Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling after Postmodernism

Del Loewenthal is Professor of Psychotherapy and Counselling and Director of the Research Centre for Therapeutic Education at the University of Roehampton. He is an existential-analytic psychotherapist, photographer, chartered psychologist and Chair of the Universities Psychotherapy and Counselling Association. Del is the author of numerous books and papers and Founding Editor of the European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling (Routledge). He also has a private practice in Wimbledon and Brighton.

'Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling after Postmodernism collects together a number of Del Loewenthal's most significant published papers and articles. As one would expect, they are provocative, challenging, opinionated and, always, eminently readable.' - Professor Ernesto Spinelli, ES Associates'This impressive collection of writings by Del Loewenthal provides a generous synoptic account of where existential psychotherapy and counselling is up to today, enabling the reader to grasp the range of issues that an existentialist approach addresses by combining institutional critique with clinical practice. This book operates as a comprehensive overview and a series of interventions that will sharpen our own work, wherever we work as therapeutic practitioners before, within or after postmodernism.' - Ian Parker, Psychoanalyst, Manchester Psychoanalytic Matrix, Professor of Management, University of Leicester, UK.'In this well-thought out and riveting collection of articles on the current state of psychotherapy, Del Loewenthal has produced yet another superb exegesis to add to his impressive corpus, this time on the history and current condition of "post-existential" therapy today. Profoundly influenced by R. D. Laing and the existential philosophical tradition, Loewenthal has succeeded brilliantly in rendering complex thinkers, including Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty accessible to therapists and counsellors in a language that is both rewarding and insightful. This is a classic work that therapists from all theoretical perspectives will treasure.' - M. Guy Thompson, PhD, author of The Death of Desire: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness‘Del Loewenthal engages clinicians in what matters to their practice. He helps us to think with the great phenomenologists and existentialists whose work underlies our own, and whose concerns survive needed postmodernist deconstruction. A gift to all of us.’ – Donna M. Orange, PhD, PsyD, Author, The Suffering Stranger and Nourishing the Inner Life of Clinicians and Humanitarians ‘Del introduces us into the current development of existential therapy through a comprehensive analysis of the meaning of postmodernism and postexistentialism as transcending stages of modernism and existentialism, for which he reviews the most representative and influencing authors of those periods.Through excellent questions he shows his critical view of training and supervising therapists and research in psychotherapies, fundamentally by reviewing the current European context.The proposal in this book is liberating from judgements to which we are bounded in current times, especially due to politics (aspect mostly forgotten by current therapies) and to any other social or intellectual binds. Del warns us that there is no theory that can be prioritised over the relationship between the therapist and the client/patient.This book is essential for all therapists, regardless of the theory to which they feel more attached.’ - Susana Signorelli, President of ALPE (Latin American Association of Existential Psychotherapy) and Foundation CAPAC (Argentina)'A timely reminder for therapists to shift their focus beyond the inner sanctum to acknowledge and work with the dynamics of politics and power that is part and parcel of the therapeutic space. This collection of essays gives great insight into the theories of post existentialism and post phenomenology allowing the reader to question the traditional parameters of psychotherapy. By including this wider perspective the challenge is to be inclusive of the community at large and to respect the individual world of the client.' - Dr Alison Strasser, Centre for Existential Practice, Sydney, Australia

• Permissions Acknowledgements Part One 1. Introduction: Existential psychotherapy and counselling after postmodernism and R. D. Laing 2. Roots to a new Existentialism 3. Postmodernism 4. Post-existentialism Part Two: Practice, ideologies and politics: Now you see it, now you don’t! 5. Psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and counselling for oppressors and oppressed: Sex, violence and ideology in practice? 6. NICE Work if you can get it: Evidence and Research in Psychotherapy as Cultural, Politically Influenced Practices 7. Editorials on Practice, Ideologies and Politics Part Three: Practice, practice issues and the nature of psychotherapeutic knowledge 8. ‘Talking Pictures’: The therapeutic use of photographs in counselling and psychotherapy 9. A training in post-existentialism: placing Rogers and psychoanalysis 10. The Unknown in Learning to be a Psychotherapist 11. Editorials on Practice, Practice Issues and Psychotherapeutic Knowledge Part Four: Practice and Theory: Implications not Applications 12. Post-existentialism instead of CBT 13. From existentialism to post-existentialism: The Ethics of the Relational 14. The Saviour in the Gap: A comparison of Lacan with Freud and Laing 15. The Magic of the Relational? An introduction to appraising and reappraising relational psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and counselling 16. Editorials on Practice and Theory Part Five: Thoughtful Practice and Research 17. Relational Research, Ideology and the Evolution of Intersubjectivity in a Post-Existential Culture 18. Editorials on Thoughtful Practice and Research Part six: Conclusion: Hopefully unending, continually changing and astonishing 19. Editorials on Critical Psychotherapy and Hypermodernity versus Altermodernity