Brief Existential Psychotherapy for Life Stress

The book presents a detailed description of brief existential psychotherapy (BEP) based on an articulated model, integrating knowledge from existential psychotherapy, psychobiology of human stress, mind-body techniques, and principles of positive psychiatry and psychology. BEP is conducted according to a pragmatic method, centered on the view of one's existence, analysis, and response to critical life stress events, designing a route of acceptance and search for meaning in life. BEP does not substitute other psychotherapies or their indications. It is born for the short-term treatment of crises after severe life stress events, such as deaths of loved ones, losses, divorce, retirement, personal or collective emotional traumas, major violations of law, and detention in jail, with a particular emphasis on severe somatic diseases (cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke, degenerative diseases, and other subacute or chronic conditions that change life's perspective). The volume presents a methodology of BEP based on traditional clinical psychopathology, with a first step of medical and psychopathological assessment, establishing a categorical and a dimensional diagnosis. Then, subsequent steps are provided in a brief psychotherapy course, with a more common format of 12-20 sessions, 1hr duration. The issues and aims of treatment are transversal across different psychiatric diagnoses, meaning the intervention follows similar activity lines, independently from the specific categorical diagnosis. The intervention is dedicated to people with existential suffering, without psychopathological diagnosis, too. Medical therapy and psychopharmacological treatment are given according to patient needs; there is no preclusion toward the integration between psychotherapy and psychopharmacotherapy, as well as other techniques with evidence of efficacy. Moreover, in some cases, appropriate psychopharmacotherapy consents to psychotherapy, impossible otherwise. This volume will be an invaluable tool for psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, and other medical professionals.