Throwness, Freedom And The Will For Authenticity: An Existential/ Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy

Abstract

This paper is based on a presentation delivered during the First World Congress for Existential Psychotherapy held in London in May 2015. It explores the issue of throwness and freedom in relationship to authenticity. Our ability to claim ownership of our givens, our throwness, is an act of free will which allows us to ‘be who we are’ and to ‘love our destiny’. In order to understand our psychological givens different developmental theories are integrated in what is termed, the ‘DNA of the Soul’. Finally, it is proposed that certain developmental milestones have similar counterparts in the psychotherapeutic process.