Positive Psychotherapy as an Existentialism

Abstract

The growing inequality coupled with the increased economic globalization of the early twenty-first century is presenting mounting challenges to people around the planet. This chapter discusses the issues of culture and acculturation in light of Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) and existential philosophy. PPT and existentialism share a set of principles including the focus on self-awareness and meaning. PPT’s balance model of four domains of life - body, achievements, contacts, and fantasy - is correlated with Binswanger’s “being-in-the-world” model of physical (Umwelt), personal (Eigenwelt), social (Mitwelt), and spiritual (Uberwelt). The two basic capacities of PPT - to love and to know - are also coupled with two existential capacities, to introspect and for courage. These parallels underscore a reading of Positive Psychotherapy as an existentialism.