Kirk J Schneider

• Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology
• Professor (Adjunct) at Saybrook University; Existential-Humanistic Institute; Teachers College, Columbia University

In recent years, American psychology has conspicuously distanced itself from its romantic roots. Although affective, intuitive, and holistic bases for understanding human behavior have never occupied a mainstream position in the discipline as a whole, in recent years, their very existence has been threatened. This article, which focuses primarily o...

This special section highlights the renewal of humanism in psychotherapy. For the purposes of this special section, humanism is defined as a philosophical perspective whose subject matter is the whole human being. In psychotherapy, humanism places special emphasis on the personal, interpersonal, and contextual dimensions of therapy and on clients'...

This article is a lightly edited transcription of an interview conducted by Kirk Schneider, John Galvin, and Ilene Serlin with Rollo May at his retreat home in Holderness, New Hampshire, in the summer of 1987. Drawing from the influence of his forefathers, Freud, Jung, Fromm, Adler, Sullivan, and Rank as well as classical mythology, philosophy, and...

This book provides a thought-provoking examination of the present state and the future of Humanistic Psychology, showcasing a rich international contributor line-up. The book addresses head-on the current state of a world in crisis, not only placing the current conjuncture within a wider evolutionary context, but also demonstrating the specifically...

The article “The Polarized Mind in Context: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Psychology of Political Polarization” (van Baar & FeldmanHall, 2022) explores a crucial challenge to contemporary U.S. society. The article focuses on two aspects of the polarized mind: cognitive inflexibility and (exogenous) environmental factors, such as “media filter...

This presentation examines lessons on becoming an existential-humanistic therapist derived from the experiences of influential existential-humanistic therapists. We begin by providing an overview of the process of becoming an existential-humanistic therapist, including the development of essential therapist qualities and consideration of how to uti...

The “Earthrise” photograph, taken on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, became one of the most significant images of the 20th Century. It triggered a profound shift in environmental awareness and the potential for human unity—inspiring the first Earth Day in 1970. Taking inspiration from these events 50 years later, we initiated Project Earthrise at our 20...

The “Earthrise” photograph, taken on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, became one of the most significant images of the 20th Century. It triggered a profound shift in environmental awareness and the potential for human unity—inspiring the first Earth Day in 1970. Taking inspiration from these events 50 years later, we initiated Project Earthrise at our 20...

This review of the remarkable book "The Birth of Relationship: Carl Rogers Meets Otto Rank" by Robert Kramer suggests a revolution in our thinking about the founding figure(s) of the American version of existential-humanistic (E-H) psychology. Despite traditional emphases on the European philosophical and psychiatric lineages of Martin Heidegger, M...

The definitive up to date overview of existential therapy. Comprising a diverse range of theories and practices, existential therapy is a philosophically informed approach to counselling and psychotherapy. Inspired by the first World Congress for Existential Therapy in London in 2015 this timely volume brings together the entire field of existent...

This article is a response to Chirico and Gaggioli’s (2018) commentary “Awe: ‘More Than a Feeling’” which addressed my 2017 article “The Resurgence of Awe in Psychology: Promise, Hope, and Perils” (Schneider, 2017). First, I discuss my appreciation of the commentary including its admirable efforts to broaden the scope of mainstream inquiries into a...

Deriving primarily from the works of Rollo May (1958; 1981), James Bugental (1976, 1987), and Irvin Yalom (1980), the chief aim of existential-humanistic (EH) therapy is to set clients free. This freedom is contextualized within the natural and self-imposed (e.g., cultural) limits of living, and phenomenologically can be experienced along a “constr...

This chapter addresses the development of existential therapy in the Baltic countries and deals with the emergence and development of existential therapy in Lithuania, where a strong and influential school of this paradigm has formed. It is from there that existential therapy has spread to Latvia and Estonia, and also to Russia and Belarus. In the...

This chapter presents a case study of Rahim who felt deeply miserable to discover that his freedom was bought at the expense of a lie. Initially he blamed this on his father, but later in the therapy it became a huge issue for him to take responsibility for the happenings in his life. As he is working his way through his contradictory emotions he c...

This chapter considers the processes by which existential‐humanistic (EH) and existential‐integrative (EI) approaches are applied. EH therapy is a relational and experiential therapy, which focuses on clients' and therapists' actual, lived experiences. The chapter reviews the principles of EH practice related to identity formation and personal cont...

This chapter outlines the existential therapy development in China and related Asian countries. Viewed from the perspective of existentialism, a rich resource of likely existential thought can be found in Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, the three major streams of thought that compose Chinese cultural tradition. Chinese society, especially its i...

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on some of the tensions and challenges, paradoxes and contradictions, possibilities and transformative experiences that human life holds. It aims to fulfil the original mandate of existential psychotherapeutic practice – n...

This chapter provides an alternative approach to the selection of “key texts”, and highlights the key characteristics that may distinguish it from its American and Continental counterparts. These key characteristics include: the importance of various philosophical roots within the British schools; a critique of the Freudian unconscious and its proc...

The works of Ludwig Binswanger, Medard Boss, and their philosophical “master,” Martin Heidegger, constitute the most significant body of Daseinsanalytic works available to the English‐speaking world. Subsequently, a number of daseinsanalytically oriented authors have contributed to English articles in various publications. Four authors have also ma...

Daseinsanalysis is unique in the central importance it accords to philosophy. Daseinsanalysis draws its conceptions and methods directly from philosophy – chiefly from Martin Heidegger's philosophy. There is a deep conviction in Daseinsanalysis that all psychotherapy must be grounded in an adequate understanding of the patient's suffering. This is...

This chapter first outlines the main strands of the ontological assumptions of Logotherapy and clarifies its central concepts, like meaning, values, responsibility, and freedom. Subsequently it shows the similarities and differences to the anthropology of existential analysis (EA). The chapter describes the anthropology of EA in greater detail. It...

The existential‐phenomenological approach has steadily grown and developed, and is now, more than ever, widely acknowledged as a powerful method of engaging with problems in living. Coming with its increasing popularity, a challenge for the integrity of existential therapy is to ensure that therapeutic practice remains anchored in the owned dialogi...

This chapter surveys the methods of Logotherapy (LT) and Existential Analysis (EA) as they are actually used in psychotherapeutic practice and are taught as part of the curriculum and training program for psychotherapy and counselling by the International Society for LT and EA. LT centers, such as the Viktor Frankl Institute in Vienna, only teach t...

Hans Cohn recognized that psycho‐analytic approach was an application of existential philosophy, based as it was on the phenomenological ideas about inter‐subjectivity. Narrative is important to group psychotherapy, especially as it is co‐created by the members of the group given the basic facts provided by each member. J. P. Sartre, the first phil...

The key texts should give an insight into the beginnings of Logotherapy by V.E. Frankl, its development and mature state with its methods, motivational concept, anthropological basics with which the main work in Logotherapy is done. The development of Existential Analysis by A. Langle brought along a shift of the paradigm. This chapter describes th...

Existential‐Humanistic psychology, and what can be termed “Existential‐Integrative psychology,” originated in the United States blending ideas from European existential philosophy and psychology with an American perspective, particularly humanistic psychology. Following a period of decreased influence and declining interest, the foundations for a r...

GyneGals is based on the principles of supportive‐expressive group therapy; it encourages open and honest discussion of difficult topics and feelings, including discussion of existential concerns. This chapter focuses on Irvin Yalom's teaching, his process interventions, and his leadership style. Yalom's didactic teaching was extraordinary. Topics...

The aloneness of the founding philosophers of what became existential philosophy was chosen, not factitious. This chapter concentrates on the development of phenomenology and then existential philosophy as interpreted by its best‐known theoreticians, all of them male. It discusses their preoccupations with individuality and self‐development. Given...

This chapter begins with a description of Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy and Existential Analysis (EA) and his primary intention with the founding of this psychology. While the focus of Logotherapy is directed towards values and meanings in the world to which the person should be inclined in a self‐transcendental way by forgetting themselves, the cent...

In attempting to identify the key texts in existential‐humanistic therapy, in this chapter, the authors first aim to identify the texts that are frequently cited in the existential literature. Drawing upon the landmark contributions of their mentors, Rollo May and Jim Bugental, these authors extend the purview of existential‐humanistic psychology i...

Contemporary group psychotherapists who describe their work with long‐term groups as existential often look back to the period when Hugh Mullan and Ronald Laing were at their most influential, describing it as a high‐water mark in group psychotherapy in general. Irvin Yalom's group approach is strongly influenced by Harry Stack Sullivan, who develo...

During the last twenty years of Medard Boss's life there were a number of important institutional developments in Daseinsanalysis. The deaths of both Ludwig Binswanger and, especially, Boss left a potentially unfillable vacuum in the world of daseinsanalytic psychotherapy. Certainly the most significant voice subsequent to the death of Boss was tha...

Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe consisting of a group of three countries, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway that are geographically and mentally close to as well as separated from Britain and Continental Europe. The easy‐going, humanistic, and social‐welfare‐oriented mentality of Scandinavia has shaped the regional development of existential t...

The Latin American movement interested in Existential Therapy has had a complex history, since it began separately in different countries. This chapter discusses some characteristics of two of the main Latin American perspectives on Existential Therapy, those of Argentina and Mexico, underscoring some of the aspects that make them unique. Existenti...

This chapter describes how the method and practice of existential‐phenomenological therapy is related to its underpinning philosophy. A principle of all existential‐phenomenological therapy is to introduce, or re‐introduce, the client to the reality that they have an active part in their learning. The beginning of existential‐phenomenological thera...

This chapter discusses three auspicious nineteenth‐century intellectual developments, namely, existential thought, hermeneutics, and phenomenology. It deals more explicitly with the philosophy, theory, practice, and method of Daseinsanalytic psychotherapy. The chapter provides an overview of critical theoretical considerations with respect to Marti...

In view of the lack of consensus about what daseinsanalytic psychotherapy is, its purposes and aims, and how it proceeds, this chapter presents quite different, contemporary approaches to daseinsanalytic practice by daseinsanalytic therapists who have published significant works in English and who actually knew and worked intensively with Medard Bo...

The growth in the dissemination of the existential‐phenomenological approach to therapy is likely to have exciting repercussions for the delivery of mental health care in the United Kingdom in the future. Many authors developed their own various interpretations of existential‐phenomenological therapy, including Hans Cohn, who had a more analytical...

This chapter is based on pluralistic epistemology, as pluralism focuses on the existence of different co‐existing perspectives and their relationships. It provides an overview of research findings on Existential‐Phenomenological Therapies. Correia et al. found that existential therapists used four – sometimes overlapping – therapeutic competences:...

This chapter reflects the farther reaches and leading edges of contemporary existential‐humanistic and existential‐integrative psychotherapy. It includes multicultural, Asian, and transpersonal‐spiritual trends. Although historically existential‐humanistic therapy has struggled with multiculturalism, many recent developments have begun addressing t...

There have been numerous developments and applications of Existential Analysis (EA) and Logotherapy, each of which bring unique opportunities and challenges. This chapter first reviews specific developments in Logotherapy and the development of Meaning‐Centered Therapy and Counseling, which develops out of Logotherapy and incorporates cognitive‐beh...

In this chapter, the author presents two case studies revealing how a daseinsanalytic approach may appear concretely in therapeutic practice. The first case is from his earliest years as a therapist while just learning daseinsanalytic psychotherapy and being supervised by both a training analyst at the Daseinsanalytic Institute in Zurich and a seni...

Personal Existential Analysis (PEA) is considered the central method of Existential Analysis. It represents a systematic, phenomenological‐experiential and process‐oriented approach that also draws upon key principles of Logotherapy, such as self‐distancing, self‐transcendence, and the search for meaning. PEA is meant to support the person in integ...

This chapter focuses on the key texts in existential group therapy. The group situation illuminates the group personality in a multidimensional way and provides for a deeper understanding of the individual through the quality of his relationships to the other group members and the therapist. Individuality stands out as the essential characteristic...

Although one could argue that the first form of a phenomenological approach to dialogue and therapy was introduced by Socrates somewhere around 300 bce with his “dialectic inquiry,” modern existential and phenomenological traditions in psychiatry and psychology arrived in the 1920s in France and in the 1930s and 1940s in some other southern Europea...

This chapter presents four case illustrations that give the reader a vivid, lived experience of how existential‐humanistic (EH) therapy actually unfolds between the clients and the therapists. The first two cases illustrates how EH therapists develop responsiveness to clients' feelings, experiences and protective patterns; develop collaborative and...

The aim of existential‐humanistic (EH) as well as existential‐integrative (EI) therapy is to “set clients free”. EH/EI theorists take an ahistorical approach; that is, the past is integral only insofar as it is alive, within the person, in the present moment. Whereas discussions can help clients to assimilate a specifiable event, such as an abuse m...

A resistance to the pathologizing language of psychiatric discourse is a persistent theme in existential‐phenomenological therapy. In insisting on a philosophical, rather than psychological or medical, foundation for the development of its theory and practice, existential‐phenomenological therapy refutes the natural scientific foundations of much p...

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) groups, or groups that are the context in which other active therapies are provided are symptom focused and it is appropriate to use symptomatic changes as one of the principle outcome measures. CBT in groups can afford to ignore group‐as‐a‐whole effects and other non‐specific therapeutic factors, and instead focu...

This selected annotated bibliography of works related to existential-humanistic psychotherapy contains entries pertaining to scholarly books, journal articles, and popular novels. Although the primary focus is on existential-humanistic therapy, we included a select number of contributions from other schools of existential psychology, particularly t...

Abstract This article calls on organized psychiatry and psychology to wake up and address a major underappreciated discrepancy. This is the discrepancy between diagnostic nomenclature for therapy clients, and the nonpathologizing or even glorifying nomenclature for many throughout history who are abusive, degrading, and massively destructive. While...

This article calls on organized psychiatry and psychology to wake up and address a major underappreciated discrepancy. This is the discrepancy between diagnostic nomenclature for therapy clients and the nonpathologizing or even glorifying nomenclature for many throughout history who are abusive, degrading, and massively destructive. While the forme...

In recent years, American psychology has conspicuously distanced itself from its romantic roots. Although affective, intuitive, and holistic bases for understanding human behavior have never occupied a mainstream position in the discipline as a whole, in recent years, their very existence has been threatened. This article, which focuses primarily o...

What is meaningful in life? This is a question many individuals ask at least once in their lifetime. Many researchers have also asked this question, and a large body of literature seems to answer in theoretical and academic terms. But what is the meaning of meaning in clinical practice? That is, what is the role of meaning in psychotherapy, recover...

The sense of awe, defined as a perception of vastness that cannot be assimilated but can be accommodated, or as the experience of humility and wonder—adventure—toward living, has become a hot topic in psychology. This article considers the basis for this trend, some promising avenues of research, and several challenges to the mainstream—quantitativ...

A brief tribute to my main mentor in clinical psychology, James Bugental, and its parallels to stories of training with masters of meditation.

As I conceive it, existential psychotherapy has deep spiritual roots. Following in the tradition of existential-spiritual philosophy, I describe the nature of these roots, the implications of them for existential-integrative therapy, and a case vignette to illustrate their application. I conclude with a reflection on the importance of contextualizi...

This article provides an overview and case application of the existential-integrative (EI) approach to psychotherapy. I developed the EI approach based on the existential-humanistic work of Rollo May and James Bugental. In the first section of the article, the EI approach is introduced and described with a particular focus on its central and eviden...

This article is a slightly adapted eulogy I was invited to deliver on behalf of my dear friend and mentor, Mark Stern, who died on March 11, 2014. It was delivered on March 22, 2014, at St. Paul’s of the Apostles Chapel, 415 W. 59th St., New York City.

This article proposes that presence is the core contextual factor of therapeutic effectiveness. Presence is defined as a complex mix of appreciative openness, concerted engagement, support, and expressiveness, and it both holds and illuminates that which is palpably significant within the client and between client and therapist. While the therapeut...

Objective: Over the past 25 years, humanistic psychotherapy (HP) researchers have actively contributed to the development and implementation of innovative practice-informed research measures and coding systems. Method: Qualitative and quantitative research findings, including meta-analyses, support the identification of HP approaches as evidence...

This article examines professional psychology's shifting paradigms throughout the last 100 years, beginning with its roots in philosophy and concluding with its recent embrace of neuroscience. The main contention of this article is that the evolution of psychology is a philosophical as much as, if not more than, a scientific issue, and that the phi...

This reflection elucidates my spiritual philosophy of “enchanted agnosticism” and “awe-based consciousness.” Enchanted agnosticism combines a sense of veneration for the breadth or wholeness of the mystery of existence, with a sense of unknowing and discovery. Awe-based consciousness results from enchanted agnosticism and stresses humility and wond...

As I conceive it, existential psychotherapy has deep spiritual roots. Following in the tradition of existential-spiritual philosophy, I describe the nature of these roots, the implications of them for existential-integrative therapy, and a case vignette to illustrate their application. I conclude with a reflection on the importance of contextualizi...

Comments on the article "The humanistic psychology-positive psychology divide: Contrasts in philosophical foundations" by Waterman (see record 2013-12501-001). Alan Waterman's article is an illuminating contribution that will be reviewed and debated for years to come. The current author is appreciative of Waterman for raising key questions about th...

This article is adapted from an invited address sponsored by European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Soren Kierkegaard’s birth. In this article, I show how Kierkegaard’s philosophy—in particular that depicted in Fear and Trembling and the Sickness Unto Death—runs through each of my major books...

Some fears run deeper than threats to life, limb, or property (although I do not make light of these). Some fears (or technically anxieties) are cosmic in nature and appear to underlie and yet elude our day-to-day realities.

This article summarizes and discusses the main themes to emerge from this special section on the renewal of humanism in psychotherapy. It is concluded that (1) despite some controversies, humanism is both a viable and growing influence among the leading specialty areas of psychotherapy; (2) humanism is a foundational element of effectiveness among...

This article is adapted from my opening keynote address to the First International Existential Psychology Conference in Nanjing, China on April 2nd, 2010. The article begins with an overview of the history and current trends within Western (and to some extent Eastern) existential psychology. Existential-integrative psychology and the spiritual dime...