Heidegger's "authenticity" in the psychotherapy of adolescents.

Abstract

Those aspects of Heidegger's thought culminating in his notion of "authenticity" are described, and the use of his concepts in the psychotherapy of certain adolescents is suggested. This paper offers some details of Heidegger's position and its applicability to psychotherapy. Heidegger attempted to get around the scientistic attitude of our time by use of a phenomenological description of how we actually live our lives. He described what he called our inauthentic immersion in the "they" or the everyday of life, which he argued generates self-forgetfulness, self-centeredness, an anxious sense of life having no meaning or value, and the convinction that nothing really matters. In that situation only peak experiences or "thrills" such as sexual ecstasy, dangerous exploits, fights, or drugs are used to "make it all worthwhile." These are typical complaints and descriptions from adolescent (as well as borderline) patients, of course, and represent self pathology or a possibly temporary state of identity diffusion. Heidegger's solution, one which can be used with certain intellectually inclined adolescents who are not judged suitable for uncovering psychotherapy at the time, is a kind of self-focussing. In this procedure one stands back and reviews options and possibilities in the attempt to shape one's life in accordance with ideals and values that are determined by actual focus on them rather than by a mindless immersion in everyday practices. I suggest that this kind of intellectual exchange with certain adolescents, especially if it is accompanied by a proper idealizing relationship, has as its value the development of an increased sense of cohesiveness of the self, and a sense of meaningful and authentic living in which life begins to attain a unified flow characterized by cumulativeness and direction that can be articulated in a temporal narrative. The encouragement of such a narrative is a worthwhile tactic to consider in the psychotherapy of certain adolescents.