Existential Psychology: An Alternative to Infantilism, the Dasein Analysis School, and the Search for Meaning
Psychologist Dmitry Leontiev discusses existential psychology as an alternative to infantilism, the Dasein analysis school, and the search for meaning in life.
From Philosophy to Psychology
The emergence of existential psychology is usually traced back to the 1930 article “Dream and Existence” by Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger. Binswanger was a close friend of Sigmund Freud and an admirer of philosopher Martin Heidegger.
Søren Kierkegaard, who lived in the first half of the 19th century, is considered the founder of existential philosophy. After his early death, he was forgotten for more than half a century, but in the early 20th century, his works were translated and republished, and many philosophers found resonance with his ideas. It was between World War I and II that existential philosophy took shape, with key figures such as Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus. Other influential thinkers include Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Mikhail Bakhtin, whose ideas, while not strictly existentialist, contributed significantly to the movement.
The main philosophical formula of existentialism, published by Jean-Paul Sartre, is: “Existence precedes essence.” Existence is what is happening right now; essence is something deep and recurring in different situations. In simpler terms: “What happens cannot be fully derived from something previously known or existing.” This idea is at the core of the existential worldview and has analogs in antiquity (e.g., Heraclitus), Eastern teachings, and branches of all world religions.
Existential psychology is deeply philosophical. It is not just a reflection of existentialist philosophers’ ideas, but rather the psychologists’ own philosophical-psychological theories, with each psychologist being something of a philosopher themselves.
Schools of Existential Psychology
The first version of existential psychology, or more precisely, Ludwig Binswanger’s existential psychiatry, was not very successful. More serious and holistic approaches began to form after World War II. From the 1940s to the 1960s, the main schools of existential psychology emerged, primarily in the field of psychotherapy, but their original psychological theories had significance beyond being just tools for therapists.
The Swiss school, founded by Binswanger, is also known as Dasein analysis. Heidegger’s term Dasein means “being here and now, as it is.” In the postwar period, the main leader of the Swiss school was Medard Boss, a follower and rival of Binswanger. Today, the Swiss school has faded into the background, lacking leaders of Binswanger and Boss’s caliber. The Swiss were the first to move into existential psychology, but their most valuable contributions were later assimilated by other schools.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Viktor Frankl, an outstanding thinker, developed the philosophical-psychological doctrine of the search for meaning. Later, the Austrian school of existential psychology formed around him—the school of logotherapy and existential analysis. In the 1960s, the British school emerged, associated with Ronald Laing, another unique thinker. The American (Californian) school is linked to Rollo May and James Bugental. All four main directions developed more or less independently, and their leaders shaped the field of existential psychology.
Throughout the 20th century, existential psychology developed on the margins of mainstream psychological thought, with existential ideas considered marginal. In recent decades, however, schools have become more aware of their common foundations, and existential psychology’s ideas are increasingly in demand in mainstream scientific psychology. The leaders of existential psychology always aimed not just at professional colleagues but at a broad audience, writing bestselling books for people without a background in psychology. Frankl, Laing, and May are all bestselling authors whose books remain popular with the general public.
Existential Psychology Schools Today
The Austrian school has split into two directions. The development of orthodox logotherapy, based on Frankl’s teachings, is led by his students: scientific leader Elisabeth Lukas and organizational leader Alexander Batthyány. Another branch, also based on Frankl’s ideas but going beyond them, has gained independent status and is associated with Alfried Längle.
In the British school, two equally influential figures, Emmy van Deurzen and Ernesto Spinelli, are in a competitive relationship and have a major impact on the field. Van Deurzen, with her strong social temperament, has made a significant organizational contribution, playing a key role in organizing the First World Congress of Existential Psychotherapy in London in 2015, which brought together most of the schools.
The main successor of the American school is Kirk Schneider, a student of James Bugental. Irvin Yalom, who has always worked independently, deserves special mention. Yalom created unique genres, including books of therapeutic stories and historical novels with real characters. His books are translated into many languages and published in hundreds of thousands and millions of copies. Yalom is closely aligned with the Californian school but works without followers, not creating his own school. He has essentially become an existential writer, spreading his ideas to a wide audience through literature.
Key Ideas of Existential Psychology
Defining the essence of existential psychology is complex, as it cannot be reduced to a single principle. In general, existential psychology is based on the idea that much in human life is undetermined and unpredictable. Traditional psychology explains people in terms of what is predictable, manageable, and understandable. We can test a person, draw some conclusions, and generally predict their behavior.
However, there is always something in people that goes beyond this determinism and predictability, because we live in a world with a significant degree of uncertainty. Increasingly, we recognize the role of ambiguity and uncertainty. Leading scholars, not just in the humanities, have written about this: we are moving away from the idea of a world governed by clear, rigid, unambiguous laws and predictability; in reality, things are more complex. The existential approach focuses on the aspect of our lives that deals with this uncertainty. We take risks to bring certainty into our lives, both in our worldview and in our professional and personal practices.
Problems Addressed by Existential Psychology
Different branches of existential psychology arrived at a common language independently. Irvin Yalom once outlined several key problem areas addressed by existential psychology:
- Issues of time, life, and death
- Issues of communication, love, and loneliness
- Issues of freedom, responsibility, and choice
- Issues of meaning and meaninglessness of existence
However, the concepts and problems themselves do not define the approach, as all these issues can be addressed existentially or non-existentially, even the problem of meaning. A non-existential approach to the meaning of life might be: “I must find out exactly what the meaning of life is, and once I know, I’ll understand what to live for.” The existential approach is summed up by the old principle: “It’s important to seek, not to find.” When you find something, it disappears, and you have to search again. The meaning of life is not a final truth, but something that gives direction and guides the process of searching and living. If we stop searching after finding meaning, life becomes boring and deterministic. As the saying goes: “Trust those who seek the truth, and do not trust those who claim to have found it.”
Existential Psychotherapy
There is much discussion about the specifics of existential therapy. Rollo May said that it is not fundamentally different from other types of therapy. Existential therapy is not an alternative to other approaches, but rather an addition or deepening. It addresses a level of our existence that other types of therapy simply do not work with.
This level of existence is connected to reflective consciousness. In classical Eastern philosophy, it was called awakening, as opposed to the sleep in which we spend most of our lives. We are in a kind of slumber, but sometimes we wake up, become alert, and discover something we hadn’t noticed before—new possibilities. Existential psychotherapy opens up a new dimension of life related to self-determination in relation to possibilities.
The ideas of the existential worldview are realized in therapy, but not only there: there is much in common between the work of a therapist, a good teacher, and a preacher. In various forms of communication, similar methods are used to expand one’s world and awaken, support self-determination, accept responsibility, and discover possibilities. This is used not only in psychotherapy but also in other areas of life. In essence, the most specific and important aspect of existential psychotherapy is what goes beyond classic therapeutic skills and connects it to other forms of practice: expanding consciousness and broadening one’s worldview.
The Benefits of an Existential Worldview
An existential worldview provides resources for living in the most fulfilling way possible. It opens a new dimension of life related to development and control over one’s life. Existential psychology is the psychology of an adult who takes responsibility and finds solutions to problems, as opposed to the impulsive and shortsighted child. Thus, it offers an alternative to the widespread infantilism seen around the world today.
Infantilism is largely supported by mass culture and leads to many people not wanting to think about meaning, perspective, or relationships with others. In the “golden billion,” favorable conditions have been created: people don’t need to worry or think about difficulties. These conditions are good for relaxation but not for development: people avoid thinking about how the world works and remain in an infantile state, which is comfortable until circumstances change for the worse.
Existential psychology reveals an alternative to infantilism, where a person is their own master and independently decides how to live, not relying on external sources or internal impulses, but using the resources of a mature mind and acknowledging the uncertainty and unpredictability of the future.
It is in moving toward the existential dimension that we realize our potential. Even in favorable conditions, our human capabilities are often used and realized only to a very limited extent. Existential psychology helps people discover non-trivial possibilities for those interested not just in survival and adaptation, but in growth and complexity. It is in the existential view of the world that they find what resonates with them.