Dialogue and authenticity in psychotherapy: Instrumentalizing ideas of Buber and Binswanger

Abstract

The different approaches that have been investigated to understand the human being offer a territory to (re)visit, in order to broaden the horizon of psychotherapeutic practice. In this sensitivity, the main features of existential psychology are described here, from the writings of the psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger, having referred previously some ideas of the philosopher Martin Buber. Based on these characteristics, a heuristic is proposed that allows to incorporate principles of the existential psychology in the psychotherapeutic practice; specifically, shaping the main characteristics of the patient's or client's being-in-the-world through authentic dialogue. This dialogue considers the meaning of the experience of self-descriptions (self-being) and activities performed (world outline). The proposal developed aims to favor putting into practice the core of existential psychology in psychotherapeutic practice.