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Existential Psychology

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Existential Psychology
Liberty University- Online | Existential Psychology | Journal Reviews | | [Type the author name] | 2/4/2013 |

Human beings have natural existential givens; emotions and their expressions, a need for a certain amount of irrationality to stay afloat in a world that bombards them with empirical facts that could easily consume them with enslaving anxiety, and the need to be authenticity courageous and self-aware. Below we are given information that allows us to see into existential psychology and these givens. |

Existential Foundations of Looming Vulnerability: Thoughts About John Riskind’s Work with Anxiety

In Carlo Strenger’s Journal entry “Existential Foundations of Looming Vulnerability: Thoughts about John Riskind’s Work with Anxiety”, in the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, we are presented with the empirical fact that “humans need a certain amount of irrationality to stay afloat.” If humans did not have such irrationality they would never venture to start businesses, become financial investors, or invest their talent, dedication, and enthusiasm in business objects. For example, Carlo Strenger explains that, “the statistical probability of technological startup companies to success is than 10%.” He goes on to say that, “9 out of 10 initiatives taken by entrepreneurs” would “go down the drain.” However, despite the irrationality of entrepreneurs decision making; their ignorance of their utterly irrational decision making, entrepreneurs pursue their goals as a result of the Freudian basic underlining feature of human narcissism: “this will not happen to me.” Strenger uses this example among others to reiterate what he esteems to be pragmatic truth that, “humanity requires a strong dose of almost hypomanic denial of reality to stay alive.” However, Strenger explains, “we cannot live without the existential sense that there is a future for us, and that this future will be good. Whether or not this belief is rational, doesn’t matter; in many



References: Hoffman, L (2011). Existential Therapy and Emotions. The Humanistic Psychologist, 39: 261-267. DOI: 10.108/09973267. Strenger, C (2012). Existential Foundations of Looming Vulnerability: Thoughts about John Riskind’s Work with Anxiety. The Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. 22, 2: 163-165. DOI: 10.1037/a0028012. Wang, X (2011). Zhi Mian and Existential Psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist. 39: 240-246. DOI: 10.1080/08873267.

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