Integrating Existential and Narrative Therapy: A Theoretical Base for Eclectic Practice

2. Some Basic Existential Ideas

12 2 Some Basic Existential Ideas Mahrer (1989) points out that every theory of psychotherapy is rooted in what he terms a “parent theory of personality,” a set of constructs about human functioning—rather than about change, which is the focus of a theory of therapy. The integrative theory presented in this book brings together two distinct yet compatible theories of psychotherapy, each rooted in its own fundamental assumptions regarding human nature. This chapter and the next offer a brief review of the central tenets of each of these positions, setting the stage for presenting a distinct view of human functioning which draws on elements of both traditions. PLACING EXISTENTIAL IDEAS First, it is important to appreciate, as Macquarrie (1972) points out, that existentialism is not a unitary body of thought. There is much diversity among existential thinkers who are united, he suggests , mainly by the style of their inquiry. Macquarrie makes clear that perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of an existential style of inquiry is that it starts from the premise that existence precedes essence. In other words, existential inquiry starts with the idea that the fact that something is, is always prior to what it is. He also states that existential thought “begins from man rather than from nature” and that in existential thinking, man is understood as “not only a thinking subject but an initiator of action and a center of feeling” (2). Beyond this, however, existential thinkers tend not to make assumptions about specific characteristics or capabilities of human beings. Some Basic Existential Ideas 13 Existentialism was introduced into American psychology around 1958 (May and Yalom 2005), and, perhaps because humanistic psychology and existentialism both emphasize individual experience and the person’s ability to choose, treatments based on these approaches are frequently grouped together (e.g., Bugental and McBeath 1995; Schneider 2003). Nevertheless, it is important to appreciate the distinction between existentialism and humanistic psychology. In contrast to existentialism, humanistic psychology tends to emphasize the positive, constructive capabilities of the human being. According to the Association for Humanistic Psychology, “Humanistic psychology is a value orientation that holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings and of their substantial capacity to be self-determining ” (2001). Humanistic psychology begins with several basic assumptions about the characteristics of human beings. Perhaps the most important of these, at least in American humanistic psychology, is that there is an inherent forward motion to living. Rogers (1951, 1959) and Maslow (1954) termed this the actualizing tendency which in its later formulations has come to be understood as an inherent tendency to move toward greater levels of differentiation and complexity (Raskin and Rogers 1995). Existentialism makes no such assumption about a tendency toward inherent growth or even constant change, although it does assert that it is characteristic of Being to transcend itself (Macquarrie 1972). Indeed, one criticism leveled at humanistic psychologists by their existential colleagues is that they have tended to focus too exclusively upon growth and possibility, minimizing or ignoring the inherent limitations that come from existing in a particular body, time, and place and that are so important in existential thinking (Macquarrie 1972). Further, in contrast to the emphasis upon the positive potentials of the human being that characterizes humanistic psychology, existential thinking, as it has entered contemporary psychology, has given consistent recognition to the darker aspects of the human experience, such as greed, cruelty, lust for power and, of course, death. Although existentialism is popularly seen as emphasizing despair and meaninglessness , Macquarrie (1972) points out that one way of distinguishing various lines of existential thinking is to differentiate between those that take a more pessimistic view of the human condition (e.g., Sartre [1943] 1956; Yalom 1980) and those that are more optimistic. 14 Integrating Existential and Narrative Therapy Macquarrie (1972) contrasts thinkers such as Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus who see Being as moving toward annihilation or nothingness, as does Yalom (1980), and those existentialists such as Heidegger in his later writings, Marcel, Jaspers, and Tillich who see existence as transcending toward God, and who thus have a somewhat more positive view of existence (Hoffman 2008). Existential thinking must not be confused with idealism in regards to the idea of meaning. Idealism begins with humans as thinking subjects and emphasizes intellectual meanings held in awareness. Existentialism, by contrast, begins with the idea of humans as embodied being-in-the-world. Fitzgerald expresses this vividly when, in discussing the work...