Editing Existentialism (section)

=== Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy ===
{{Main|Existential therapy}}

A major offshoot of existentialism as a philosophy is existentialist psychology and psychoanalysis, which first crystallized in the work of [[Otto Rank]], Freud's closest associate for 20 years. Without awareness of the writings of Rank, [[Ludwig Binswanger]] was influenced by [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]], [[Edmund Husserl]], [[Martin Heidegger|Heidegger]], and [[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]]. A later figure was [[Viktor Frankl]], who briefly met [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]] as a young man.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frankl |first=Viktor |title=Recollections: An Autobiography |publisher=Perseus Publishing |location=Massachusetts |date=2000 |page=51}}</ref> His [[logotherapy]] can be regarded as a form of existentialist therapy. The existentialists would also influence [[social psychology]], antipositivist micro-[[sociology]], [[symbolic interactionism]], and [[post-structuralism]], with the work of thinkers such as [[Georg Simmel]]{{sfn|Šajda|2011|p=38}} and [[Michel Foucault]]. Foucault was a great reader of Kierkegaard even though he almost never refers to this author, who nonetheless had for him an importance as secret as it was decisive.<ref>{{cite book |last=Flynn |first=Thomas R. |title=Sartre, Foucault, and Historical Reason |page=323}}</ref>

An early contributor to existentialist psychology in the United States was [[Rollo May]], who was strongly influenced by [[Kierkegaard]] and [[Otto Rank]]. One of the most prolific writers on techniques and theory of existentialist psychology in the US is [[Irvin D. Yalom]]. Yalom states that
{{blockquote|Aside from their reaction against Freud's mechanistic, deterministic model of the mind and their assumption of a phenomenological approach in therapy, the existentialist analysts have little in common and have never been regarded as a cohesive ideological school. These thinkers—who include Ludwig Binswanger, [[Medard Boss]], [[Eugène Minkowski]], V. E. Gebsattel, Roland Kuhn, G. Caruso, F. T. Buytendijk, G. Bally, and Victor Frankl—were almost entirely unknown to the American psychotherapeutic community until Rollo May's highly influential 1958 book ''Existence''—and especially his introductory essay—introduced their work into this country.<ref name=Yalom1980>{{Cite book |first=Irvin D. |last=Yalom |author-link=Irvin D. Yalom |title=Existential Psychotherapy |url=https://archive.org/details/existentialpsych00yalo_638 |url-access=limited |location=New York |publisher=[[Basic Books]] (Subsidiary of Perseus Books, L.L.C. |year=1980 |page=[https://archive.org/details/existentialpsych00yalo_638/page/n26 17] |isbn=0-465-02147-6}} Note: The copyright year has not changed, but the book remains in print.</ref>}}

A more recent contributor to the development of a European version of existentialist psychotherapy is the British-based [[Emmy van Deurzen]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kass |first1=Sarah A. |date=April 2014 |title=Don't Fall Into Those Stereotype Traps: Women and the Feminine in Existential Therapy |journal=Journal of Humanistic Psychology |publication-date=11 March 2013 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=131–157 |doi=10.1177/0022167813478836}}</ref>{{rp|pp=142–144}}

Anxiety's importance in existentialism makes it a popular topic in [[psychotherapy]]. Therapists often offer existentialist [[philosophy]] as an explanation for anxiety. The assertion is that anxiety is manifested of an individual's complete freedom to decide, and complete responsibility for the outcome of such decisions. Psychotherapists using an existentialist approach believe that a patient can harness his anxiety and use it constructively. Instead of suppressing anxiety, patients are advised to use it as grounds for change. By embracing anxiety as inevitable, a person can use it to achieve his full potential in life. [[Humanistic psychology]] also had major impetus from existentialist psychology and shares many of the fundamental tenets. [[Terror management theory]], based on the writings of [[Ernest Becker]] and [[Otto Rank]], is a developing area of study within the academic study of psychology. It looks at what researchers claim are implicit emotional reactions of people confronted with the knowledge that they will eventually die.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Terror Management Theory – Ernest Becker Foundation |url=https://ernestbecker.org/resources/terror-management-theory/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=ernestbecker.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

Also, [[Gerd B. Achenbach]] has refreshed the Socratic tradition with his own blend of [[philosophical counseling]]; as did [[Michel Weber]] with his Chromatiques Center in Belgium.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}