Existential psychology uses psychological and philosophical approaches to examine beliefs about life and death, meaning and suffering. These are particularly at stake in critical life situations, when individuals as well as groups can lose the “ground beneath their feet”.  This two-day course provides insights into how pain and suffering develop and how we can deal with them constructively. It sheds light on the basic question of mortality, how people with different worldviews approach it and what consequences death awareness can have.

The course is relevant for psychologists, doctors, nurses, counsellors, pastors, chaplains and all others who accompany people in critical life situations.

Programme

Day 1

11.30 – 13.00: On pain and suffering

13.00-14.00: Lunch

14.00 – 17.00: Facing death and dying

- Selfexploration

- Worldview and death anxiety

- Philosophical and psychological theories on dealing with death anxiety

Day 2

11.30 – 13.00: Grief, mourning

- The significance of rituals

- The constructive potential of crises of meaning

13.00-14.00: Lunch

14.00 – 17.00: Consequences of critical life events

- Shattered “positive illusions”

- Positive disintegration and posttraumatic growth

- Consequences of death awareness

- Responding to Andrea Gjestvang: One day in history