SEVEN PAPERS ON EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS ... - Wagner College

longer a child, that is, as a result of the existential transformation he had undergone but did not
yet fathom.
Rather than telling him what had happened, which would only have interfered with his
realization of what had happened – that is, rather than stepping in for him and taking over,
stepping aside – I put myself in the position of being open to existential validation by him,
knowing that only his effort to that end would make it possible for me to validate his existence,
so that illumination of his existence could take place. Holding myself open for this over many
sessions for nearly two years required patience. Finally, however, one day, J. took me seriously as
a human being. He no longer saw me as a psychotherapist. The artificiality of our formal
arrangements (analyst/analysand) was breached. Tentatively, he called me buy my first name,
nervously laughing at his boldness. In the ensuing weeks, he made fewer calls for meeting with
me and eventually suspended our sessions. My work, which was to make it possible for him to
restore his own freedom, was no longer needed.
In taking me seriously as an adult human being, he had also made it possible for
authentic validation to occur. His realization of being an adult might have taken off on a
different footing (other than by addressing my by my first name), but the significance of the act
lay in J.’s having begun to realize how his existence had changed, which he had not been able
to see before. Clearing returned to its optimal level for J., whose freedom to see what was there
for him as an adult had been restored. I do not mean to say that the realization was complete.
Indeed, it was only beginning. It is the ongoing task of any life to continue to fill one’s world with
meaning. J. was now once again free to do this, but he had not been before existential
analysis.
My therapeutic stance, which allowed this to happen, consisted in not being what J.
would have wanted me to be, namely, an adult to his presumptive child. Those who are
unwilling to be taken seriously as human beings and not hide behind the persona of physician or
helping professional are probably not suited for doing existential analysis. One must welcome
being taken as just another human being by the analysand and, specifically, as nothiing. Being
the physician, psychiatrist or psychotherapist must give way to not being anything to the
analysand, who sees you as he must (whatever that will be) for purposes of realizing how his
existence has changed. In J.’s case, the transformation is normative for the changeover from
adolescent to adult. Most young adults welcome the change. Some, like J., do not.
The pivotal concept here is being taken seriously as a human being, which serves as the
basis for mutual existential validation. My stance consisted of dodging being something to J.,
which would have permitted him to see me as he needed to, in order to realize how his
existence has changed. It is also true, of course, that I am someone real to my analysand, but
that somebody is comprised only of my human be-ing, the essence of which is my clearing
function as existence [Da-sein], that is, as clearing. The existential analyst must resist being seen
as a psychotherapist or physician, if existential validation is to take place and the reinvestiture of
the analysand's existence is to occur.
Concluding Thoughts
Technique in existential psychotherapy ranges from not doing certain things (for example, giving
advice), to behaving in certain ways (for example, treating the client with "unconditional
positive regard") and assuming a certain psychological frame of mind (for example, "evenly
suspended hovering"). In classical psychoanalysis, other recommendations include making
interpretations when appropriate and analyzing resistances before analyzing the transference.
The techniques of behavior modification are a form of training, not psychotherapy, since it
denies that there is such a thing as a psyche at all. In all cases, our criticism is directed at the
interventional nature of psychological treatment.