The 4 Existential Concerns Of The Human Being According To Irvin Yalom
One of the most important figures in existential psychotherapy is professor of psychiatry and psychotherapist Irvin Yalom. He accumulates a large number of essays and novels including The Spinoza Problem , And Nietzsche a Cry , etc. In his works, he generally subtly captures the 4 existential concerns of the human being.
In his book, Existential Therapy , Irvin Yalom exposes the 4 existential concerns that cause internal conflicts in humans. They are: death, freedom, isolation and lack of vital sense.
Irvin Yalom and existential psychotherapy
Existential psychotherapy is a difficult term to define. We do this by adopting a philosophical approach in which people’s difficulties are seen as agents in the process of evolution and change, rather than mere diagnostic categories referring to current models based on the biomedical approach.
People are confronted with certain aspects of existence. What Irvin Yalom alludes to with the 4 existential concerns mentioned above. These experiences often generate anxiety. A very special feeling that would become a motivator for the personal growth of those who feel it.
Existential worries according to Irvin Yalom
The confrontation of individuals with their own existence generates discomfort and suffering. In fact, the 4 existential concerns described below by Irvin Yalom are still inherent in the lives of all human beings.
These problems are often disguised by certain distractions that appear during the passage of life. However, if distractions take your eyes off those concerns, they are still there. Irvin Yalom encompasses the 4 fundamental and universal concerns of group therapy, individual therapy and the therapeutic relationship.
The death
Death, as a phenomenon, brings us face to face with our existence. This concern is the first that Irvin Yalom writes as a source of discomfort. According to the author, death is a major source of distress.
Thus, death can become the main source of the development of psychopathologies. However, it can also be the condition by which we allow ourselves to live an authentic life.
In other words, the confrontation with death does not only have to do with the awareness of the finitude of life. But also with the uncontrollable passage of time and what we do with it. The Death of Ivan Illich by Leo Tolstoy is one of the novels that evoke this existential concern.
Freedom
Another existential concern, according to Irvin Yalom, is freedom. The sense of will, freedom in decision-making and management of responsibility in simple existential isolation are mentioned. In most decisions on the most immediate level, even relying on the opinions of others, you end up getting caught.
In other words, the challenge of taking charge of our own existence can sometimes weigh like a cross. In some cases, it even paralyzes.
This is illustrated by the metaphor of Aristotle. A hungry dog unable to choose between two equally attractive portions of food. Or the problem of Buridan’s starving donkey in the middle of two equally appetizing bundles of hay.
Isolation
Confronted with the fact that life is not infinite, that at some point it ends and that the connotations (both positive and negative) of freedom cannot be avoided, Irvin Yalom addresses the third point which is ‘isolation. Isolation refers to the absence of interpersonal relationships.
He distinguishes three types of isolation: interpersonal, intrapersonal and existential isolation. Yalom defines intrapersonal isolation as the division of certain negative events, with the processes of dissociation occurring.
Existential isolation refers to the separation of the individual from the world. An isolation that persists despite self-awareness and enriching interpersonal relationships.
The lack of vital meaning
The meaning of life is an important dimension in human beings. And the last of the existential concerns described by Irvin Yalom. The meaning of life is linked to values, which work in synergy to lead a life full of meaning.
Values also alleviate the existential concerns described above. It is when we find a “why” in life that we create a personal pattern of action and a system of beliefs.
Irvin Yalom is one of the main references on existential psychotherapy alongside Viktor Frankl and Rollo May. Although having evoked these 4 existential concerns, they were developed very briefly, because his work conceals a richness which it is impossible to cover in a few lines.
Our thoughts What is the conception of the absurd according to Albert Camus? We invite you here to discover his reflection on this particular subject.
