Acceso usuarios
Aida Hougaard Andersen
, Martin Vestergaard Kristiansen, Dorte Toudal Viftrup, Kirsten K. Roessler
The challenges of modern societies and health issues call for complex understandings in psychological practice. These include existential aspects of life related to health and wellbeing. A specific focus is needed when educating future psychologists on being aware of cultural differences as well as addressing clients’ existential conditions or diverse subjective approaches to existence, such as religion or spirituality. This study explored in which ways an academic psychology course in existential communication facilitated students’ learning of addressing existential themes in practice. Through a phenomenological-inspired analysis of five in-depth interviews, it was found how students’ learning trajectories showed a change in standpoints. They had changed towards an open curiosity on the clients’ life-orientation and seeing the client more as a subjective human being. The students expanded their horizon from avoiding the existential and religious themes as something outside the psychological realm. Instead, they employed a sensitive and an active way of addressing existence, spirituality and religion when relevant in psychological practice such as psychotherapy. Learning manifested itself as a change to commitment to the existential communication and a sense of professional identity. The findings elucidate the learning possibilities from a course in existential communication and support the value of professional competence, more than one’s own worldview, as the basis for existential communication. The study can inform future design of courses and curricula in existential communication within academic psychology.
