Papers by Siebrecht Vanhooren
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2014
Re-visioning Person-Centred Therapy, 2018
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Therapist empathy toward existential concerns might be a critical component of clinical practice.... more Therapist empathy toward existential concerns might be a critical component of clinical practice. This study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the Existential Empathy Questionnaire (EEQ), a self-report instrument developed to measure levels of existential empathy among mental health professionals. The EEQ was completed by a sample of 393 therapists recruited in Belgium, along with measures of general empathy, experiential avoidance, and existential avoidance. To assess the test–retest reliability, 353 participants of the same sample completed the EEQ a second time 2 weeks later. Clinical experience and therapeutic theoretical background were assessed to inform professional characteristics. The results support the use of the EEQ as a unidimensional measure of existential empathy. It demonstrates good internal reliability and temporal stability. A principal components analysis indicates three components with small to moderate intercorrelations, labeled as “Communication,”...
Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2022
Therapist empathy towards existential concerns might be a critical component of clinical practice... more Therapist empathy towards existential concerns might be a critical component of clinical practice. This study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the Existential Empathy Questionnaire (EEQ), a self-report instrument developed to measure levels of existential empathy among mental health professionals. The EEQ was completed by a sample of 393 therapists recruited in Belgium, along with measures of general empathy, experiential avoidance, and existential avoidance. In order to assess the test-retest reliability, 353 participants of the same sample completed the EEQ a second time two weeks later. Clinical
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Difficulty in the experience of meaning has been both theoretically and empirically linked with d... more Difficulty in the experience of meaning has been both theoretically and empirically linked with depression. This cross-sectional study first aimed to replicate the association between difficulty in meaning experience and depression in a sample of 77 psychotherapists and counselors (77.1% females; Mage: 49; SDage = 12.25). Second, this study wanted to extend the body of research findings by investigating whether existential anxiety, and focusing manner, that is, the ability to attend to one’s bodily felt experiences, mediated the relation between meaning experience and the severity of depression. Surprisingly, meaning experience did not show a significant association with severity of depression. Furthermore, existential anxiety mediated the association between meaning experience and severity of depression. Focusing manner showed no significant mediating role in the relationship between meaning experience and severity of depression. These findings suggest that existential anxiety migh...
Lifelong Learning Book Series
Existential empathy -or the capacity to resonate with the client's existential concerns -... more Existential empathy -or the capacity to resonate with the client's existential concerns - is an important condition for posttraumatic growth and for profound change. Existential empathy can help clients to bridge their existential isolation, to mourn about their lost meanings, to make sense of their lives, and to develop an awe-based attitude towards life. As the therapist shares the same existential reality with their client, empathy with the client's ultimate concerns does not leave the therapist untouched. Through existential empathy, both client and therapist can find a way to embrace the ambiguity of life, the human condition, and awe-based wisdom.
Terwijl twee derde van de cliënten met existentiële vragen zit, hebben psychotherapeuten het vaak... more Terwijl twee derde van de cliënten met existentiële vragen zit, hebben psychotherapeuten het vaak moeilijk om bij deze laag stil te staan. Bij existentiële empathie echter openen we ons niet enkel voor de leefwereld van de cliënt. We maken contact met de existentiële laag die onze individualiteit overstijgt. Hierdoor wordt empathie ook mededogen voor de mensheid en vindt de persoonlijke beleving zijn existentiële bedding. Existentiële empathie is doordrongen van Gendlins experiëntiële en joods-spirituele benadering die onze essentie ontvankelijk onthaalt. Zijn experiëntiële weg helpt de therapeut om existentiële thema’s te blijven ontmoeten als reisgenoten die ons leven blijvend kruiden.status: publishe
A quantitative study among students
Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies
This study examined which themes therapists identify as existential and explored what happens whe... more This study examined which themes therapists identify as existential and explored what happens when therapists engage with their clients’ existential concerns. Over two simultaneous studies, 19 participants were interviewed about working with existential themes. The first study consisted of experienced person-centered and existential psychotherapists and the second study of counselors or therapists working in a setting that would evoke existential themes. The data were first analyzed separately for both groups using Consensual Qualitative Research. Subsequently, a general cross analysis was conducted to achieve a meta-synthesis. Four existential themes were identified: Death and boundaries of life; Freedom, choice and responsibility; Connection and isolation; and Meaning and meaninglessness. In addition to providing a descriptive model of these themes, this study suggests that existential training might help therapists notice more implicit existential dynamics in the therapeutic process. Furthermore, engaging with clients’ existential concerns might make therapists more aware of their own existential reality which would help them to relate to existential themes differently. Experienced therapists can identify existential themes in their clients’ stories. However, specific existential training and personal reflection can deepen therapists’ openness towards existential issues and expand insight in existential processes.
Person-centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 2022
This study examined which themes therapists identify as existential
and explored what happens whe... more This study examined which themes therapists identify as existential
and explored what happens when therapists engage with their
clients’ existential concerns. Over two simultaneous studies, 19 participants
were interviewed about working with existential themes. The
first study consisted of experienced person-centered and existential
psychotherapists and the second study of counselors or therapists
working in a setting that would evoke existential themes. The data
were first analyzed separately for both groups using Consensual
Qualitative Research. Subsequently, a general cross analysis was
conducted to achieve a meta-synthesis. Four existential themes
were identified: Death and boundaries of life; Freedom, choice and
responsibility; Connection and isolation; and Meaning and meaninglessness.
In addition to providing a descriptive model of these
themes, this study suggests that existential training might help
therapists notice more implicit existential dynamics in the therapeutic
process. Furthermore, engaging with clients’ existential concerns
might make therapists more aware of their own existential reality
which would help them to relate to existential themes differently.
Experienced therapists can identify existential themes in their clients’
stories. However, specific existential training and personal reflection
can deepen therapists’ openness towards existential issues and
expand insight in existential processes.
Experiential-existential psychotherapy is an emerging approach which integrates person-centered, ... more Experiential-existential psychotherapy is an emerging approach which integrates person-centered, experiential and existential practices. Related to existential-humanistic therapy, it emphasizes the therapeutic relationship, working with emotions and bodily felt experiences in the here-an-now, meaning, and awe. In order to study the process meaning training, three dimensions of meaning have been distinguished: (1) the micro-dimension (emotions and bodily felt sense about the here-and-now inner and interpersonal experiences), (2) the meso-dimension (self-concept, life narrative, family narrative, cherished beliefs, world assumptions,…), and (3) the macro-dimension of meaning (ultimate concerns, ontological meanings, purpose, life engagement, spirituality,…). Psychotherapists are being trained to identify and explore meaning, and to facilitate change of the client’s experiences in each of these three dimensions. Cross-sectional studies and systematic mixed-method case studies have been...
Handbook of Posttraumatic Stress, 2021
Loss of meaning as a predictor of distress in prison Chapter 3 59 Coping strategies and search fo... more Loss of meaning as a predictor of distress in prison Chapter 3 59 Coping strategies and search for meaning as predictors of posttraumatic growth in prison Chapter 4 93 Posttraumatic growth in sex offenders: A pilot study with a mixed method design Chapter 5 Profiles of meaning and search for meaning among prisoners Chapter 6 Ten prisoners on a search for meaning: A qualitative study of loss and growth during incarceration Chapter 7 Posttraumatic growth during incarceration: A case study from an experiential-existential perspective Chapter 8 General Conclusions
Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 2019
Spirituality can be a valuable resource for older adults, in particular to frail and vulnerable o... more Spirituality can be a valuable resource for older adults, in particular to frail and vulnerable older people such as nursing home residents. The present study aimed to describe the essence of the experience of spirituality through the perspective of the nursing home residents themselves. A purposive sample of 16 nursing home residents were interviewed following Moustakas (1994) phenomenological method. Analyses of the verbalized interviews identified seven superordinate themes including 'feelings of support and trust', 'searching for meaning and finding answers', and 'a perspective beyond death'.
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Papers by Siebrecht Vanhooren
and explored what happens when therapists engage with their
clients’ existential concerns. Over two simultaneous studies, 19 participants
were interviewed about working with existential themes. The
first study consisted of experienced person-centered and existential
psychotherapists and the second study of counselors or therapists
working in a setting that would evoke existential themes. The data
were first analyzed separately for both groups using Consensual
Qualitative Research. Subsequently, a general cross analysis was
conducted to achieve a meta-synthesis. Four existential themes
were identified: Death and boundaries of life; Freedom, choice and
responsibility; Connection and isolation; and Meaning and meaninglessness.
In addition to providing a descriptive model of these
themes, this study suggests that existential training might help
therapists notice more implicit existential dynamics in the therapeutic
process. Furthermore, engaging with clients’ existential concerns
might make therapists more aware of their own existential reality
which would help them to relate to existential themes differently.
Experienced therapists can identify existential themes in their clients’
stories. However, specific existential training and personal reflection
can deepen therapists’ openness towards existential issues and
expand insight in existential processes.
and explored what happens when therapists engage with their
clients’ existential concerns. Over two simultaneous studies, 19 participants
were interviewed about working with existential themes. The
first study consisted of experienced person-centered and existential
psychotherapists and the second study of counselors or therapists
working in a setting that would evoke existential themes. The data
were first analyzed separately for both groups using Consensual
Qualitative Research. Subsequently, a general cross analysis was
conducted to achieve a meta-synthesis. Four existential themes
were identified: Death and boundaries of life; Freedom, choice and
responsibility; Connection and isolation; and Meaning and meaninglessness.
In addition to providing a descriptive model of these
themes, this study suggests that existential training might help
therapists notice more implicit existential dynamics in the therapeutic
process. Furthermore, engaging with clients’ existential concerns
might make therapists more aware of their own existential reality
which would help them to relate to existential themes differently.
Experienced therapists can identify existential themes in their clients’
stories. However, specific existential training and personal reflection
can deepen therapists’ openness towards existential issues and
expand insight in existential processes.
We houden Jezus en Pilatus’ lijden tegen het licht van de persoonsgerichte en existentiële psychotherapeutische theorie en praktijk. Op deze manier wordt hun lijdensverhaal het onze en wijzen het evangelie en de hedendaagse psychologie in eenzelfde richting. Zowel de existentiële psychotherapie als de Jezus-verhalen tonen ons dat de Via Dolorosa kan leiden tot transformatie, zolang we eerst nederdalen ter helle. Deze mogelijkheid is er evenzeer voor Pilatus – als hij de moed vindt om te lijden onder Pontius Pilatus; zichzelf. Posttraumatische groei (“verrijzen” in existentieel psychologische zin) wordt mogelijk als we ons op een nieuwe manier weten te verbinden met onszelf, de ander, ons aardse leven en het Overstijgende. De verhalen van Jezus, Pilatus en vele anderen tonen ons wegen die kunnen leiden naar verdieping of naar ondergang. In deze lezing houden we met aandacht halt bij deze personages die in volle beweging zijn. De hedendaagse existentiële psychologie helpt ons om hun en onze eigen lijden en verrijzen beter te begrijpen.
In this chapter, an introduction is given on the concept of meaning in life with attention for meaning making, searching for meaning, experiencing meaning and meaningfulness as part of sense of coherence. Furthermore, this theoretical framework is applied to the chronic pain condition and empirical findings are offered showing that meaning in life is related to the functioning and the well-being of pain patients. Finally, clinical implications and suggestions for implementation in care are discussed.