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This article describes existentialism and explains how hypnosis can be used effectively as a therapeutic tool to alleviate existential anxieties, thereby helping clients to live to their fullest potential.
A person's being ("being" denoting "all that a person is") can be seen from dif ferent points of view. These different points of view give rise to different theories, which in turn result in entirely different sets of actions (Laing, 1960). That is why there are many different types of therapies, based on many different theories, such as the psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive and humanistic, which are in turn based on different views about a person's being. All these type of therapies are commonly used but the existential approach is very rarely used. Several surveys about primary theoretical orientation of clinical and counselling psychologists, and also counsellor educators and mental-health counsellors have revealed that only between 0.8 percent and 2.17 percent prefer an existential approach (Corey, 1991). As far as hypnotherapists are concerned the percentage may be even closer to zero. This may be partly because there are comparatively few training courses and books on existential therapy, and partly because it does not have the elaborate logical theories and explanations, or extensive laboratory studies, such as those for psychodynamic, behavioural and cognitive approaches. Also, existentialism is often associated with complicated philosophical ideas and negative concepts because of the use of such terms as death, isolation, meaninglessness, existential anxiety and existential guilt.
However, as King and Citrebaum ( 1993) have pointed out, existentialism clearly articulates the world as we experience it. In my opinion, existential therapy is the most relevant approach for people in today's world. It allows a therapist to have an integrated approach, integrating the principles from psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive and humanistic approaches, and it is especially useful for hypnotherapists. My purpose in this article, therefore, is to give a brief explanation of existentialism, existential therapy and its historical development, a description of the core existential anxieties, and an outline of the therapeutic approaches using hypnosis.
EXISTENTIALISM & EXISTENTIAL THERAPY
The word `existence' has its roots in the Latin word `ex-sistere', which literally means "to stand out, to emerge". Therefore existence refers to "coming into being or becoming". Accordingly, existentialism is basically concerned with...