COURSE OBJECTIVES
AND METHODS
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Basic Training
The basic training in Existential Analysis focuses on learning about existential-analytic anthropology and addressing complex existential situations and crises. This includes exploring meaning, existence, and the nature of human personhood, as well as existential motivation and the symptoms of existential failure.
The course combines learning theoretical concepts with the development of self-awareness and a deeper understanding of personal existence.
The key areas of personality development are:
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Personal Inner Dialogue: Developing the capacity for self-reflection (self-distance, awareness of primary emotionality) and expressing it outwardly (trust, self-transcendence).
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Integration Skills: Enhancing the ability to relate emotional outbursts to one's core life substance and position. This includes transitioning from impressions to taking and expressing personal position. It involves understanding, realising, and correcting conscious or unconscious personal positions and behaviour patterns.
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Phenomenological Attitude: Training to perceive one’s own and others' emotionality, motivation, values, and behavioural patterns through a phenomenological lens.
The goal, beyond personality development, is to understand the processes and potential of biographical existence.
The practical applications of the basic training are in prevention, crisis intervention, psychotherapeutic support, life coaching, and addressing motivational problems.
Clinical Training
The clinical part of the training covers diagnosis, psychogenesis, psychopathology, phenomenology of clinical disorders, nosology, and individualised therapeutic support.
In this phase, students continue working on self-awareness by recognising and engaging with relevant clinical phenomena and psychodynamics. This enables a deeper understanding of existential-analytic concepts.
Supervision and Professional Integration
The final part, the supervision phase, emphasises grounding one's work and integrating existential analysis into personal practice. Rather than introducing new ideas, this phase focuses on consolidating skills through interaction and feedback. Students are encouraged to actively participate in GLE scientific events, gaining familiarity with new developments and contributing to the field.
METHODS
The content is primarily explored through self-awareness, complemented by lectures and discussions of case studies. Participants are encouraged to consciously reflect on their own experiences and coping mechanisms in relation to the theoretical material. This process fosters a deeper emotional connection to the content, making it more personally meaningful and accessible.
Training interactions, which encompass all the ways participants actively engage with both the material and the people involved in the training, are central to the experiential learning process and occur in various formats, such as:
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Lectures and discussions: Formal presentations of theoretical material followed by interactive discussions that deepen understanding.
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Group conversations: Discussions in both large and small groups where participants and trainers explore theoretical concepts, personal experiences, and case studies. The dynamics and interactions within group settings – how participants share experiences, provide feedback, and collaboratively explore theoretical concepts, emotional responses, and coping mechanism – are particularly important.
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Individual discussions: One-on-one conversations with trainers and supervisors, guiding students through the exploration of their own biography and the fundamental questions of personal existence. These discussions address personal insights and challenges that may not be suitable for group settings.
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Practical exercises: Role-playing, therapy vignettes, and case studies that provide opportunities for participants to practice and refine their psychotherapeutic skills in a supervised environment.