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Since the publication of the book Existence1 in 1958, the existential approach has become an increasingly important influence in American psychiatry. Several journals devoted to existential psychiatry are published regularly in the United States. An Institute of Ontoanalysis has been founded in Chicago, and the 1959 International Federation of Medical Psychotherapy in Barcelona was devoted entirely to the exploration of the existential influence. A number of therapists now practice existential analysis and psychotherapy.
Existentialism has been called a theory, a school, and a technique; in fact, it is no one of these. It is certainly not a theory of human behavior; a basic proposition of the existential approach is the a-theoretical view of man in his world. Theory of behavior is discarded in favor of detailed, individual observation of human existence. Existentialism is not a school of psychiatry; there are no adherents to a system, nor is there an organized, unique body of knowledge. Indeed, disciples of various schools of psychiatry find no need to abandon their concepts when they view man with an existential attitude. Existentialism does not offer a specific therapeutic method. Rather, it utilizes techniques of other psychological therapies but with a unique selective attention.
If, then, existentialism is not a school and not a theory of behavior or a technique, what can we agree that it is? I