SHAME – THE GUARDIAN OF INTIMACY AND SEXUALITY
INGO ZIRKS
Shame is an intensely felt corporeal experience. From early childhood on, we find pre-stages of shame. Growing up in a collective with a growing sense of self we perceive ourselves through the eyes of the others. Furthermore, we experience their appraisals and feel being committed of those appraisals. This lifelong process has an impact on our experience of intimacy and sexuality.
In Existential Analysis, we understand that shame protects the intimate person against unauthorized exposure, so something still vulnerable, intimate and unfinished in us can remain sheltered. Two case studies show us how situations and relationships in psychotherapy or counseling can professionally be framed, enabling patients or clients to make an intimate experience with themselves and others without feeling exposed or hurt.
Key words: Existential Analysis, shame, sexuality, intimacy, development, sex therapy
DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES OF PEOPLE WITH A PEDOPHILIC INCLINATION IN EXISTENTIAL ANALYTICAL TREATMENT – OUTLINES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EXISTENTIAL ANALYTICAL SEXUAL THERAPY
INGO ZIRKS
Existential Analysis is seen as a suitable approach in treating pedophilic patients. This article describes the necessity to work with men who are pedophiles. They are sexually aroused and attracted by children but cannot act out their sexual inclination without harming them. Pedophiles have not chosen their inclination, and they can only learn to deal responsibly with their sex drive. Defense mechanisms and personal activities are outlined. The author shows the psychotherapeutic possibilities and limitations of work with pedophilic patients and advocates a realistic view on the situation and the possibilities of the offenders to prevent further harm. Finally, a case study is described from an existential analytical point of view.
Key words: pedophilia, Existential Analysis, psychotherapy
THE TREATMENT OF ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION INCLUDING SUPPORTIVE METHODS
When erection goes, the hour of potency strikes
INGO ZIRKS
In this article the author presents an existential analytical approach to sex therapy. Diagnosis of Existential Analysis fits perfectly to the well-known diagnostic systems of ICD-10 and DSM-5. The therapeutic procedure evolving from the theory of Existential Analysis is presented in case studies of three men with erectile dysfunction. Furthermore, use and integration of further supportive methods can be comprehended from the existential case formulation.
Key words: Existential Analysis, sex therapy, erectile dysfunction
„SELF-REVELATION“ IN PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC CONSULTATION
CLAUDIA REITINGER
The following article deals with the question to what extent therapeutic self-disclosure (TSD), i.e., the inclusion of personal information on the part of the therapist, is a reasonable intervention. After an overview of empirical research on this topic, the question how far TSD fits into the concept of the theory of Existential Analysis is explored. The final part describes and illustrates inductively obtained categories of TSD according to their motives/functions with short examples from practice.
Key words: Self-disclosure, PEA, case studies, method, intervention
EXISTENTIAL TOUCH – TOUCH AS BODY-CORPOREAL DIALOGUE
Impulses from „Existential Grounding“
MARKUS ANGERMAYR
The present work on the topic body-corporeal touch developed from a lecture for the 28th International Seminar for body-oriented psychotherapy, body-therapy and body-art 2022.
Corporeal touch is essential for the human being. We are touched, feeling and sentient beings. Experiences of touch have a fundamental effect on our Dasein, our sense of vitality and our being oneself.
Body contact opens the access to the incorporated self. As earliest basal experiences, they leave their traces in corporeal memory. This implicit (body-)knowledge can become explicit when touched at a later point through emerging images, impulses or sensations which have remained hidden for a long period of time.
Touch opens up the prior pre-reflexive understanding in a holistic way and yet occurs in present time; they can become a reliable connection to the here and now. At the same time, the phenomenon of touch is complex and highly ambivalent.
This article illuminates several aspects of touch from an existential analytical perspective and reflects its significance. Furthermore, procedural skills necessary for integrating body-corporeal sequences of touch into the process are pointed out.
Keywords: touch, body-corporeal dialogue, resonance, body knowledge, corporeal memory
VIKTOR, ALF UND BEA IM JUGENDKNAST
Existenzanalyse bei delinquenten Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen in der Justizanstalt
MARIO WOLFRAMM
Working with adolescents and young adults poses specific requirements for psychotherapy. In this phase of life, identity crises, aimlessness, and the peak of delinquent behavior, paired with affective lability are present. For some people within this age group, the path towards delinquency is predetermined. Within the scope of this work, the application of Existential Analysis offered to juvenile inmates and young adults in the youth ward of an Austrian prison is presented. On the basis of case studies, work with Existential Analysis within this group of juveniles is demonstrated, and the possibilities and limits of this form of therapy in this specific environment will be discussed.
Key words: juveniles, delinquency, prison, crime
ON THE MYTHS AND DANCES OF COUPLES
A possibility to render couple dynamics visible and therapeutically effective
IRIS M. BUCHER & JOHANNES J. BUCHER
The concept of the couple myth refers to the mysterious connection felt between couples. It emerges during the phase of becoming a couple and encompasses both psychodynamic and personal elements, as well as visionary aspects focused on potentials and possibilities. The couple myth binds the couple together; it can foster growth but also hinder it. The couple dance represents the lived expression of everyday challenges faced by the couple within the horizon of the couple myth. This is where psychodynamic patterns, as well as shared personal potentials arising from their life together and their dialogue, come to the forefront. The more difficult the process of mutual adaptation and change in the relationship, the more combative the dance becomes. Ideally, the couple dance can become a tangible creative space of encounter. This paper aims to demonstrate from an existential analytic perspective how couples can be guided referring to these dynamics, while drawing upon theoretical content and an example from practice.
Keywords: couple therapy; dialogue; couple space; couple dynamics; couple myth; couple dance.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIALOGUE FOR SUCCEEDING CHANGE
Existential Analytical Impulses for Change Management
MAREN LANGE
Consistent findings from numerous studies examining change management demonstrate a recurring issue: Change processes frequently fall short of success, and outcomes often do not meet expectations. This happens in despite the abundance of knowledge and experience available on the subject of change management.
The article on hand was inspired by the idea of applying insights from Existential Analysis to the field of change management with a specific emphasis on the importance of dialogue. What distinguishes dialogue from communication, information and discussion? What is crucial in this process? And how can changes in organizations be shaped through a culture of dialogue which leads to both – success and shared support?
Key Words: change, change management, communication, dialogue, culture
THE MUSES ARE NOT SILENT: THE PERSONAL RESOURCE OF EXPERIENCING BEAUTY
IRINA EFIMOVA
The article examines from the perspective of Existential Analysis why beauty is able to affect the person so much and why it is so important for ones existence. The mechanisms of interaction between the beauty in the world and the personal, and the influence of beauty on the level of all four fundamental motivations are revealed through a phenomenological view of the experience of beauty and the steps of Personal Existential Analysis (PEA). The process of beauty influencing human beings on a personal level is shown. Contact with beauty gives internal strength, confirmation of one’s own value, respect for oneself and the opportunity to realize one’s personal creative potential. Beauty can be differentiated into categories of what is pretty, what is of value and what is essential. They are not equivalent, but in beauty there are, aside from prettiness, also properties of that what is essential and valuable. Due to this feature, through the contact with beauty we easily come into contact with emotions and the personal in human beings. Therefore, beauty may be called a “guerrilla path” to the personal and be of use to psychological practice. Both nonspecific possibilities for its use in working with clients, and in the therapy of anxiety, depression, self-disorders, addictions and in crisis interventions are described on this basis.
Keywords: beauty, aesthetic sense, existence, person, phenomenology, PEA
PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID IN DIFFICULT TIMES
Recognizing meaning when nothing makes sense
PETRA KLASTOVÁ PAPPOVÁ
The war conflict in Ukraine, ongoing since February 2022, has caused a refugee wave in Europe on a scale not seen since WWII. Traumatizing experience of refugees, fleeing for their lives towards the unknown makes a strong case for a systematic provision of psychological first aid (PFA) as a first step in a series of possible psychological interventions. The present article introduces basic points of reference and principles of administration of PFA. The theory is then applied on the first hand experience by the author who administered PFA at a land border crossing point between the Slovak Republic and Ukraine in March 2022. The article concludes by summarizing data from research of volunteers who administered PFA to refugees from Ukraine. Main points of interest include motivations of volunteers, their perspectives of their experience, and their views of what actually proved beneficial to refugees. Research data was collected using open questions and unfinished sentences. Responses were evaluated using qualitative analysis.
Keywords: psychological first aid, war in Ukraine, volunteers, fundamental existential motivations, qualitative analysis