Dialogues on the soul of Existential Therapy (SEA Dialogues)

In brief: two leading existential thinkers discuss the phenomenology of care, existential praxis, and approaches to care of the soul.The contributors have kindly donated all proceeds from sales to the Society for Existential Analysis.Description:The Soul of Existential Therapy: Dialogues between professors Miles Groth and DuBose considers the state of the mental health profession in general and existential therapy specifically, the situation in the training institutes, and uses these as a background to discuss what existential therapy is in its most uncomplicated form, its soul. It is the second in the SEA’s Dialogues series. It follows on from the first dialogue by Ernesto Spinelli, a leading existential writer, and Giancarlo Buffardi, an Italian psychiatrist. Like its predecessor, Soul of Existential Therapy comprises ten email conversations between both men (20 emails in total), and a response from the editor, Loray Daws. The authors are on familiar terrain: Groth and DuBose are notable figures who have published and lectured extensively on existential phenomenology and hermeneutics, while Daws is a clinical psychologist and academic with a long list of articles under his belt. The dialogues set off with DuBose’s provocation that ‘the soul is at risk and therapy has become ‘engineering, not soul care (soul = lived meaning)’ in the face of the onslaught of the evidence-based data and tick-boxing questionnaires required these days. In reply, Groth traces the journey of existential therapy, from Freud’s care for the soul to the present day when some psychiatrists are more likely to consider mental health problems in terms of brain disorders. The emails that follow form a genuine correspondence between the two writers, with each dialogue building on the previous while adding new material and fare for further discussion. The book gradually works towards the soul of existential therapy: ‘being a host to another’s existence… a good host is phenomenologically attuned to thrownness and possibility, and hermeneutically nonviolent in inviting out how these events are taken up. Meaning is not imposed, or directed, but invited to show itself as it is.’ (DuBose). The Existential Psychotherapeutic profession is under pressure of becoming increasingly ‘engineered’ as they call it, so that based on all the evidence being gathered a more correct, caring, and ethical approach to cure people can be developed. Both men attended to each other at a personal level in the emails. Short remarks at the end of each email on how one was suffering from jet-lag following a trip, how the days were shorter and the sunsets gorgeous, and comments on the automatic coffee pot or on needing woollies, make the reader feel engaged with each writer. It gives the book a human touch. It is a relevant book. It makes us think about where we are in the talking therapy profession in general and in Existential Therapy more specifically. How did we get here and what can we do to embrace more fully our soul? There are no easy answers, but this is an insightful starting point for personal contemplation and future debate. – Words by Ondine Smulders