Abstract
The second chapter comprises a review of literature on the topic of the existential in children. It starts with an inquiry into its definition before it looks at education and psychotherapy as those relational practices that share an interest in children’s subjective histories and the meanings they make of these. A lack of attention to preschool children’s existential encounters is identified alongside the need of adults’ (practitioners and researchers alike) readiness to engage with their own existential encounters so as to make space for those of children. The chapter concludes with a review of the dialogue between existentialism and psychoanalysis, drawing links between the creative and the interpersonal unconscious. The space for an existential/phenomenological-psychoanalytic integrative approach is identified for the purpose of understanding children’s lives from a psychosocial perspective.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Altman, N. (2004). Child psychotherapy: Converging traditions. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 30(2), 189–206.
Altman, N., Briggs, R., Frankel, J., Gensler, D., & Pantone, P. (2002). Relational child psychotherapy. New York: Other Press.
Aron, L. (1992). Interpretation as expression of the analyst’s subjectivity. Psychoanalytic Dialogues: The International Journal of Relational Perspectives, 2(4), 475–507.
Baranger, M., & Baranger, W. (2008). The analytic situation as a dynamic field. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 89, 795–826.
Beauvoir, S. (1948). The ethics of ambiguity (B. Frechtman, Trans.). Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press.
Beauvoir, S. (1988). The second sex (H. Parshley, Trans.). London: Picador.
Bergantino, L. (1997). Existential family therapy: Personal power—Parental authority—Effective action-freedom. Contemporary Family Therapy, 19(3), 383–390.
Berman, S. L., Weems, C. F., & Petkus, V. F. (2009). The prevalence and incremental validity of identity problem symptoms in a high school sample. Child Psychiatry Human Development, 40, 183–195.
Berman, S. L., Weems, C. F., & Stickle, T. L. (2006). Existential anxiety in adolescents: Prevalence, structure, association with psychological symptoms and identity development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(3), 303–310.
Berryman, J. W. (1990). Teaching as presence and the existential curriculum. Religious Education: The Official Journal of the Religious Education Association, 85(4), 509–534.
Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning from experience. London: Tavistock.
Blenkinsop, S. (2012). From waiting for the bus to storming the Bastille: From Sartrean seriality to the relationships that form classroom communities. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(2), 183–195.
Bollas, C. (1997). Cracking up. The work of unconscious experience. London: Routledge.
Boss, M. (2001). Zollikon seminars: Protocols, conversations, letters. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Briod, M. (1989). A phenomenological approach to child development. In S. Halling & R. Valle (Eds.), Existential phenomenological perspectives in psychology. New York: Plenum.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Buber, M. (1937). I and Thou. Edinburgh: Morrison and Gibb Limited.
Bugental, J. F. T. (1965). The search for authenticity: An existential analytic approach to psychotherapy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Buhler, C. (1951). Maturation and motivation. Dialectica, 5(3/4), 312–361. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42964007.
Burman, E. (1994). Deconstructing developmental psychology. London: Routledge.
Camus, A. (1955). The myth of Sisyphus. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Camus, A. (2013). The outsider (S. Smith, Trans.). London: Penguin Classics.
Caston, S. (2015). What does the existential-phenomenological approach have to offer the current understanding of the pre-verbal months of an infant? Existential Analysis, 26(1), 94–102.
Cole, M., & Cole, S. (1989). The development of children. New York: Scientific American Books.
Colm, H. (1966). The existentialist approach to psychotherapy with adults and children. New York City: Grune & Stratton.
Conrad, R. (2011). ‘My future doesn’t know ME’: Time and subjectivity in poetry by young people. Childhood, 19(2), 204–218.
Damon, W., Menon, J., & Bronk, K. C. (2003). The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 7(3), 199–128.
De Souza, M. (2011). An existential approach to group play therapy with physically abused children. PhD dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
DeRobertis, E. M. (2006). Charlotte Bühler’s existential-humanistic contributions to child and adolescent psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(1), 48–76.
DeRobertis, E. M. (2008). Humanizing child developmental theory: A holistic approach. New York: iUniverse.
DeRobertis, E. M. (2011). Existential-humanistic and dynamic systems approaches to child development in mutual encounter. The Humanistic Psychologist, 39(1), 3–23.
Dostoyevsky, F. (1957). Crime and punishment (C. Garnett, Trans.). London: The Folio Society.
Dvir, O., Weiner, A., & Kupermintz, H. (2012). Children in residential group care with no family ties: Facing existential aloneness. Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 29(4), 282–304.
Emery, R. (1971). Existentialism in the classroom. The Journal of Teacher Education, 22(1), 5–9.
Erikson, E. (1977). Childhood and society. St Albans: Triad.
Everhart, D. (2002). Drama in the schools: A pedagogy for adolescent existential predicaments. PhD dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Ferro, A. (2002). Some implications of Bion’s thought: The waking dream and narrative derivatives. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 83, 597–607.
Fiut, S. I. (2009). Albert Camus: Phenomenology and postmodern thought. In A. Tymieniecka (Ed.), Phenomenology and existentialism in the twentieth century. Springer Netherlands. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-90-481-2979-9_19.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter. Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Frankl, V. E. (1967). Psychotherapy and existentialism. New York: Penguin Books.
Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man’s search for meaning. New York: Pocket Books.
Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. London: Vintage.
Freud, S. (2001a). Our attitude towards death. In J. Strachey (Ed.), On the history of the psychoanalytic movement, papers on metapsychology and other works volume XIV (1914–1916). London: Vintage.
Freud, S. (2001b). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The ego and the id and other works volume XIX (1923–1925). London: Vintage.
Fromm, E. (1961). The fear of freedom. London: Routledge.
Gendlin, E. (1966). Existentialism and experiential psychotherapy. In C. Moustakas (Ed.), Existential child therapy. The child’s discovery of himself. USA: International Psychotherapy Institute E-Books. Retrieved from http://www.freepsychotherapybooks.org/child-therapy/product/70-existential-child-therapy.
Godwin-Tuckman, D. L. (1993). If I should die: A qualitative analysis of the death concepts of children dying of cancer. PhD dissertation, The Florida State University.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Heidegger, M. (1988). My way to phenomenology. In W. Kaufmann (Ed.), Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre. Penguin Books Australia.
Hill, M., & Tisdall, K. (1997). Children and society. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Horne, A. (2006). The independent position in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and adolescents: Roots and implications. In M. Lanyado & A. Horne (Eds.), A question of technique. London: Routledge.
Howe, R. B., & Covell, K. (2007). Empowering children: Children’s rights education as a pathway to citizenship. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Hunt, J. C. (1989). Psychoanalytic aspects of fieldwork (Qualitative Research Methods Series 18). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Hunter, G. (1993). Existentialism: Practical classroom applications. The Educational Forum, 57(2), 191–196.
Jones, A. (2001). Absurdity and being-in-itself. The third phase of phenomenology: Jean-Paul Sartre and existential psychoanalysis. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 8, 367–372.
Judd, D. (1989). Give sorrow words—Working with a dying child. London: Free Association Books.
Kahn, M. (1991). Between therapist and client. New York: Freeman & Co.
Kazanjian, C., & Choi, S. (2013). Encountering the displaced child: Applying Clark Moustakas’ concept of existential loneliness to displaced youth. Journal of Global Responsibility, 4(2), 157–167.
Kierkegaard, S. (2009a). Concluding unscientific postscript (A. Hannay, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kierkegaard, S. (2009b). The point of view (H. Hong & E. Hong, Ed. and Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kitano, M. K., & LeVine, E. S. (1987). Existential theory: Guidelines for practice in child therapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 24(3), 404–413.
Kitchener, R. F. (1990). Do children think philosophically? Metaphilosophy, 21(4), 416–431.
Laing, R. D. (1965). The divided self. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Lantz, J. (1993). Countertransference as a corrective emotional experience in existential family therapy. Contemporary Family Therapy, 15(3), 209–221.
Lantz, J. (2001). Depression, existential family therapy and Viktor Frankl’s dimensional ontology. Contemporary Family Therapy, 23(1), 19–32.
Lantz, J. (2004). Worldview concepts in existential family therapy. Contemporary Family Therapy, 26(2), 165–178.
Lantz, J., & Ahern, R. (1998). Re-collection in existential psychotherapy with couples and families dealing with death. Contemporary Family Therapy, 20(1), 47–57.
Lantz, J., & Gyamerah, J. (2002). Existential family trauma therapy. Contemporary Family Therapy, 24(2), 242–255.
Lantz, J., & Raiz, L. (2003). Play and art in existential trauma therapy with children and their parents. Contemporary Family Therapy, 25(2), 165–177.
Layton, L. (2007). What psychoanalysis, culture and society mean to me. Mens Sana Monographs, 5(1), 146–157.
Leaman, O. (1995). Death and loss: Compassionate approaches in the classroom. London and New York: Cassel.
Lipman, M., Sharp, A., & Oscanyan, F. (1980). Philosophy in the classroom. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Macquarrie, J. (1973). Existentialism. London: Penguin Books.
Matthews, G. (1978). The child as natural philosopher. In M. Lipman & A. M. Sharp (Eds.), Growing up with philosophy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Matthews, G. (1980). Philosophy and the young child. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
May, R. (2007). Love and will. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
McMillan, S. (2013). Kierkegaard and a pedagogy of liminality. PhD dissertation, Brigham Young University.
Mercer, J. A. (2003). The idea of the child in Freud and Jung: Psychological sources for divergent spiritualities of childhood. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 8(2), 115–130.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2005). Phenomenology of perception. Taylor and Francis E-Library. Retrieved from http://alfa-omnia.com/resources/Phenomenology+of+Perception.pdf
Mitchell, S. A. (1993). Hope and dread in psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.
Monroe, B., Hansford, P., Payne, M., & Sykes, N. (2007). St Christopher’s and the future. Omega Journal of Death and Dying, 56(1), 63–75.
Mottaghipour, Y. (1982). The humanistic-existential approach to child therapy: A methodology for practice and research. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California.
Moustakas, C. (1966). Existential child therapy. The child’s discovery of himself. USA: International Psychotherapy Institute E-Books. Retrieved from http://www.freepsychotherapybooks.org/child-therapy/product/70-existential-child-therapy.
Murris, K. (2000). Can children do philosophy? Journal of Philosophy of Education, 34(2), 261–279.
Nietzsche, F. (1988). On free death. In W. Kaufmann (Ed.), Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre. Penguin Books Australia.
Ogden, T. H. (1999). Reverie and interpretation. London: Karnac Books.
Ogletree, T. (1973). Existentialism by John Macquarrie. Theology Today, 30(3), 304–306.
Oppenheimer, P. (1988). The appropriateness of existential play therapy for children in middle childhood. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California.
Orange, D., Stolorow, R., & Atwood, G. (1998). Hermeneutics, intersubjectivity theory, and psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 46, 568–571.
Paul, S. (2013). Public health approaches to palliative care: The role of the hospice social worker working with children experiencing bereavement. British Journal of Social Work, 43, 249–263.
Piaget, J. (1936). Origins of intelligence in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Pramling, I., & Johansson, E. (1995). Existential questions in early childhood programs in Sweden: Teachers’ conceptions and children’s experience. Child & Youth Care Forum, 24(2), 125–146.
Quinn, F. (2010). The right to choose: Existential-phenomenological psychotherapy with primary school-aged children. Counselling Psychology Review, 25(1), 41–48.
Reck, U. M. L. (1982). Self concept development in educational settings: Existential approach. Educational Horizons, 60, 128–131.
Reeves, C. (1977). The psychology of Rollo May. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Renstrom, J. (2009). Freedom, absurdity and The Stranger in the classroom. Briarpatch, 38(5), 20.
Santrock, J. W. (1996). Child development (7th ed.). London: Brown and Benchmark Publishers.
Sartre, J. P. (1988). Existentialism is a humanism. In W. Kaufmann (Ed.), Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre. Penguin Books Australia.
Sartre, J. P. (1993). Being and nothingness (H. Barnes, Trans.). New York: Washington Square Press.
Sartre, J. P. (2000). Nausea. London: Penguin.
Sartre, J. (2014). Existential psychanalysis. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing.
Scalzo, C. (2010). Therapy with children. An existential perspective. London: Karnac.
Schell, E. (1968). Existentialism and the classroom teacher. The Elementary School Journal, 69(1), 7–16.
Scholz, S. (2010). That all children should be free: Beauvoir, Rousseau, and childhood. Hypatia, 25(2), 394–411.
Shofner, R. (1975). Macquarrie John, existentialism (book review). Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 43(2), 443–444.
Shumaker, D. (2012). An existential–integrative treatment of anxious and depressed adolescents. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 52(4), 375–400.
Silverman, P. (2000). Never too young to know: Death in children’s lives. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skinner, B. F. (1948). Superstition in the pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168–172.
Spiegelberg, H. (1960). Husserl’s phenomenology and existentialism. The Journal of Philosophy, 57(2), 62–74.
Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic Books.
Stolorow, R. D. (2011). The phenomenology, contextuality, and existentiality of emotional trauma: Ethical implications. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 51(2), 142–151.
Stolorow, R. D. (2012). The renewal of humanism in psychoanalytic therapy. Psychotherapy, 49(4), 442–444.
Tillich, P. (1952). The courage to be. London: Collins.
Unamuno, M. (2005). The tragic sense of life. The Project Gutenberg E-Book. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14636/14636-h/14636-h.htm#II
Vandenberg, B. (1991). Is epistemology enough? An existential consideration of development. American Psychologist, 46(12), 1278–1286.
Vansieleghem, N., & Kennedy, D. (2011). What is philosophy for children, what is philosophy with children—After Matthew Lipman? Journal of Philosophy of Education, 45(2), 171–182.
Vitus, K. (2010). Waiting time: The de-subjectification of children in Danish asylum centres. Childhood, 17(1), 26–42.
Walters, D. A. (2008a). Grief and loss: Towards an existential phenomenology of child spirituality. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 13(3), 277–286.
Walters, D. A. (2008b). Existential being as transformative learning. Pastoral Care in Education: An International Journal of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, 26(2), 111–118.
Winnicott, D. W. (1958). Collected papers through paediatrics to psychoanalysis. London: Tavistock Publications.
Winnicott, D. W. (2012). Primary maternal preoccupation. In P. Mariotti (Ed.), The maternal lineage. London: Routledge.
Woodgate, R., West, C., & Tailor, K. (2014). Existential anxiety and growth: An exploration of computerized drawings and perspectives of children and adolescents with cancer. Cancer Nursing, 37(2), 146–159.
Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York City: Basic Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Simopoulou, Z. (2019). Children’s Existential Encounters in Literature. In: Young Children’s Existential Encounters. Studies in the Psychosocial. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10841-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10841-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-10840-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-10841-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)