Existentialism and its psychotherapeutic potential

Abstract

The study carries out a historic-meaningful reconstruction of the existentialism evolution as one of the culturally most influential philosophical currents of the twentieth century and, on its extensive polyparadigmatic basis, formulates author’s generalizations regarding the possibilities and prospects for the development of existential psychotherapy in an enriching combination with the principles and techniques of hypnotherapy, which make it possible to cure the most complex phobias and other mental ailments of patients. First of all, the main thematisms of the existentialist discourse are highlighted with arguments, namely the predominance of the original style of philosophizing as an unbridled thought activity, the centering of the thinker’s reflexive consciousness on a person and his subjectivity (in particular on emotions and feelings), the primacy of existentialization and human freedom in relation to its essence, attribution of active will, determination and responsibility as defining features-qualities of an existential person, the presence of a tragic component in the life of each person, the inevitable evidence of death, which is realized and experienced deeply personally as the culminating limitation of existence, primacy of the interested comprehension by existentialists of man, the world, language, history, here-existence, society, truth, faith, authenticity, meaning of life, anxiety, boredom, despair, covital functionality, mortality and other forms, modes or aspects of self-valued human existence-presence. The technology of the philosophical-psychological search itself is realized by the author gradually, in the form of thirteen logically related steps: 1) it has been substantiated the unique place of existentialism among other philosophical systems, such as empiricism, idealism, humanism, pragmatism, gnosticism; 2) the origins of existentialism as a new philosophy in the work of the Danish thinker and theologian Sшren Kierkegaard in the middle of the 19th century, and later the German wise man Friedrich Nietzsche, were clarified; 3) it has been outlined new horizons of stating the existentially intentional reflexive thinking in such talented dignitaries of mankind of the twentieth century as K. Jaspers, M. Heidegger, M. Buber, J.-P. Sartre, G. Marcel; 4) the original vision of the relationship between human and the world by existentialists is revealed as an eternal worldview problem, which their methodological optics enables to put and solve in the broadest context of comprehension – “I exist,” and therefore am present in the world; 5) it has been proved that knowledge is acquired subjectively and introspectively through the cognition of other people, through observation and communication, when truth is revealed to one who is in the existence of freedom, openness, self-sufficiency; 6) deep sources and diverse phenomenology of anxiety are explained as an integral, ontologically rooted attribute of human existence, as an incentive to authenticity and care, but at the same time as an inevitable cause of human limitation and mortality; 7) the main path to the subjective self-fulfillment of a person has been argued – through freedom, will, determination, nobility, creativity as the most important features of one’s existential maturity, which is manifested in responsible acts and deeds; 8) the mortality of a person in several dimensions of thinking is considered in detail: a) as an exclusively human existential problem, b) as a causal prerequisite for care, which ontologically exudes from inevitable anxiety, c) as the final factuality of personal life-existentialization – death, d) finally as a terrifying premonition of finality, giving rise to an ingrained human desire for eternity; 9) the individual striving of each person for authenticity has been analyzed as a strong desire for a true full-fledged life through channels of effective orientation to the Creator, self-imagination, self-worth, personal responsibility, God-succession, self-construction, conscientiousness; 10) it has been reinterpreted the existentialist concept of historical nature of human life, the conditions and features of its intensity and quality, and also has been characterized the monumental, antiquarian and critical attitude of human to history as a constant reflection on the future; 11) it has been clarified multiaspect, mostly constructive, correlation of basic concepts and fundamental postulates of existentialism with metaphysical, ontological, ethical and theological discourses and, in particular, it is argued that God is identified by a believing existentialist with a source of love-caress and justice in the depths of human nature; 12) the philosophical foundations of Paul Tillich’s existential psychotherapy were interpreted and at the same time, taking into account their mandatory and exceptional productivity, it is highlighted the problem areas, principles, regularities, procedural techniques and derived norms of psycho-healing practice in its central link – the implementation of existential analysis, which make it possible to overcome mental illness by phobics and other mentally ill (neurotics, psychopaths, etc.), of course, on the background of the most correct attitude of a therapist to a patient and to their organic compassionate stay together for a long time; 13) the G. Marcel’s existentialist doctrine is specified, which is based on the intuitive characteristic of the so-called modern person, who lacks ontology (lost meaning) and who exists as a vital and social functionality (that is, as a set of continuously performed functions), and therefore needs existential help, which will provide total complicity in being, the integrity of worldview, spiritualization by everyday life and pacified hope.