Book Review: Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice

Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice retains the structure adopted by Emmy van Deurzen in her earlier text: she sets out the basic assumptions which inform existential therapy in the first two chapters and goes on to consider these in greater depth in the next four chapters and a brief conclusion which, taken together, provide a framework for therapeutic practice which "aims at emphasizing a person's life rather than just the person".

It is, perhaps, a sign of the success of the original book in promoting our awareness of existential therapy that there is little need here to enumerate – as Steve Ticktin did for his 1991 review in this journal – the differences between this and more humanistic approaches, the role of anxiety in therapy, the four-worlds model, the central place of clarification, et… I could imagine the temptation to include more and more in the book, and I think we can be thankful that Emmy has retained her winning formula. Many of the changes are slight and serve to tidy up the existing text rather than introduce new material. An obvious exception is the inclusion of Chapter Summaries which usefully capture key elements of the preceding argument. There are also some additions to the Recommended Reading section, and a concomitantly expanded index.

While the overall shape is unchanged we find on close reading that where even small alterations and additions are to be found they serve to hone the argument, and the author's position emerges with greater precision as a result. To take two examples of such fine-tuning at random, Emmy highlights the value of the four-worlds model as a 'secure frame of reference' for the therapist who, as a consequence of working existentially, is drawn into a very personal relationship with clients, (Chapter Three); she is more specific about the notion of self as understood by existential therapists in contrast to other approaches, (Chapter Six). Such clarifications are peppered throughout the text. I would have liked to read more about the theoretical basis for these arguments, but such detours would in all probability sit uneasily in this practice-oriented text and can, in any case, be found in Everyday Mysteries.

Ticktin's 1991 remark that van Deurzen's "approach is so systematically and comprehensively articulated that it comes dangerously close to smacking of the very rationalism which existentialism (a misnomer at the best of times) was, in some sense, a reaction against" is probably as cogent now as it was then. I for one welcomed, and continue to appreciate, so clear and systematic an approach as, on the one hand, the product of a long and passionate engagement with existential thought, and, on the other, a solid step from which to kick off on my own journey into this complex, often confounding, field. Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice was without doubt one of the classic texts in this field, and of considerable significance for the landscape of therapy too. Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice is bound to ensure that van Deurzen's practical wisdom continues to influence the future development of existential psychotherapy and counselling for many more years to come.

Simon du Plock