About the Book

"This is a masterful primer on existential therapy that has been forged from the pen of a highly seasoned theorist, researcher, and practitioner. In Pragmatic Existential Counseling and Psychotherapy: Intimacy, Intuition and the Search for Meaning, we gain the insight and personal experience of one who has lived and breathed the field for over 50 years-alongside some of the greatest practitioners of the craft, most notably Viktor Frankl. This volume is superb for students interested in a broad and substantive overview of the field."
-Kirk Schneider, Columbia University

Pragmatic Existential Counseling and Psychotherapy integrates concepts of positive psychology and strengths based therapy into existential therapy. Turning existential therapy on its head, this exciting, all-new title approaches the theory from a positive, rather than the traditional deficit model. Authored by a leading figure in existential therapy, Jerrold Lee Shapiro, the aim is to make existential therapy positive and easily accessible to a wide audience through a pragmatic, stage wise model. Shapiro expands on the work of Viktor Frankl and focuses on delivery to individuals and groups, men and women, and evidence based therapy. The key to his work is to help the client focus on resistance and to use it as a means of achieving therapeutic breakthroughs. Filled with vignettes and rich case examples, the book is comprehensive, accessible, concrete, pragmatic and very human in connection between author and reader.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Context: The Author′s Life as an Existential Experiment The Personal: How I became an Existential Therapist Post-Grad Existential Experiences: Renewed Contact with Dr. Frankl Finding Meaning in a Chance Meeting in Guam Another Strange Site for Insight True Existential Moments The More Things Change... The Professional Context The Reach of Existential Approaches to Counseling and Psychotherapy An Existential Orientation Our Journey Chapter 2: How Philosophy Becomes Therapy Existential Philosophy Philosophy Becomes Therapy Divergent Existential Therapies European Schools European and American Existentialism The Pragmatic Existential Orientation of this Book Chapter 3: Essential Concepts/themes in Existential Theory and Therapy Roots Related Influences A Brief Introduction to a Pragmatic Existential Therapy Chapter 4: Existential Counseling and Psychotherapy: Strategies, Qualities, and Methods Anxiety: The Engine of Change Ahistorical Focus Turning Report into Reality Asocial Interventions Working from Within The Benefits of a Positive Psychology Maximizing Therapeutic Effects Existential Methods Chapter 5: The Centrality of Resistance in Counseling and Therapy A Brief History of Resistance and Healing Resistance Across Theories Resistance Between and Resistance Within A Pragmatic Model of Dealing with Resistance in (Existential) Counseling and Therapy Resistance Styles The Cognitive External Style The Affective External Style The Cognitive Internal Style The Affective Internal Style The Cognitive Away Style The Affective Away Style Joining Must be Authentic It Seems Counter-Intuitive. Why Does this Work? Think France in the Early 1940′s: Join the Resistance Chapter 6: Using All the Data: How Do Therapists Know What They Know? The Nature of Human Communication Meta-Communication Communication and the State of the Receiver The Therapy Context and Communication Therapists′ Processing Systems: The Use of Self Linear Sources (Empirical/Observable Data) Non-Linear (Intuitive) Sources of Data The Value and Dangers of Self-Data The Aware Therapist Chapter 7: The Four Epigenetic Phases of Psychotherapy Intra-Session Arc The Trajectory of Therapy A Four Phase Developmental Sequence Chapter 8: Show Me the Evidence! What is the Proof that Existential Therapy Works? Some Realities for Clinicians Preaching to the Choir: The "Hegemony" of CBT "Include Me Out" A Lack of Fit between Efficacy Studies and Existential-Humanistic Therapy Psychotherapy: Art, Science or Hybrid What is the Evidence for Existential Approaches? A Curmudgeon′s Perspective on Outcome Research The Nose in Front of My Face Implications Chapter 9: Beyond the I-thou Dyad: Group, Couple, and Family Therapy Unique Advantages of Multi-person Therapy Unique Therapeutic Interventions Characteristic Methods Interactional Intimacy When Groups are of Strangers Effectiveness of Existential Multi-person Therapy Why Existential Couple, Family and Group Therapy Chapter 10: Gender and Culture in Existential Therapy Ethnicity, Culture, and Gender Differences Counseling the Culturally Diverse Religion as Culture Socio-economic Status When Cultures Clash Gender and Sexual Orientation Emic Redux Is Existential Counseling and Psychotherapy Multi-Cultural? Human Universals Across Cultures Ideographic and Nomothetic Chapter 11: Life Transitions and Existential Psychotherapy Developmental Stages The Baby Boomer Generation: Finding Meaning, Facing Fears Boomers in Therapy Transition Issues Transitions Chapter 12: An Existential Case Study Dana