Emmy van Deurzen

Last updated
Emmy van Deurzen
EmmyvanDeurzen.jpg
Born (1951-12-13) 13 December 1951 (age 71)
Nationality Dutch
Occupation(s) Existential therapist, professor

Emmy van Deurzen (born 13 December 1951 in The Hague, Netherlands) [1] is an existential therapist. She developed a philosophical therapy based in existential-phenomenology.

Contents

Biography

van Deurzen was born and raised in The Hague, in The Netherlands, then went to France to study, where she earned two master's degrees, one in philosophy, at the University of Montpellier, where she studied with Michel Henry, and one in clinical psychology, at the University of Bordeaux, during which time she was supervised by Dr. François Tosquelles. She wrote her thesis on phenomenology and psychiatry in relation to solitude and loneliness for her philosophy dissertation and on attempted suicide for her clinical psychology thesis. [2] She worked as psychotherapist in France, then moved to the UK in 1977, where she became involved in antipsychiatry activism and worked for some time with R. D. Laing. [2] She came to her own version of existential therapy, and started teaching at Antioch University, after which she moved to Regent's University London when the program moved there, joining the Regent's faculty when the program was incorporated into the college. [2]

She published her first book on her approach in 1987 and the next year founded the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA) and its Journal of Existential Analysis. [2] [3] After she left Regent's, she founded the New School for Psychotherapy and Counselling, and a conflict resolution centre. [2] In 2005 she became an honorary professor at the University of Sheffield. [4] She did her PhD on Heidegger's concepts of authenticity and inauthenticity and their relevance to psychotherapy, at City University, London. She has published widely on existential therapy and her work has been translated into twenty plus languages. She contributed numerous ideas to existential therapy, including that of the four worlds model and the emotional compass.

In 2014 she and her husband Prof Digby Tantam, created the Existential Academy, a community interest company, in West Hampstead, where they offer five masters programmes and two doctoral programmes in conjunction with Middlesex University, as well as a range of short courses. (www.existentialacademy.com)

Honours

As listed by the University of Sheffield. [4]

Books

Related Research Articles

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

Person-centered therapy, also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy, is a form of psychotherapy developed by psychologist Carl Rogers beginning in the 1940s and extending into the 1980s. Person-centered therapy seeks to facilitate a client's self-actualizing tendency, "an inbuilt proclivity toward growth and fulfillment", via acceptance, therapist congruence (genuineness), and empathic understanding.

Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence including death, freedom, responsibility, and the meaning of life. Instead of regarding human experiences such as anxiety, alienation and depression as implying the presence of mental illness, existential psychotherapy sees these experiences as natural stages in a normal process of human development and maturation. In facilitating this process of development and maturation existential psychotherapy involves a philosophical exploration of an individual's experiences while stressing the individual's freedom and responsibility to facilitate a higher degree of meaning and well-being in his or her life.

John Rowan was an English author, counsellor, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, known for being one of the pioneers of humanistic psychology and integrative psychotherapy. He worked in exploring transpersonal psychology, and wrote about the concept of subpersonality.

Harriet Claire Wadeson Ph.D., LCSW, ATR-BC, HLM was a pioneer in the art therapy profession, as well as an accomplished author, researcher, and educator, who established and directed the Art Therapy Graduate Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Art Therapy Certificate Program at Northwestern University where she taught up to her passing. She was the author of 8 books on art therapy and over 70 articles in professional journals. She was an international guest lecturer, and educator who has presented papers, led professional delegations, and conducted workshops in 14 countries throughout Europe and Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Ticktin</span> Canadian psychiatrist (born 1946)

Stephen Jan Ticktin is a retired Canadian psychiatrist, therapist and lecturer, and a notable figure in the anti-psychiatry movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Cooper</span> British academic

Sir Cary Lynn Cooper, is an American-born British psychologist and 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.

Digby Tantam is a British psychiatrist and Professor of Psychotherapy. He is currently Clinical Professor of Psychotherapy at the University of Sheffield; a practitioner of psychodynamic psychiatry, and was a prolific advocate of electroconvulsive therapy in the 1980s. More recently a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist at the Sheffield Care Trust; and a partner at Dilemma Consultancy Ltd. His main research interests are social and emotional wellbeing, emotional contagion, nonverbal communication, applied philosophy and autism spectrum disorders.

Connirae Andreas is an American author and psychotherapist who is known for her work within the field of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Michael Uebel, a pioneer in the application of psychological insights to the historical intersections of social, personal, and imaginative phenomena, is a psychotherapist and researcher in Austin, Texas. He has taught literature and critical theory at the University of Virginia, at Georgetown University, where he taught in the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program and the English Department, and at the University of Kentucky, where he held a faculty position in the Department of English, and was affiliated with the Committee on Social Theory and Women’s Studies. As of 2012, Uebel has been appointed Lecturer in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author and/or editor of three major studies and the author of over 40 journal essays and encyclopedia articles. Uebel lectures nationally and internationally on issues concerning social history, mental health, and the challenges of humanism. In 2009, he co-founded the Interdependence Project-Austin, a branch of the New York city-based nonprofit organization (IDP) dedicated to fostering the intersection of the arts, activism, and contemplative traditions. Uebel serves as Director of Contemplative Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Fricker</span> English feminist philosopher

Miranda Fricker, FBA FAAS is a British philosopher who is Professor of Philosophy at New York University, Co-Director of the New York Institute of Philosophy, and Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield. Fricker coined the term epistemic injustice, the concept of an injustice done against someone "specifically in their capacity as a knower", and explored the concept in her 2007 book Epistemic Injustice.

Philosophical consultancy, also sometimes called philosophical practice or philosophical counseling or clinical philosophy, is a contemporary movement in practical philosophy. Developing since the 1980s as a profession but since the 1950s as a practice, practitioners of philosophical counseling ordinarily have a doctorate or minimally a master's degree in philosophy and offer their philosophical counseling or consultation services to clients who look for a philosophical understanding of their lives, social problems, or even mental problems. In the last case, philosophical counseling might be in lieu of, or in conjunction with, psychotherapy. The movement has often been said to be rooted in the Socratic tradition, which viewed philosophy as a search for the Good and the good life. A life without philosophy was not worth living for Socrates. This led to the philosophy of Stoicism, for example, resulting in Stoic therapy.

Mark Vernon is a British psychotherapist and writer.

Existential counselling is a philosophical form of counselling which addresses the situation of a person's life and situates the person firmly within the predictable challenges of the human condition.

Kirk J. Schneider is a psychologist and psychotherapist who has taken a leading role in the advancement of existential-humanistic therapy, and existential-integrative therapy. Schneider is also the current editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. His major books are Existential-Humanistic Therapy (2010), Existential-Integrative Therapy (2008), The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology (2001), The Psychology of Existence (1995), Rediscovery of Awe (2004), Awakening to Awe (2009), and "The Polarized Mind" (2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Cox (philosopher)</span>

Gary Cox is a British philosopher and biographer and the author of several books on Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialism, general philosophy, ethics and philosophy of sport.

Developmental eclecticism or systematic eclecticism is an eclectic psychotherapy framework that was developed by Gerard Egan beginning in the 1970s. It is also referred to as the skilled helper model, after the title of Egan's book The Skilled Helper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg-John Barker</span> British writer and independent scholar

Meg-John Barker is a writer, writing mentor, creative consultant, speaker, and independent scholar. They have written a number of anti self-help books on the topics of relationships, sex, and gender, as well as the graphic non-fiction books, Queer: A Graphic History and Gender: A Graphic Guide, and the book The Psychology of Sex. They are the writer of the relationships book and blog Rewriting the Rules, and they have a podcast with sex educator Justin Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul T. P. Wong</span> Canadian clinical psychologist and academic

Paul T. P. Wong is a Canadian clinical psychologist and professor. His research career has gone through four stages, with significant contributions in each stage: learning theory, social cognition, existential psychology, and positive psychology. He is most known for his integrative work on death acceptance, meaning therapy, and second wave positive psychology. He has been elected as a fellow for both the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association.

Carolyn Kagan is a British community psychologist and social activist.

References

  1. "Emmy Van Deurzen". Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kass, Sarah A. (11 March 2013). "Don't Fall Into Those Stereotype Traps". Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 54 (2): 131–157. doi:10.1177/0022167813478836.
  3. "History and Philosophy". The Society for Existential Analysis. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Staff Profile at University of Sheffield". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2011-09-22.

Further reading

Interviews with Emmy van Deurzen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HmiOBnfFL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzt23ifzK6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yevcbeWqyy4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdt7mBUlBGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv8OEhYE6c8

Emmy read her essay ‘Becoming an Existential Therapist’ on BBC Radio 3 on 15 November 2013: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hjw9f