Book Review: Emotions. Experiences in Existential Psychotherapy and Life

This is a vitally important book. Despite a more or less general consensus amongst therapists of most persuasions that our clients' emotions should be the focus of our attention, there is little explicit consideration as to why this is so, or in what ways we can work practically with our clients' experiences and expressions of emotion. In his short but eminently readable book, Freddie Strasser gives us not only an idea of the why but shows us, through the medium of a richly illustrated account of his own method of working, the how. As he states, his intention is to demonstrate the relevance and role of emotions in his therapeutic practice, thereby revealing 'the intimate, relational nature of emotions in human encounters' (p.2).

As the author correctly notes (p.23), in the history of emotional theory the positive valuation of emotions is a relatively recent phenomenon. In an excellent deconstruction of 'the concept of emotion as a master cultural category in the West' Lutz (1988: 54) identifies two opposing valuations of the 'unemotional' person; first, as in some way 'less than human', secondly, as praiseworthy because of an enhanced capacity to think and behave rationally (since until recently rationality has, from the Enlightenment on, been culturally considered the highest good). The former is evident in the common observations of therapists (and their clients) that they are 'too much in their head' and 'need to get in touch with their emotions'. As the author notes (p.29) we are never without emotions; thus such an idea, from one perspective (which this book embraces), is a non-starter.

The first two chapters of the book concern the existential-phenomenological philosophical and methodological underpinnings of Freddie Strasser's own therapeutic practice and a consideration of the nature and meaning of emotions respectively. For readers unfamiliar with the precepts of existential therapy, the first presents a succinct overview of these. Despite his disclaimer that he is 'not a theoretician' but 'a practising psychotherapist and counsellor' (p.2), the author presents in the second a sample range of theoretical perspectives on emotions, indicating the diversity and complexity of this research field. This exploration culminates in a focus on the work of Sartre (1962), from whose thinking on emotion Freddie Strasser derives many of his notions concerning their meaning, significance and relevance for existential therapeutic practice. Since Sartre was one of the main figures in the existential-phenomenological tradition to explicitly address and focus on emotions, this emphasis on his work is perhaps understandable. However, this chapter could only have been enhanced by some mention of the other writers of this persuasion who have also considered the ontological significance of emotional life, in particular Heidegger, as well as Scheler and Merleau-Ponty. It is in this chapter that the author introduces his distinction between reflected and unreflected emotions and the aim in working therapeutically with clients to facilitate the transformation of the latter into the former. This useful distinction again derives from Sartre, and has also been developed by Denzin (1984).

It is in this chapter's explanation of why emotions are important in therapy that its greatest value lies. Following Heidegger and Sartre, the author argues that because a person's emotions are meaningful, disclosing numerous aspects of their worldview (beliefs, relationships, etc., and especially values), this renders them the "royal road' to an understanding of clients' way of Being-in-the-world: 'In therapy, the capacity to observe and to listen to clients' emotions is the most important part of the therapeutic process ... emotions are the best vehicles for clients to disclose themselves and reveal their worldview. Disclosure of emotions unveils to the therapist what they are angry about and what their frustration and joy is about. This, in turn, illuminates the clients' values and their sedimentations ... Furthermore, emotion always discloses an individual's self-esteem' (pp28-30). Although clients also inevitably reveal aspects of their worldview via non-emotional means - and while a phenomenological method would suggest that in the 'equalization' of phenomena (which presumably includes modes of expression) existential therapists are disinclined to privilege one mode over another or establish a hierarchy - the ubiquity of emotion and its nature as one of the primordial ways in which Being is disclosed (Befindlichkeit) makes it particularly well-suited for this purpose.

Subsequent chapters explore specific emotions of anger, fear and anxiety, guilt, sadness, shame, joy and hate, through the medium of descriptions of therapy conducted with a variety of clients, the latter two via examples of working in a supervisory capacity in which the same method of focusing on the emotions of the supervisee is employed. What makes this book so remarkable is the way in which Freddie Strasser conducts his explorations via his own and his clients' experiences and understandings of these emotions. Each chapter begins with a consideration of an episode in which the therapist himself experienced the emotion in question and illuminates for the reader the meaning of this experience as an indication of his own worldview. The author displays a rare courage and humility in disclosing and exposing some of his own most personal vulnerabilities and acknowledging his fallibility as a human being and therapist, and how these bear on his work with clients' emotions. The purpose in this is clear: 'If we cannot attend honestly to our own world view, to our true motivations, and to our true value systems, it is futile even to try to understand others.' (p.5). One must have reflected on one's own assumptions in order to be able to attempt to suspend them in therapy. To complement this self-disclosure, a reflection on the therapy as experienced by each client is also included. This again renders the book a valuable contribution to the project of demystifying therapy (Spinelli 1994).

Early in his introduction, Strasser notes that his original intention was to conduct 'an objective, analytical survey' of his emotion work with clients, but that 'it gradually became clear that, both in therapy and in the writing... I could not extricate myself' (p.1). From an existential-phenomenological stance, this is hardly surprising. One of the greatest achievements of this book is its demonstration in the most practical way that a major implication of an understanding of emotions as intersubjective and relational is the inevitable involvement of the person of the therapist and their own emotional experience in the process of therapy.

Various phenomenological thinkers have explored and demonstrated the ontological significance and relational nature of moods, feelings, emotions and other affective phenomena. They have provided the rationale for attention to clients' emotional life; Freddie Strasser's book takes us a step further by translating this into practice, providing a blueprint for how these understandings may be applied in existential therapeutic work with clients. As such, I would have no hesitation in stating that this is required reading for all trainees and practitioners in existential therapy and in recommending it strongly to all therapists who would welcome a clearer understanding of the importance of working with their clients' emotions.

Christina Bruckland

References

Denzin, N. (1984) On Understanding Emotion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lutz, C.A. (1988) Unnatural Emotions: Everyday Sentiments on a Micronesian Atoll & Their Challenge to Western Theory. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press

Sartre, J-P. (1962) Sketch For A Theory of Emotions. London: Routledge

Spinelli, E. (1994) Demystifying Therapy. London: Constable