Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World

Multiple pages in this book were printed folded over somehow, making them unusable. Returned.

All good!

An excellent book!

I read the book over a few days and I'm happy to return to it.?Given the esoteric and at times unfathomable nature of existential thought/therapy this book succeeds in outlining the practice and process of existential without over simplifying and robbing the approach of its richness. Spinelli is a good writer and has a sympathetic understanding to the various channels in this complex approach. His clear outline in the first chapter of the messy difficulties in defining existential therapy is helpful.For further reading I'd suggest Kirk Schneider's work on the subject. Like Spinelli, his work is rooted in practice and acknowledges the integrative element often apparent in working existentially. In reflection perhaps Spinelli could have addressed this; for instance viewed cynically, his fictional dialogue with a client could have been listed from a gestalt or person centered approach. This is a minor criticism however.

This excellent book is essential reading for therapists of all orientations. Its wisdom will give depth to the practice of any therapist and its compelling arguments will challenge and bring fresh perspectives on relatedness in every way. This book has great strength both in its conceptual framework and its practical applicability. A book to be cherished in which the author's voice speaks with clarity and courage challenging dominant mainstream perspectives.While Spinelli's contribution in this second edition spans his tripartite foundational principles of Existential Therapy - Relatedness, Uncertainty, and Existential Anxiety, I will focus on the first of them - Relatedness, which in my opinion takes the discourse on relatedness to a far deeper level than the first edition of this book.The first edition was a comprehensive and illuminating text on practising from an existential perspective, and very welcome, this second edition, substantially changed including the title change from to 'Psychotherapy' to Therapy', is commendable in taking a plunge into the deeper waters of relatedness and bringing to the reader a compelling depth of wisdom of relatedness of parts and whole through analogies such as 'A cup of Being Tea: An Analogy of Relatedness'.The reader is asked to imagine a cup of 'being tea' from which all beings emerge. Each spoonful 'bit' of being tea that is investigated is unique and when returned to the cup of tea, it cannot be replicated in being exactly the same as any individual 'bit' of tea that came before it or comes after it. Nor is any individual 'bit' of tea more of 'being tea' or less of 'being tea' than any other 'bit' of tea. In this analogy, Spinelli asks us to see that - 'Every 'bit' of being tea is unique, and every 'bit' of being tea is the being tea.' Spinelli asks us to reflect on this proposition that if every 'bit' of being tea was to declare that in its uniqueness it was separate and without any relational connection to every other 'bit' of being tea, it would allow itself to forget or deny its relational source.This above analogy is not unlike the one that Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of in relation to waves and water. Each wave is different and unique. Yet each wave is also water.In using this analogy, Spinelli challenges the dominant current individualistic notions and viewpoints of existence, that assert an 'individually derived, separatist subjectivity'. Indeed, what Spinelli is asking us as therapists to recognise is relatedness where 'seemingly separate beings exist only because of a foundational precondition of relatedness.' This is a highly refreshing perspective given the individualistic focus of many contemporary therapeutic models.Drawing from Gergen, Spinelli calls us to view being not only as 'boundaried' or 'bounded' in its individual expression, but also asks us to see its fundamental relational attunement. This stance asks us to see the meaning of relatedness not only within relationships - whether desirable or not - but rather irrespective of the kind of relationship it is, it is always an expression of relatedness.Inspired by Gergen's notion of 'relational being' to replace the notion of 'bounded being', Spinelli points out the 'co-constituted' nature of self, rather than self as a fully separate self. The notion of self as a 'thing-based' noun is replaced by a flow-like, process-like verb in movement in a process of becoming. Spinelli writes - 'Like the waves of an ocean, it is not clear where one movement ends and another begins.'These notions on relatedness have resonances in the Buddhist notion of no separate self and in its deep wisdom in the recognition of inter-relatedness as a given.Drawing our attention to the implications of relatedness as an a priori condition of relationships in psychotherapy, Spinelli points to the work of Martin Buber, contrasting 'I-It' relationships and 'I-Thou' relationships. In 'I It' relationships, the other is experienced as an object to be fixed, where the I imposes its preferred meaning stance. Whereas in an 'I Thou' relationship, the I approaches the other as an inter-related, subject-subject relationship, where meaning is co-created, where there is mutuality, and unpredictable meaning possibilities emerge between persons. If in 'I It' relationships, I objectifies both the I and the other, in 'I Thou' Relationships, I and the other as Thou co-exist and are inseparable in inter-relatedness, where meaning is not handed down, or pre-determined, but is co-created, in which there is inclusion of the other, reciprocity and mutuality.Elaborating on the notion of 'relational being', Spinelli points to the notions of worlding and world-view. He refers to being - always- in - the - process - of - becoming as 'worlding' having the characteristics of a process-like, ever-shifting, pre-reflective, verb-like, no-thing-ness, which is not a substance or thing, and incapable of being expressed directly as it is pre-reflective. It can only be pointed towards. On the other hand, when existence is experienced reflectively, it can be expressed linguistically, it becomes a thing-like substance, and hence separate and distinct, while still being relational, it is expressed as constructs like self, other, world. This noun-like substance appears 'thing-based'. Spinelli refers to its structural appearance as 'world-view' that retains a 'fixedness', a stability in time and space.The inter-play between worlding and world-view brings with it all the structural stability and certainties of world-view, and all the fluid, flux, change, movement, uncertainty, instability, and meaninglessness (i.e. meaning yet to be formed in world-view) of worlding. In engaging the reader in this inter-play with worlding and worldview, he invites us in a language dance to move between the 'certain uncertainty' of worlding and the 'uncertain certainty' of worldview, to together see 'uncertain uncertainty.'This book needs to be taken in small doses. Read, pause, reflect, engage in dialogue with yourself and the book, allowing questions to arise, new meanings to emerge... This book is an invitation to openness in dialogue, and an opportunity to rethink and re-examine taken for granted ideas on relatedness. I have found this book replete with gems, even though the reading requires tenacity and focus to appreciate what it offers. It is, however, every bit an extremely rewarding enterprise which challenges and stretches perspectives, and offers the certainty that relatedness is! Despite its uncertain uncertainty.Thanks to the author for writing this admirably illuminating, thought provoking, and revolutionary book which challenges us to revise our perspective on relatedness.Jyoti Nanda CPsychol AFBPsSChartered Psychologist and Existential Psychotherapist

I am an avid follower of Spinelli.I saw him at a recent conference where he communicated so well. Everything he had to say was clear, straightforward and made perfect sense. This book, however, is filled with jargon and is very hard work. I look forward to his next publication - which hopefully, will be in plain English!

This is a stunning book. Eloquent and accessible it describes the unique character of existential therapy and in so doing reveals the fundamentally ethical basis of this therapeutic approach. "To describe is to change" and this book is a masterclass on how to facilitate this process and the exercises throughout enabled me to experience the process for myself, the full value of which I do not yet comprehend. I felt as though I had found my path back home when I read this book.

Excellent text to grasp the underpinnings of an existential approach to psychotherapy