Although there has been attempted to develop and tried to do so many kinds of the psychotherapy in Korea, it looks like that the existential approach has been not taken an appropriate attention. Thus, this paper is made to introduce the view of human nature in existentialism and the therapeutic overview of existential therapy with logotherapy.
In the 1930s Frankl developed logotherapy as a meaning-oriented form of counselling and psychotherapy, which was a sort of the existential therapies that were affected from the existential philosophy, the existential analysis including subsidiary branch of the logotherapy, the humanistic psychology, and the humanistic psychoanalysis. The psychotherapeutic significance of existential therapy involved the philosophical insight of existential approach, which was into the human nature and understanding of beingness in existentialism. Meaning in life is the essential for living, Frankl claims, so the human being seems to be required searching the meaning. At the center of Existential therapy we can find the concept of 'existence'. Existence means the life that is full of meaning, the being given its shape in freedom and with responsibility, and all within the framework of the individual's particular world with which this person maintains a relationship of mutual dialogue and influence. Existential therapy is a sort of psychotherapeutic method, which aims at the freedom of the person, authenticity and an individual sense of responsibility, and then the logotherapy strives to find personal meaning in any given situations.
What we have the knowledges and understanding of the existential therapy can help to manage the personal conditions which are prerequisite for a meaningful existence, especially in the cases of the persons who are blocked with psychic illnesses or troubles.
|