01-19-2022
EXISTENTIAL THERAPY
There has been a relatively misunderstood aspect of psychology drawing me in quite frequently - the direct relation between mindfulness practices within psychotherapeutic environments and existential-therapy treatment plans and results. The two variables that I am specifically pointing out in this case, if not already easily defined or portrayed, are mindfulness techniques and existential-therapy results (this includes patient adherence, efficacy of treatment, and utilization of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Mindfulness techniques can be classified as the following: acceptance, meditation, counting your breaths, and even exercising, to name a few. Existential therapy, to briefly summarize, can be simply put as a form of therapy in which the human condition as a whole is of the utmost importance - this can be in terms of accepting the aspects of life that are unanswered or are immune to our own personal change (such as the meaning of life and the proof of any supernatural/spiritual beings); existential therapy focuses less on the aspects of the mind that, for example, a clinical psychologist or therapist would focus on, and more on the integration of more humanistic techniques and approaches to one's lifestyle. Studies have shown that by properly defining and practicing common mindfulness and meditative techniques, a patient undergoing existential-therapy gains a much higher possibility of recovery or treatment results. In the past, mindfulness has been shown to have many great benefits, and has even become a very common ideology in modern society (at least from the standpoint of an American, as I can not speak for environments and societies that I have not been around or within). The relationship between these mindfulness techniques and the results of existential-therapy is shown to be of a positive nature, with the results being swayed in a more favorable way (for the lack of better terminology) as a direct relation and consequence of the implementation of such.
One thing about this field that has been on my mind quite frequently in the recent weeks is the relation, or rather the results, of existential therapy on depression and anxiety - I find existentialist philosophy highly fascinating, and ever since I came to the realization of a psychotherapeutic field revolving around such, I was hooked. The research revolving around the subject proved to be of a much higher magnitude than I could have imagined - with more of the research being by empirical means as opposed to theoretical, as I originally assumed, gaining further insight and perspective on such will surely prove to be an easier feat than predicted.The main question that I have, or my basis for main hypothesis thus far, is whether or not the use of existential techniques has been proven to be of any special use in the treatment of anxiety and depression in children affected by sexual harassments - existentialism as a philosophy aims to find a purpose in a life that may have originally been deemed as meaningless, usually by the individual living it. Existentialism has been classified as a fairly depressing branch of philosophy in general, but just as I have personally learned through studying it, it is truly about finding one's own meaning in life (termed the 'essence'). Whereas some aspects of existentialism come off as depressing at first, once further thought is given to the ideologies, it has actually been proven to assist one in overcoming depressive thoughts, or personal senses of apathy. This plays into the role of developmental psychology through the fact that sexual harassments and abuse has a significant affect on the way(s) in which an individual develops both in childhood and through adulthood - many of the times, these victims are left feeling a sense of existential dread and either worthless, suicidal, both, or even some that I have failed to mention yet.