Theoretical Paper The palpable in existential counselling psychology

Abstract

Content & Focus: This article presents basic features of an approach to existential counselling psychology that emphasises the experiential source of existential practice. It is an experiential-existential model of psychological therapy that arises from the application of Eugene Gendlin’s philosophy of implicit process to the therapeutic encounter as described by the British school of existential analysis. This paper introduces some principal contributions from Gendlin’s philosophical thought, including the practice of Focusing, illustrating why sensitive attention to bodily experiencing is important for counselling psychologists interested in ‘existentialising’ their approach to client work. Using fictionalised case material, it is shown how working experientially avoids generalities and instead sensitises the clinician to the uniqueness unfolding from within each client.Conclusions: Palpable existentialism is a body-therapy integration with existential and experiential emphases. It brings moment-to-moment experiencing into the ‘evidence-base’ of what is working or not during the session. With a rich research and philosophical foundation, this approach brings existentialism in line with a recent resurgence in body approaches to counselling psychology. More research and conceptualising needs to happen around this promising new approach.