Search

This article follows and expands upon the description of an intervention that attained promising results with depressed and anxious patients in a feasibility study run in a U.K. primary care setting. This protocol for short-term existential therapy will also represent the primary reference for training and supervision of an ongoing pilot. The therapeutic approach described here aims to address in a constructive way the issues raised by the topical criticism around the application of the medical model in psychology. At the same time, this article will address the theoretical issues emerging, while trying to describe in a pragmatic way, how to apply an existential and phenomenological approach to low-intensity short-term psychological therapy. This short-term intervention aims to promote a proactive and creative engagement with clients with their personal difficulties and to attain recovery as a result of a greater sense of empowered resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existential Experimentation is a short-term integrative psychological therapy intervention. It is based on the recent government initiative focusing on recovery and thus integrates central ideas from existential theory, utilizes a phenomenological methodology, and applies considerations of human potential from humanistic psychology to support recovery and aim for well-being. This work explores the outcomes of a systematic application of this approach to working-age adults referred for a psychological intervention for depression and/or anxiety in terms of (a) reducing depression and/or anxiety symptomatology, (b) reducing the level of perceived psychological distress, and (c) reducing the need for psychological services. The sample consisted of working-age adults referred to primary care by their general practitioner. The patients’ relevant symptomatology was assessed at every contact using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7, and the level of psychological distress was monitored using CORE-OM. Pre–post effect sizes were evaluated using Cohen’s d. Patients’ access to psychological services was monitored at 6 and 12 months after discharge. The large effect sizes expressed show that this therapeutic approach operates effectively in reducing the symptomatology of depression and/or anxiety, while promoting significantly low relapse and dropout rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]