Phenomenological method in humanistic and existential psychotherapy

Abstract

The present article is a result of a comparative analysis of phenomenological practice in five psychotherapeutic ap-proaches - gestalt –therapy, person-centered therapy, focusing-oriented therapy, British school of existential analysis and Austrian school of existential analysis and logotherapy. On the basis of analysis of philosophic works of M. Heidegger, E. Husserl and M.K. Mamardashvili the core characteristics of phenomenological method that served as a guideline for comparative analysis were articulated. The author shows that the logic of phenomenological method in existential-humanistic approach is similar to the logic of M. Heideggers’ phenomenological method.

Keywords

• phenomenological method
• psychotherapy
• hermeneutic phenomenology