Dr. Mihaela Launeanu
Existential-analytic psychotherapy in the era of empirically supported treatments: Critical review and perspectives on future developments
Existential Analysis (EA) identifies itself as a phenomenological psychotherapy that aims to engage and work with essential characteristics of the human person such as: free will, responsibility, inner consent and capacity to find meaning even in the face of profoundly absurd or painful life circumstances. These core EA characteristics may not always fit organically with the sustained focus on the empirically supported treatments permeating the research on the current mainstream psychotherapies. Particularly, the dominant research methods and designs employed to collect empirical evidence for the therapeutic effectiveness are rooted in epistemological and methodological assumptions that are at odds with the EA phenomenological personal focus.
This presentation will begin by reviewing the empirical research studies on the therapeutic effectiveness of EA in order to synthesize the existent empirical support for EA psychotherapy. On the heels of this review, reflections and methodological considerations regarding the research design and methods employed in these research studies as well as their impact on the findings regarding EA effectiveness, will be offered. Then, perspectives on alternative or complementary ways to conceptualize and research therapeutic effectiveness of EA psychotherapy will be discussed using some exemplars for illustration purposes.
Dr. Mihaela Launeanu, PhD, RCC, has a M.A. and PhD. in Clinical Psychology, a M.A. in Counselling Psychology and completed clinical training in Existential Analysis. She has over 10 years of clinical experience working with diverse populations (e.g., children, adolescents, adults, older adults) in various clinical settings (e.g., community, inpatient, forensic, higher education). In addition to her clinical work, she has been teaching courses in the area of counselling psychology at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Community College, and provided clinical supervision to junior practicum students at BC Mental Health and Addiction Services.