existential psychotherapy

Cancer-phobia: Our Fear of Cancer Is Outdated and Harmful

Our fear of cancer is in some ways outdated, excessive, and harmful—a phobia. Understanding the history and psychology of that fear, and recognizing its harms, can help.

Cancer-phobia: Our Fear of Cancer Is Outdated and Harmful Read More »

Romanian Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II)

BackgroundThe Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II) is a self-report measure comprising 99 items divided into 18 non-overlapping scales that allows for a dimensional assessment of depression, anxiety, and bipolar symptoms. The IDAS-II is currently available in English, Turkish, Spanish, German, and Swedish. This study’s major goal was to adapt and validate the IDAS-II to the Romanian population.MethodParticipants from a community sample (N = 1,072) completed the IDAS-II (Romanian version) and additional measures assessing depression and anxiety disorders.ResultsItem-level factor analyses validated the unidimensionality of the scales, and internal consistency results indicated that most symptom scales had satisfactory alpha coefficient values. Based on previous structural analyses, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the IDAS-II scales confirmed a three-component model of “Distress,” “Obsessions/Fear,” and “Positive Mood.” Convergent and discriminant validity were established by correlational analyses with other symptom measures.LimitationsThis study was conducted using a sample from the general population and several of the employed measures have limitations. Specifically, the current study was unable to employ Romanian versions of the gold-standard instruments that assess well-being, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and claustrophobia.ConclusionThe IDAS-II (Romanian version) is the first clinical measure to assess internalizing dimensions of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model that is available for the Romanian population.

Romanian Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II) Read More »

A Systematic Review of Existential Concerns in Borderline Personality Disorder

Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Ahead of Print. Background:Existential philosophy and psychotherapy focuses on the “givens” of human experience, including feelings of meaninglessness, isolation, death anxiety, and concerns surrounding identity and freedom. Although borderline personality disorder (BPD) is arguably characterized by issues in a number of these domains, it has not been systematically examined through the lens of existential therapy.Method:The current systematic review included 37 articles which examined existential concerns in relation to BPD.Results:These articles highlighted the predominance of chronic identity and isolation-related concerns in BPD, as well as the potential role of meaning in buffering against the distress of BPD, such as suicidality and comorbid depressive features.Implications:The implications of existential phenomenological findings in the conceptualization of BPD, treatment and future existential research are discussed.

A Systematic Review of Existential Concerns in Borderline Personality Disorder Read More »

Future Time Perspective as an Operationalization of Existential Concerns Related to Time

Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Ahead of Print. Psychologists and other clinical therapists often focus on the psychological processes that result from the fact that human beings will one day die, not death anxiety/afterlife anxiety itself. Nevertheless, existential concerns are death concerns, and any anxiety associated with death should be understood through that lens—as resulting from concerns about death. Understanding how one views the amount of time left to live, and how this perception influences motives, goal cognitions, mood, and well-being, is of great importance from a humanistic–existential perspective. Socioemotional selectivity theory and the concept of future time perspective (FTP) capture these phenomena and have the potential to operationalize perspectives of time constraints within existential psychology. The present work attempts to show how FTP may be used to operationalize the problem of time from an existential perspective, specifically targeting the existential themes of death, meaning, isolation, and freedom. Clinical implications of considering FTP as an existential construct are discussed, as are limitations and future directions.

Future Time Perspective as an Operationalization of Existential Concerns Related to Time Read More »