Existentialism

Russell Wilkie, MA, LMFT

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Cell (408) 529-1975

Fax (408) 871-6875

700 Gale Drive
Suite 230
Campbell CA 95008

Office is in the San Jose California area

EXISTENTIALISM is my theoretical perspective. It is not a set of skills or techniques, but a way of being. A philosophy. A stance. A way of seeing life, and thus living life.

Existentialism focuses on the givens of existence. Major issues of focus: 1) Death 2) Isolation 3) Meaning and 4) Freedom -- and the inherent denial of them.

1) Death: It's pretty hard to drive down the freeway these days without being in denial about how easy it is to die at any moment.
2) Isolation is opposed against togetherness and is a focus of how we balance our social lives and recharge ourselves.
3) Meaning is about spirituality, lack of it, and why we're here.
4) Freedom is about how we are always at choice in our reactions and feelings to events around and inside us.

If these words make you nervous, then welcome to the human condition. If you feel them now, then you are here and present and paying attention.

If we are "awake," then we have to look at these givens of existence. Unfortunately, existential therapists like me get labeled as undisciplined, soft, unfocused, theoryless or eclectic. All we can do is apologize for not being able to clearly spell out what we do.

But what we do is not objectifiable because it involves working with the most subjective thing on the planet -- humans.