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University of Denver
Overview
Below I have listed a number of resources helpful in developing a solid foundation in existential-humanistic therapy.
CPSY 5250: Existential & Humanistic Theory & Practice
Required Reading
Schneider, K. J. & Krug, O. T. (2017). Existential-humanistic therapy (2nd ed.).Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Additional Required Reading is available through the Canvas shell for the course.
Recommended Videos
The Philosophical Origins of Existential Therapy by Mick Cooper
This video provides a very brief introduction to the philosophical foundations of existential therapies.
Existential Therapy Videos Link
This link has a number of videos by Existential-Humanistic Psychologists, including Kirk J. Schneider and James F. T. Bugental along with a number of other relevant videos by other existential psychologists and therapists, including Viktor Frankl, Sheldon Solomon, and others.
Existential-Humanistic Case Conceptualization by Louis Hoffman
This was a presentation at the Second World Congress of Existential Therapy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, May, 2019.
Existential/Humanistic Psychology: Female Legacy by Ilene Serlin
Ilene Serlin talking about the women’s contributions to existential-humanistic psychology, including the relevance of dance and movement therapy.
Rollo May in Ten Minutes by Eric Dodson
This is a brief introduction to Rollo May, who is often consider the father of American Existential Psychology.
What is Existential Therapy? by Emmy van Deurzen
This is a brief excerpt that provides an introduction to some of Emmy van Deurzen’s views on existential therapy. Van Deurzen is a leading voice of the existential-phenomenological approach.
Interview Emmy van Deurzen on Becoming an Existential Psychologist
This is an interview I conducted with Dr. van Deurzen focusing on her journey to becoming an existential therapist and developing her approach to existential therapy.
Experiential Democracy Project: An “I-Thou” Dialogue on Racism and Policing with Kirk Schneider, Nathaniel Granger, Jr., and Rodger Broomé.
This is a longer video (1 hour and 41 minutes) that provides a demonstration of the applications of existential-humanistic psychology to difficult dialogues.
Recommended Reading
Recommended Books
Becker, E. (1973). The denial of death. Free Press.
Bohart, A. C., Held, B. S., Mendelowitz, E., & Schneider, K. J. (2012). Humanity’s dark side: Evil, destructive experience, and psychotherapy. American Psychological Association.
Bugental, J. F. T. (1987). The art of the psychotherapist. Norton.
Bugental, J. F. T. (1999). Psychotherapy isn’t what you think: Bringing the psychotherapeutic engagement into the living moment. Zeig, Tucker & Theisen.
Cain, D. (2010). Person-centered psychotherapies. American Psychological Association.
Cooper, M. (2016). Existential therapies (2nd ed.). Sage.
Cooper, M., Watson, J. C., & Hölldampf, D. (2010). Person-centered and experiential therapies work. PCCS Books.
Diamond, S. A. (1996). Anger, madness, and the daimonic: The psychological genesis of violence, evil, and creativity. State University of New York Press.
Elkins, D. N. (2009). Humanistic psychology: A clinical manifesto. University of the Rockies Press.
Elkins, D. N. (2016). The human elements of psychotherapy: A nonmusical model of emotional healing. American Psychological Association.
Fanon, F. (2004). The wretched of the earth (R. Philcox, Trans.). Gross Press. (Original work published in 1963)
Fanon, F. (2008). Black skin, white masks (R. Philcox, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published in 1952)
Fanon, F. (2018). Alienation and freedom (J. Khafla, & R. J. C. Young, Eds.; S. Corcoran, Trans.). Bloomsbury Academic.
Frankl, V. E. (1984). Man’s search for meaning. Simon & Schuster.
Grogan, J. (2012). Encountering America: Psychology, sixties culture, and the shaping of the modern self. HarperPerennial.
Note: While this is an important book that, for the most part, was well researched and written, there are some unfortunate errors when considering the current status of humanistic psychology toward the end of the book. If reading this book, I suggest reading it with the review that Shawn Rubin and I wrote for PsycCRITIQUES. The book review can be read online at this link.
Hoffman, L., & Cleare-Hoffman, H. P., Granger, N., Jr., & St. John, D. (Eds.). (2019). Humanistic approaches to multiculturalism and diversity: Perspectives on existence and difference. Routledge.
Hoffman, L., Yang, M., Dias, J., Claypool, T., Moats, M., & Mansilla, M. (Eds.) (2019). Existential psychology East-West (Vol. 2). University Professors Press.
Hoffman, L., Yang, M., Kaklauskas, F. J., Chan, A., & Mansilla, M. (Eds.). (2019). Existential psychology East-West (Vol 1., Rev. & Expanded).University Professors Press.
House, R., Kalisch, D., & Maidman, J. (Eds.). (2018). Humanistic psychology: Curent trends and future prospects. Routledge.
Krug, O. T., & Schneider, K. J. (2016). Supervision essentials for existential-humanistic therapy. American Psychological Association.
May, R. (1981). Freedom and destiny. Norton & Company.
May, R. (1991). The cry for myth. Delta.
May, R., Angel, E., & Ellenberger, H. F. (Eds.). (1958). Existence. Jason Aronson, Inc.
Mendelowitz, E. (2008). Ethics and Lao-Tzu: Intimations of character. University of the Rockies Press.
Schneider, K. J. (2007). Existential-integrative psychotherapy: Guideposts to the core of practice. Routledge.
Schneider, K. J. (2013). The polarized mind: Why it’s killing us and what we can do about it. University Professors Press.
Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. T. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Leading edges in theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). Sage.
Tillich, P. (1952). The courage to be. Yale University Press.
Vos, J. (2019). Meaning in life: An evidence-based handbook for practitioners. Palgrave.
Wertz, F. (Ed.). (1994). The humanistic movement: Recovering the person in psychology. Gardner Press.
Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Basic Books.
Yalom, I. D. (1989). Love’s executioner. HarperPerennial.
Yalom, I. D. (2008). Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death. Jossey-Bass.
Yalom, I. D. & Elkin, G. (1990). Every day gets a little closer: A twice-told therapy. Basic Books.
Recommended Journal Articles
Chen, K. (2016). Wuhua therapy: A way to zhi mian unallowable experience in the context of Chinese culture. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60, 43-58.
Correia, E. A., Cooper, M., Berdondini, L., & Correia, K. (2016). Existential psychotherapies: similarities and differences among the main branches. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 58, 119-143.
DeRobertis, E. M., & Bland, A. M. (2020). Lifespan human development and “the humanistic perspective”: A contribution toward inclusion. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000141
Georganda, E. T. (2019). Attachment and affect regulation theories and the existential/developmental model. Existential Analysis, 30, 239-247.
Kamens, S. R., Elkins, D. N., & Robbins, B. D. (2017). Open letter to the DSM-5. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 57, 675-687.
Phoo, E. Y. M. (2020). Growing hope. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60, 583-592. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820937510
Raskin, J. (2019). What might an alternative to the DSM suitable for psychotherapist look like? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 59, 368-375.
Ren, Z., Dias, J., & Zhang, W. (2016). Lessons and challenges of disaster relief work in rural China. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60, 59-76.
Robbins, B. D. (2015). The heart of humanistic psychology: Human dignity disclosed through a hermeneutic of love. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 56, 223-237.
Schneider, K. J. (1998). Toward a science of the heart: Romanticism and the revival of psychology. American Psychologist, 53, 277-289.
Schneider, K. J. (2015). Presence: The core contextual factor of effective psychotherapy. Existential Analysis, 2, 304-312.
Schneider, K. J. (2019). The chief peril is not a DSM diagnosis but the polarized mind. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 59, 99-106.
Vos, J., Craig, M., & Cooper, M. (2014). Existential therapies: A meta-analysis of their effects on psychological outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(1), 115-128. doi: 10.1037/a0037167
Vos, J., Cooper, M., Hill, C. E. Neimeyer, R. A., Schneider, K. J., & Wong, P. T. (2019) Five perspectives on the meaning of meaning in the context of clinical practices. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 32, 48-62, DOI: 10.1080/10720537.2017.1390511
Wang, X. (2011). Zhi mian and existential psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist, 39, 240-246.
Whitehead, P. M., & Senecal, G. (2020). Balance and mental health in NCAA Division I student-athletes: An existential humanistic view. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(2), 150–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000138
Wong, P. T. P. (2017). Meaning-centered approach to research and therapy, second wave positive psychology, and the future of humanistic psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist, 45, 207-216.
Yang, M. (2020). Resilience and meaning-making amid the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60, 662-671. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820929215
Recommended Book Chapters
Cooper, M., Craig, E., & van Deurzen, E. (2019). Introduction. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 1-27). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Dueck, A., & Wei, G. Q. (2019). The indigenous psychology of Lu Xun and Xuefu Wang. In L. Hoffman, M. Yang, M. Mansilla, J. Dias, M. Moats, & T. Claypool (Eds.), Existential psychology east-west (Vol. 2; pp. 17-46). Colorado Springs, CO: University Professors Press.
Edelstein, B. (2015). Frames, attitudes, and skills of an existential-humanistic psychotherapist. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 435-450). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Friedman, M. (2015). Therapy as an I-Thou encounter. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 451-456). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hoffman, L. (2019). Gordo’s ghost: An introduction to existential-humansitic perspectives on myth. In L. Hoffman, M. Yang, F. J. Kaklauskas, A. Chan, & M. Mansilla (Eds.), Existential psychology east-west (Vol. 1 – Rev. & expanded ed.; pp. 271-288). Colorado Springs, CO: University Professors Press.
Hoffman, L., Cleare-Hoffman, H. P., & Jackson, T. (2015). Humanistic psychology and multiculturalism: History, current status, and advancements. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.),
The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 41-55). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hoffman, L., & Granger, N. Jr., (2019). An existential-humansitic psychotherapy case illustration. In L. Hoffman, M. Yang, F. J. Kaklauskas, A. Chan, & M. Mansilla (Eds.), Existential psychology east-west (Vol. 1 – Rev. & expanded ed.; pp. 73-93). Colorado Springs, CO: University Professors Press.
Hoffman, L., & Jackson, T., Mendelowitz, E., Wang, X, Yang, M., Bradford, K., & Schneider, K. J. (2019). Challenges and new developments in existential-humanistic and existential-integrative therapy. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 290-303). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Hoffman, L., Stewart, S., Warren, D. E., & Meek, L. (2015). Toward a sustainable myth of self: An existential response to the postmodern condition. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 105-133). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hoffman, L., & Vallejos, L. (2018). Existential shattering. In D. Leeming (Ed.), The encyclopedia of psychology and religion (3rd ed.). Advanced online publication. Berlin, Germany: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200193-1
Krug, O. T. (2019). Existential-humanistic and existential-integrative therapy: Method and practice. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 257-266). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Krug, O. T., Granger, N., Yalom, I., & Schneider, K. J. (2019). In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 267-281). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Lambert, M. J., Fidalgo, L. G., & Greaves, M. R. (2016). Effective humanistic psychotherapy processes and their outcomes. In. D. J. Cain, K. Keenan, & S. Rubin (Eds.), Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice (pp. 49-79). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Moss, D. (2015). The roots and genealogy of humanistic psychology. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 3-18). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Rockwell, D. (2019). Mindfulness and courage: Lifelong training in clinical Psychology: Implications and applications of a 3-year study. In L. Hoffman, M. Yang, M. Mansilla, J. Dias, M. Moats, & T. Claypool (Eds.), Existential psychology east-west (Vol. 2; pp. 175-196). Colorado Springs, CO: University Professors Press.
Rubin, S., Hoffman, L., & Yang, M. (2019). Key texts of existential-humanistic and existential-integrative therapy. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 282-289). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Schneider, K. J. (2019). Existential-humanistic and existential-integrative therapy: Philosophy and theory. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 235-246). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Schneider, K. J. (2015). Rediscovering awe: A new frontier in humanistic psychology, psychotherapy, and society. In. K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F. T. Bugental (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.; pp. 73-82). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Vos, J. (2019). A review of research on existential-phenomenological therapies. In E. van Deurzen, E. Craig, A. Längle, K, J. Schneider, D. Tantam, & S. du Plock (Eds.), The Wiley world handbook of existential therapy (pp. 592-614). Honoken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Wang, X. (2019). The symbol of the iron house: From survivalism to existentialism. In L. Hoffman, M. Yang, M. Mansilla, J. Dias, M. Moats, & T. Claypool (Eds.), Existential psychology east-west (Vol. 2; pp. 3-16). Colorado Springs, CO: University Professors Press.
Recommended Websites
Existential Therapy Website
This is a website that I developed that provides a basic overview of existential-humanistic therapy.
Society for Humanistic Psychology
The Society for Humanistic Psychology (SHP) is Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. This is the most significant psychological organization dedicated to humanistic and existential psychology in the United States. SHP also has a Facebook Page and Facebook Group.
Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association
The Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association (RMHCPA) is based in Colorado. It is the primary local humanistic, existential, and transpersonal psychology organization in Colorado. RMHCPA also has a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group.
Existential-Humanistic Institute
The Existential-Humanistic Institute is based in San Francisco, California. It is one of the most important training institutes in existential-humanistic therapy.
International Institute for Existential-Humanistic Psychology
This organization is based in Colorado, but functions primarily in China through providing training and supervision in existential-humansitic psychology. It has four training centers located in China.
International Institute for Humanistic Studies
The International Institute for Humanistic Studies
World Confederation for Existential Therapy Facebook Page
The World Confederation for Existential Therapy is the host of the World Congress of Existential Therapy that is held every 4-years. The first congress was held in London in 2015 and the second in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2019. The third congress is being planned to be held in Athens, Greece in 2023 and the there is a good chance that the fourth congress will be held in Denver, Colorado in 2027. This is the largest international organization for existential psychology in the world.
International Network for Personal Meaning
This organization is located in Canada and hosts a Biennial Conference. It also hosts the International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology.
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