Authentic Existential Therapy in Ghana? A poetic authethnography on the happenings in the therapy room with suicidal clients

Abstract

This SEA presentation was concerned with the provocation of whether existential therapy can be practiced authentically in collectivist or semi- collectivist societies such as Ghana. It showcased the tensions a therapist has to hold when trying to honour existential principles that run contrary to Ghanaian healthcare-seeking practices. Participants were taken on a poetic tour of what psychotherapy with suicidal clients looked like under both the then anti-suicide law and within psychiatric settings. Included in this paper are some of the questions and answers that were discussed, as well as my post-conference reflections on them. This autoethnography provides an example of how poetic research writing can be used to explore and critically reflect on one’s psychotherapy practice.