PSK 407 - Existential Psychology

Existential Psychology is a course in which existential anxieties and the structure of the self and identity stemming from these anxieties are going to be discussed. The effect of basic anxieties such as isolation, freedom, meaningless (uncertainty), and death on individuals’ existences is the main topic of the existential psychology. The approaches of both theoreticians such as Maslow, Frankl, Rogers, May, Yalom, Becker and novelists such as Kafka, Sartre, Camus will be discussed in this course.

The course is divided into 4 main parts each lasts approximately a month in order. These parts are called as Death, Isolation, Freedom, and Meaning. In this course, you will

a. learn a very basic intellectual grasp of theories, concepts, varibles, and issues in existential psychology.
b. both understand and evaluate the existential anxieties named above
c. become familiar with the methods of existential psychologists.

Grading

Assignments - 50%
Final Exam - 50%

Week I: Introduction to Existential Psychology
(no reading required)

Week II: Existentialism and the Absurd
Existentialism is Humanism (J. P. Sartre, 1945)
The Myth of Sisyphus (A. Camus, 1942)

Week III: Dasein (Being-in-the-World)
Assignment for Week III (Breaking the Absurd Chain)

Week IV: What is Death?
Assignment for Week IV (Authenticity)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 11 - 50; Chapter I: Giriş)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 7 - 70; Chapters 1 - 7)

Week V: Body, Soul and the Immortality
Assignment for Week V (Obituary)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 51 - 128; Chapter II: Hayat, Ölüm ve Anksiyete)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 71 - 158; Chapters 8 - 16)

Week VI: Fear of Death and Terror Management Theory
Assignment for Week VI (Terror of Death)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 184 - 260; Chapter IV: Ölüm ve Psikopatoloji)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 159 - 214; Chapters 17 - 19)

Week VII: Revisiting Camus and Sartre: Death from the Existential Perspective
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 260 - 345; Chapter V: Ölüm ve Psikoterapi)
The Wall (J. P. Sartre, 1939)
L'etranger (A. Camus, 1942)

Week VIII: Isolation: A Prelude
Assignment for Week VIII (Library of Death)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 556 - 616; Chapter VIII: Varoluşsal Yalıtım)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 214 - 256; Chapters 20 - 23)

Week IX: Existential Isolation
Assignment for Week IX (Mondays in the Sun)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 617 - 655; Chapter IX: Varoluşsal Yalıtım ve Psikoterapi)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 214 - 256; Chapters 20 - 23)

Week X: Freedom: A Prelude
Assignment for Week X (Library of Isolation)
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 346 - 453; Chapter VI: Sorumluluk)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 257 - 284; Chapters 24 - 26)

Week XI: Existential Freedom
Varoluşçu Psikoterapi (I. Yalom, pp. 454 - 555; Chapter VII: İsteme)
Schopenhauer Tedavisi (I. Yalom, pp. 285 - 312; Chapters 25 - 29)