; 4. Existential dream analysis – Darren Langdridge; 5. The unfinished self: inclusivity in experiential-existential therapy – Greg Madison; 6. `Three’s company, two’s a crowd’: working existentially with couples presenting with issues of addiction – Simon du Plock; 7. Stoking the flames: coaching towards authentic and impassioned change – Sasha Smith; 8. Existential group therapy – Rimantas Kociunas; 9. Trans and non-binary genders – Christina Richards; 10. Living ME: a case study on the experience of being diagnosed with a chronic `psycho-somatic’ illness – Simon du Plock; 11. Finding meaning: cross-cultural existential therapy with a young refugee – Zack Eletheriadou; 12. Spirite equus: the story of Bella and what she learned from equine-facilitated therapy – Julie Scheiner; 13. Out of it: addiction and recovery as lived phenomenon – Ryan Kemp; 14. Ontological insecurity and the `immense sensibility’ of the Jamesian novel: the case of Henry James – Simon du Plock; 15. Time-limited existential therapy and counselling – Alison Strasser; 16. The face of abuse: the responsibility of the psychotherapist as witness – Georgia Feliou; 17. Lost for words: using existential experimentation in a GP practice – Mark Rayner; 18. An existential perspective on traumatic bereavement and loss: the four worlds model – Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell; 19. Two hats: a discussion of therapy/research interrelations illustrated by extracts from psychology research on male retirement – Prunella Gee; 20. Living towards death in a technologically mediated existence – Elaine Kasket