Existential perspectives and cognitive behavioral therapy

Classical CBT has its limitation related especially to existential questions, such as meaning of life, acceptance of unchangeable aspects, meaning of values, transcendence, significance of experiences, and heading into the future. The method is a speculative review. It is a theoretical article, with discussion of concepts and possibilities for integration, rather than an analysis. The review includes arguments and deductions from relevant authors’ monographs of the second and third wave in CBT movement and the key relevant information from important existential psychotherapy authors monographs. Additional literature review was performed using the National Library of Medicine PubMed database, Scopus and Web of Science of relevant articles up to July 2011. Databases were searched for articles containing the combinations of keywords: cognitive behavioral therapy, existential therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, schema therapy, mindfulness, narrative, therapeutical strategies, experiential methods. We discuss conceptual aspects related both to existential psychotherapy and CBT, and recognize overlaps and differences. Both existential psychotherapy and CBT strongly accent the central role of the subjective meaning, phenomenology, rationality, training of coping skills, the importance of immediate emotional experience in assisting clients to accept all aspects of experience, as more important than exploration of the unconscious,. In addition, the existential psychotherapy more emphasizes transcendence of the man, responsibility, acceptance, and the motivation of the man to achieve the subjective sense of life. An integration of existential views to the CBT approach could notably enrich the treatment of the clients. Many approaches deriving from existential psychotherapy could supplement pragmatic CBT approaches with philosophical extension.