3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page i Existential Therapies 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page ii Praise for the Book ‘Mick Cooper has done the counselling and psychotherapy community a great service by tracing the many influences that have shaped contempo- rary approaches to existential therapy. Cooper has woven together the various strands of thought into a coherent and lively presentation of how existential therapy is practised today. The book combines scholarship with a writing style that makes difficult concepts accessible. It should be required reading on any course where the existential tradition plays a part, and that includes person-centred courses and all sympathetic to the idea that psychotherapy is, in essence, a human encounter where warmth, understanding and a deep respect for the individual are key values.’ Tony Merry ‘This is a book of superb thoroughness and scholarship – an unprece- dented guide to existential therapy’s chief positions and controversies.’ Kirk J. Schneider, President of the Existential-Humanistic Institute ‘Though philosophers through the ages have practised existential coun- selling, it is only in the past hundred years that this approach has been formally developed and recognized as a form of psychotherapy. This pub- lication marks a milestone in the long history of the existential therapies in providing an excellent, clear and critical overview of the contrasting forms of the approach as it is currently practised. Cooper’s special merit is to present the different flavours of existential therapy in an evocative and sometimes provocative fashion. He invites his readers to sample the whole range; he highlights potential bias, and then in true existential tradition leaves his readers to arrive at their own conclusions and work out their own versions of existential therapy.’ Emmy van Deurzen 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page iii Existential Therapies Mick Cooper SAGE Publications London •Thousand Oaks •New Delhi 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page iv © Mick Cooper 2003 First published 2003 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A4PU SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave Post Box 4109 New Delhi 100 017 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7619 7320 6 ISBN 0 7619 7321 4 (pbk) Library of Congress Control Number: 2002115863 Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page v Dedication In loving memory of my father, Charles Cooper (1910–2001), a communist and humanist, who taught me to value freedom, to question conventional wisdoms, and to honour the tragic side of life – an existentialist in spirit, if not in name. This page intentionally left blank 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page vii Contents Acknowledgements viii 1 Introduction: the Rich Tapestry of Existential Therapies 1 2 Existential Philosophy: an Introduction 6 3 Daseinsanalysis: Foundations for an Existential Therapy 35 4 Logotherapy: Healing Through Meaning 51 5 The American Existential-Humanistic Approach: Overcoming a Resistance to Life 63 6 R. D. Laing: Meeting without Masks 91 7 The British School of Existential Analysis: the New Frontier 107 8 Brief Existential Therapies 129 9 Dimensions of Existential Therapeutic Practice 138 10 Conclusion: the Challenge of Change 147 Contacts 152 References 155 Index 166 This page intentionally left blank 3079-Prelims.qxd 2/28/03 11:31 AM Page ix Acknowledgements From an existential perspective, a human being is inseparable from their social context, and the writing of this book would not have been possible without the emotional and intellectual support of numerous friends, colleagues, family members and teachers. Thanks, first of all, go to my partner, Helen Cruthers. Helen gave me enormous encouragement, love and help during the writing of this book, and her comments and guidance on numerous drafts were invaluable. On the home front, I would also like to thank my two little daughters, Maya and Ruby. Lost in tomes of Heideggerian and Kierkegaardian thought, nothing could have lifted my spirits more than to have a young toddler bound into my study, smile mischievously, and then proceed to pile all my philosophical books, one-by-one, onto the floor! Special thanks also go to Jennifer Cruthers and Kitty Cooper, who grandmothered Maya and Ruby so lovingly and diligently, and helped me find the time to complete this book. I am also greatly indebted to Emmy van Deurzen, who gave me exten- sive and detailed feedback throughout the writing of this book. Many thanks also go to the following colleagues and friends for their informa- tive, encouraging and challenging feedback: Ivan Ellingham, Alec Grant, Mike Harding, Angie Hart, Helen Hopkins, Tim LeBon, Paul McGahey, Tony Merry, Jacquy Paizas, Geraldine Pass, Kirk Schneider, Ernesto Spinelli, Freddie Strasser, Dominic Velarde and Sarah Young. Anumber of therapists and academics also generously gave me their time to talk through various aspects of the existential therapies, and to them I am also grateful: Hans Cohn, Erik Craig, Miles Groth, John Heaton, Wilhelm Maas and Paul Wong. The majority of this book was researched and written during a sabbatical semester, and for that I would like to thank colleagues in the School of Applied Social Science at the University of Brighton, who not only awarded me the sabbatical, but covered my teaching load. I am also very grateful to the learning resources team at the University of Brighton’s Falmer Library, who patiently processed for me numerous inter-library loan requests. Finally, I would like to say a special thank you to Lucia Moja-Strasser, one of the great unsung heroes of existential therapy. Like many other UK-trained existential therapists, Lucia was a pivotal figure in my develop- mentas an existential therapist, and without her dedication, honesty and