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Chapter 6- Existential Therapy
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MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST ITEMS
1. Which person is not associated with the existential movement?
a. May
b. Frankl
c. Yalom
d. Skinner
e. Sartre
2. The basic goal of existential psychotherapy is:
a. to expand self-awareness.
b. to increase choice potentials.
c. to help clients accept the responsibility of choosing.
d. to help the client experience authentic existence.
e. all of these
3. Finding the “courage to be” involves:
a. confronting a specific phobia.
b. learning to be alone.
c. discarding old values.
d. developing a will to move forward despite fears.
e. all of these.
4. The British scholar working to develop training programs in existential therapy is:
a. Rollo May.
b. Irvin Yalom.
c. Emmy van Deurzen.
d. J. Michael Russell.
5. Which is not an essential aim of existential-humanistic therapy?
a. to help clients become more present to both themselves and others
b. to assist clients in identifying ways they block themselves from fuller presence
c. to dispute clients’ irrational beliefs.
d. to challenge clients to assume responsibility for designing their present lives
e. to encourage clients to choose more expanded ways of being in their daily lives.
6. Existential therapy is best considered as:
a. an approach to understanding humans.
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b. a school of therapy.
c. a system of techniques designed to create authentic humans.
d. a strategy for uncovering dysfunctional behavior.
7. Which of the following was not part of Stan’s work in existential therapy?
a. Challenging his feelings of loneliness.
b. Working on his inauthentic relationship with his siblings.
c. Confronting his responsibility for his drug and alcohol use.
d. Exploring Stan’s human potential.
8. Philosophically, the existentialists would agree that:
a. the final decisions and choices rest with the client.
b. people redefine themselves by their choices.
c. a person can go beyond early conditioning.
d. making choices can create anxiety.
e. all of these.
9. The central issue in existential therapy is:
a. freedom and responsibility.
b. resistance.
c. transference.
d. examining irrational beliefs.
10. According to the existential viewpoint, death:
a. makes life absurd.
b. makes life meaningless and hopeless.
c. gives significance to living.
d. should not be explored in therapy.
11. Which technique is considered essential in existential therapy?
a. free association
b. analysis of resistance
c. analysis of dysfunctional family patterns
d. role playing
e. none of these
12. In a group based on existential principles, clients learn:
a. that there are no ultimate answers for ultimate concerns.
b. to view themselves through others’ eyes.
c. to come to terms with the paradoxes of existence.
d. that pain is a reality of the human experience.
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e. all of these.
13. Expanding awareness is:
a. a basic goal of existential therapy.
b. possible only with a few clients.
c. not given emphasis in existential therapy.
d. limited by our unconscious resistance.
14. Existential therapy is:
a. a deterministic approach to therapy.
b. an expansion of the Adlerian school of therapy.
c. a phenomenological approach to therapy.
d. a structured approach to therapy.
15. In existential therapy, the conception of the therapist is
a. an observer-technician.
b. a fully alive human companion for the client.
c. a teacher and coach.
d. an advocate for social change.
16. When is the counseling process at its best from an existential viewpoint?
a. When the client feels comfortable enough to engage in shame-attacking exercises outside
of counseling sessions.
b. When the deepest self of the therapist meets the deepest part of the client.
c. When the therapist uses his or her influence to convince the client to let go of his or her
anxiety.
d. When sessions begin with progressive muscle relaxation exercises.
17. Viktor Frankl’s approach to existential therapy is known as:
a. individual psychology.
b. logotherapy.
c. reality therapy.
d. redecision therapy.
e. humanistic psychology.
18. Which of the following is not true about Rollo May?
a. He is most responsible for translating European existentialism into American psychotherapeutic
theory and practice.
b. He focuses on the subjective dimension of therapy.
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c. He is a significant spokesman for the existential approach in the United States.
d. He believes that we can only escape anxiety by exercising our freedom.
e. He contends that freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin.
19. Existentially, the ideas of freedom and responsibility suggest:
a. our freedom requires us to accept responsibility for directing our own life.
b. we are free to choose who we will be.
c. you cannot have one without the other.
d. all of these.
20. Ursula lived in New York City on 9/11. Ever since experiencing the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks, she has felt anxiety about going to the upper level floors of tall buildings. As an
existentially oriented therapist, you might conclude that:
a. Ursula is highly neurotic.
b. Ursula’s fears are completely unfounded.
c. Ursula’s anxiety is normal in light of the traumatic experience she had on 9/11.
d. Ursula is on the verge of becoming psychotic.
21. Who was the Danish philosopher that addressed the role of anxiety and uncertainty in life?
a. Medard Boss
b. Jean-Paul Sartre
c. Soren Kierkegaard
d. Martin Buber
e. Friedrich Nietzsche
22. Existentialists contend that the experience of relatedness to other human beings:
a. is a neurotically dependent attachment.
b. should be based on our needs and theirs.
c. is healthy if balanced with aloneness.
d. is not necessary, since we are basically alone.
23. According to existentialists, our search for meaning involves all of these except:
a. discarding old values.
b. meaninglessness.
c. creating our own value system.
d. exploring unfinished business.
e. the struggle for significance in life.
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24. Therapy is viewed as a ___________________in the sense that the interpersonal and
existential problems of the client will become apparent in the here and now of the therapy
relationship.
a. social microcosm
b. “touchy feely” encounter
c. living laboratory
d. tension-filled encounter
25. The central theme running through the works of Viktor Frankl is:
a. that freedom is a myth.
b. the will to meaning.
c. self-disclosure as the key to mental health.
d. the notion of self-actualization.
e. being thrown into the universe without purpose.
26. According to Yalom, the concern(s) that make(s) up the core of existential psychodynamics
is/are:
a. death.
b. freedom.
c. isolation.
d. meaninglessness.
e. all of these.
27. A statement that best illustrates “bad faith” is:
a. Naturally I’m this way, because I grew up in an alcoholic family.
b. I will not consider others in the choices I make.
c. I must live by commitments I make.
d. I am responsible for the choices that I make.
28. For Sartre, existential guilt is what we experience when:
a. we do not live by the Ten Commandments.
b. we fail to think about the welfare of others.
c. we allow others to define us or to make our choices for us.
d. we reflect on all that we might have done and failed to do.
29. The therapist’s presence is:
a. a condition of therapeutic change.
b. a goal of therapeutic change.
c. both a condition and a goal of therapeutic change.
d. neither a condition nor a goal of therapeutic change.
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30. Existential therapy is unlike many other therapies in that:
a. it does not have a well-defined set of techniques.
b. it stresses the I/Thou encounter in the therapy process.
c. it focuses on the use of the therapist’s self as the core of therapy.
d. it allows for incorporation of techniques from many other approaches.
e. all of these.
31. Which of the following is not considered a basic dimension of the human condition?
a. capacity for self-awareness
b. striving for acceptance of others
c. establishing meaningful relationships with others
d. freedom and responsibility
e. anxiety as a condition of living
32. Being alone is a process by which we do all of the following except:
a. learn to tolerate feelings of isolation.
b. develop strength and self-reliance.
c. develop a deep understanding of ourselves.
d. reject the social overtures of others.
33. The goals of existential therapy include all but_________?
a. helping clients become more honest with themselves.
b. broadening clients’ awareness of their choices.
c. helping clients to eliminate anxiety in their lives.
d. enabling clients to clarify their purpose and meaning in life.
34. When working with a client living a restricted existence, an existential therapist would likely:
a. explore the developmental origins of these feelings.
b. develop a specific behavioral plan to help the client get “un-stuck”.
c. encourage the client to do a shame-attacking exercise.
d. make the client aware of how his or her current ways of living are keeping him or her stuck.
e. use cognitive restructuring techniques.
35. In the book Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (2008),
________________develops the idea that confronting death enables us to live in a more
compassionate way.
a. Martin Buber
b. Justin Bieber
c. Irvin Yalom
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d. Stephen King
e. Ludwig Binswanger
36. From a multicultural perspective, some clients may reject this approach because:
a. it is founded on abstract, westernized notions that are not widely applicable.
b. their life circumstances provide them with truly limited choices.
c. death anxiety is not a central issue in all cultures.
d. the use of techniques may be overwhelming for them.
37. From a scientific perspective, existential psychotherapy:
a. is well researched.
b. lends itself easily to evaluation due to its clearly defined principles and techniques.
c. fits well into the framework of evidence-based practice.
d. none of these.
38. The existential approach is particularly well-suited to clients who:
a. are dealing with grief and loss.
b. are victims of oppression.
c. have limited intellectual capacities.
d. suffer from severe mental illness.
39. Existential therapy groups are particularly helpful for clients working on:
a. self-actualization.
b. issues of responsibility.
c. reducing problematic behaviors.
d. exploring family dynamics.
40. Time-limited existential treatments:
a. mirror the time-limited reality of human existence.
b. are by definition, lacking in depth and richness.
c. lack structure and clear goals.
d. are well studied and shown to be effective.
TRUE/FALSE TEST ITEMS
Decide if each of the following statements is “more true” or “more false” as applied to existential therapy:
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1. Rollo May has been instrumental in translating some concepts drawn from existential philosophy
and applying them to psychotherapy.
2. Existential therapy can best be considered as a system of highly developed techniques designed to
foster authenticity.
3. The outcomes of existential therapy have been submitted to rigorous empirical testing.
4. Existential therapy grew out of a reaction to the limitations of both the psychoanalytic and
deterministic stance.
5. Existential therapy is rooted in the premise that humans cannot escape from freedom and
responsibility.
6. In the existential approach, techniques are primary, while subjective understanding of clients is
secondary.
7. Existential therapists strive to be their authentic selves when working with clients.
8. According to existential thinking, effective therapy does not stop with awareness, for clients are
challenged to take action based on their insights.
9. From the existential viewpoint, anxiety is seen as a neurotic manifestation; thus the aim of therapy
is to eliminate anxiety so clients can live comfortably.
10. Existential anxiety is seen as a function of our acceptance of our aloneness.
11. During the initial phase of counseling, existentially oriented therapists assist clients in identifying
and clarifying their assumptions about the world.
12. Existentialists claim that the use of specific techniques is the cornerstone of the approach.
13. According to the existential view, death makes life meaningless.
14. A major criticism of the existential approach is that it lacks a systematic statement of the principles
and practices of psychotherapy.
15. This approach puts emphasis on the therapist as a person and the quality of the client/therapist
relationship as one of the prime factors in determining the outcomes of therapy.
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16. Martin Buber stressed the importance of presence, which allows for the creation of I/Thou
relationships in therapy.
17. Existential guilt is being aware of having evaded a commitment, or having chosen not to choose.
18. The existential view is based on a growth mode and conceptualizes health rather than sickness.
19. In the existential framework, inaction is a choice.
20. Existential therapy is especially appropriate for clients who are struggling with developmental
crises.
21. Existentially, humans both long for and wish to escape from their freedom.
22. The existential approach can be used in a brief therapy context.
23. Existential therapy is rarely used for group treatment.
24. The existential vacuum represents a place of reflection and solace.
25. Currently, there is high international interest in the existential approach to psychotherapy.