PubMed · 752236
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L M Ravagnan. 1978. [Ontoanalytic programming].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/752236/
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Existential philosophical thought insists that human behavior is indeterminate and subject only to the individual's will. It is, therefore, skeptical of all dynamic psychologies based as they are on Freudian determinism. Group therapists imbued with this philosophy stop short of its extreme. Their existential position, however, does greatly modify treatment, and yet they preserve both the form and goals of therapy. They place properly selected and prepared patients in a group where their individuality and authenticity are highly valued. Finding most technical procedures irrelevant, the therapists themselves, that is, their evolving personalities are central. The key to patient change is the spontaneous meeting of members and the therapist which the therapist orchestrates. Instead of the usual interpretation, members are encouraged to confront the paradoxes in their lives, their humanness, and especially their finitude. Patients are to be brought up to the threshold of their self-knowledge so they can choose. Choice, therefore, along with action coupled with responsibility are frequent themes. Unless the individual is incompetent, decisions made for him or her by the therapist or by group consensus are thought to be nontherapeutic.
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Existential analysis has made us face the paradoxes, if not antinomies, in psychotherapy that we did not seem to be aware of. Existential philosophy is a highly elaborate, technical and linguisticly difficult field. In psychiatry, existential analysis of turned out to be just a set of hallowed commonplaces. As philosophy, its intent is the discovery of the grounds for our existence and in this way it seems to approach theology. In some instances it may turn into atheistic arrogance. With the stern zeal of philosophy and the pessimistic theology of existentialism, one hardly knows where to begin with psychotherapy. Often it fascinates the mediators, the writers who seem to offer us patterns helpful in our daily work. The effort, to take a radical stand to try to rewrite psychiatry, seems to be justified. And, if existential analysis hardly succeeds in bringing back into 'existence' (Dasein) some of our disturbed patients, it has aroused a review of our stale and abused terms and concepts. Psychiatry cannot exist, disciplined and sensible, without the enlightenment which philosophy offers. Some new departures could be attempted again. But if philosophy is not a way of talking and teaching but a way of living, is the psys goal. If he failed, his work remains a lighthouse in our time, warning us on our voyage.