SEVEN PAPERS ON EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS ... - Wagner College

“Why not?” In this way, he began to look for what was “right” with the patient—and hence what
was possible for him. He no longer presumed hidden conflicts and eliminated the notion of
pychopathology from psychotherapy. What mattered were the latent possibilities suggested by
the patient, who was now conceived as an agent, albeit one who was unaware of what he
could be.
Taking some further steps, in a series of papers, I have suggested that what brings a
patient to a therapist is a vivid existential change that has taken place. I propose that change is
not the result of psychotherapy but its source. Something has changed in the patient’s world.
Even as some possibilities are precluded, others arise. The patient seeks a setting (a world, topos
or place) in which to understand what has happened to him and to explore the possibilities that
the change has opened up. I suggest that a lapse of courage in the face of newness is the
primary motive for seeking therapy.
Changes of the kind alluded to here are common in everyone’s life. Some are typical of
one’s chronological age (pubarche, menopause; attaining the age when certain privileges,
choices and responsibilities are conferred by society). Others are exigent (losses, such as loss of
status, power, loved ones, employment or health). Others are the result of an excess of options.
Still other existential changes are effected by culturally mediated rituals, ceremonies and
initiations. Some are powered by legal or medical (“scientific”) authority. Events of the sort that
lead to existential change in this domain include confirmation, marriage, religious conversion;
having been diagnosed with an illness (for example, being labeled as “schizophrenic” or
“learning disabled”); having been found guilty of breaking a law. Titles, degrees and other
public markers typically accompany and confirm these changes.
Most of us gradually come to terms with existential changes. If a period of self-reflection
seems indicated but has passed and is deemed inadequate, most often we seek the counsel of
friends or family. Given the ongoing debilitation of the family, the disappearance of adults as a
social group, and the impoverishment of friendship as a social institution, however, many turn to
suicide (especially those whose tendency is to intense, isolated self-reflection), treatment with
psychotropic drugs, or psychotherapy. In response to the availability of the latter, an array of
“helping professionals” have established practices to serve these individuals. Some “clients”
avail themselves of the beneficence of social services, ranging from psychiatric crisis intervention
to short-term or long-term custodial care. There are hundreds of brands of psychotherapy.
The story of Will illustrates one young man’s response to existential change. As our story
will show, my experience with him required that I take a further step in my thinking about
existential analysis. Still having been attuned only to the possible presence of “sexuality” in
psychotherapy, I had overlooked what was nearest and primary—eros. It was in my work with
Will that I first identified the force of eros in the therapeutic setting and saw that therapeutic
efficacy is in the first place an effect of eros set free and at play and not the illumination of the
patient’s existence--which follows.
Heidegger’s analytique of existence showed that being-with (Mitsein or Mitda-sein) is an
essential element of the structure of existence, but he did not trace being-with to its source in
eros, as I do. Of course, it was never his intention to do this, as he often later remarked when
responding to the claim that Being and Time constituted a philosophical anthropology or a
handbook for understanding people psychologically. We, on the other hand, are not prevented
from inquiring about being-with from the perspective of eros and its relation to the therapeutic
venture. That said, it may well be that what there is to understand about eros will redound to
Heidegger’s Analytik of existence, and that would be of value. But I leave that to another day.
5. As Buber (1971) said—and here again I refer to Ich und du—“In the beginning was the
we.” When Will came to meet me, he related current worries about his academic progress in
college (he was on academic probation for a third semester), procrastination, long-term
difficulty sleeping, anomie, restless uncertainty about what brought him pleasure. Will fancied
himself a musician and songwriter, although his talents were modest. He gave me a CD