CONTEMPLATIONS

Center for Existential Psychotherapy

The Four Dimensions of Existence

Existential therapists deal with clients as beings-in-the-world. The concept “being-in-the-world”

has been developed by Martin Heidegger, and from the standpoint of therapy, existential
therapists and others who work from a phenomenological perspective have applied the concept in
the sense of seeking to understand clients holistically. Rather than focusing on a diagnosis, an
existential approach aims as getting to know the client and all the relevant contextual matters that
the client brings to therapy. An existential therapist asks the question: How does a client relate to
living in the world? Such a question, rather than claiming that diagnoses are irrelevant or
unimportant, tries to get at the context in which a person’s diagnosis is taking place. More
importantly, existential therapists seek to understand clients as they live in their world.

Various theoretical approaches emphasize one or two aspects of people’s living in the world.
Some approaches such as biofeedback, obviously emphasize the body. Other theoretical
approaches emphasize, such as psychoanalysis and cognitive behavioral therapy intra-psychic
phenomena that primarily deal with the individual or the client’s personal world. And other
theoretical approaches, such as interpersonal psychotherapy, object relations and systems
approaches emphasize the interpersonal world in which clients live and focus on relationships as
a key to helping clients. Some approaches such as Buddhist psychology or pastoral counseling
emphasize the spiritual realm. An existential approach instead of claiming that any one of these
dimensions takes precedence over the others, claims that all these dimensions are important
because as human beings we live and relate to these various dimensions in different ways. For
sure clients will enter counseling most likely dealing with one or two of these areas. But even
then, it might be more important to help clients expand their being-in-the-world rather than merely
focusing on the one area where they are having concerns.

We will structure our discussion of existential psychotherapy around what Emmy van Deurzen
calls the four dimensions of existence. This is not the only structure by which to discuss
existential psychotherapy. Yalom structures his text around four themes as well, and within these
four dimensions there are multifarious themes that different therapists who use an existential
approach emphasize. The four dimensions or givens of existence is not a new concept to
existential psychotherapy, although van Deurzen has put together a more contemporary
approach utilizing the dimensions. Rollo May (1958) decades ago used the four German words to
describe the four givens of existence:

1) Umwelt – the physical world;

2) Mitwelt – the world of relationships;

3) Eigenwelt – the personal world; and

4) Uberwelt – the spiritual world.

Emmy van Deurzen’s Designation of the Four Dimensions

We will use van Deurzen’s designations of the four dimensions of existence:
1) the physical dimension; 2) the personal dimension; 3) the social dimension; and
4) the spiritual dimension or dimension of transcendence and meaning-making.
The Physical Dimension
• The world that humans share with animals
• The world of bodily needs
• The world of biological drives and impulses
• Peoples’ relationship to their bodies
• The “thrown” world
• The natural environment that people habitat
• Environmental adjustment and adaptation
• The world of our relation to the earth
• The world of natural law and natural cycles
o Human development
o Sleep/awake cycles
o Desire and relief
o Being born and dying

The Social Dimension

• The world of relationships
• The world of other human beings
• Culture, society, and language
• Race, social class, and family
• Attitudes toward cultural history
• Work and productivity
• Attitudes toward authority
• Emotions

The Personal Dimension

• Intimacy with the self
• Intimacy with others
• Personal thoughts, characteristics, and memories
• Identity (The “Who am I?” question)
• Sense of “me’
• Personal strengths and weaknesses
• Personal stability and instability
• Being authentic and inauthentic

The Spiritual/Transcendent/Meaning-Making Dimension

• The world of values and beliefs
• Our ideal world
• The meta-world
• Religion and spirituality
• Transformation and meaning
• Purpose and goals
• The dimension in which we make sense of our lives
• The world of transcendence

From an existential perspective the four dimensions are not fixed, discrete entities, nor are
individuals fixed into one of them by existential therapists. The four dimensions are
interconnected and fluid. They are interrelated, and we live in all four simultaneously.

Existential therapy is about “enabling people to regain the freedom to play within the dimensions
set out for them – that is the freedom of movement in life.” Perhaps clients come to therapy with
the concerns they have because they are over-emphasizing or stuck in one of the dimensions.
Sometimes the therapeutic process can get stuck itself by emphasizing the “problem” rather than
helping clients expand their perspective so as to see the proper place of their concerns. Such an
approach does not minimize client concerns or pain, but sometimes the “problem” is the problem
and a black hole that sucks most of the client’s energy. Existential therapy can help people clarify
the way they view and experience their world in relation to each of these dimensions. Such
clarification helps us and our clients understand how we are situated in life.

“Each dimension of existence contains its paradoxes and contradictions. People often attempt to
avoid facing up to one end of the spectrum of their bipolar human experience.”

“The fluidity of the four dimensions is at risk of being annihilated by the sciences”

John V. Jones, jr., Ph.D., LPC-S