Understanding the Client in Existential Therapy introduces the concept of stance as recurring patterns in how people actively encounter life that shape how they perceive themselves, relate to others, respond to challenge, and pursue what matters. This book presents clinicians with a structured model for understanding how these patterns form and reorganize over time.
The author establishes the concept of stance as a phenomenological way of understanding these recurring patterns of participation. Rather than viewing psychological difficulties primarily as symptoms or disorders, this book presents stance as an adaptive, embodied organization of experience that develops in response to life's challenges. When these patterns become narrowed or rigid, they may protect the individual while simultaneously restricting freedom, connection, and growth. Building on this foundation, the book introduces the Stance Method, an integrative clinical approach that helps therapists recognize, understand, and reorganize stance through three complementary therapeutic processes: CYCLE, STILL, and STRIDE. Together, these methods enable clinicians to identify recurring patterns of participation, deepen understanding through lived experience, and restore dignity and flexible participation in life. Grounded in existential philosophy and phenomenology while informed by developmental psychology and embodied experience, the book combines conceptual clarity with practical clinical guidance. Case vignettes, diagrams, worksheets, a glossary, and online resources help readers apply the model across a wide range of clinical presentations.
Written for psychotherapists, counselors, supervisors, trainees, and advanced students, this book offers both a new way of understanding clients and a practical framework for helping them encounter life with greater openness, flexibility, and purpose.