Third Force Psychology

Third force psychology is killing me, but only because I am letting it. In my mind, the focus on free will almost strips you of your individuality. It sounds paradoxical. And I think it is. As soon as you begin trying to live an “authentic” life, you quickly realize that everything around you is influencing you and you cannot escape all of it.

If you have not read the play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett, I highly recommend it. The play is centered around two characters who are waiting for someone, someone they do not know, someone named…you guessed it…Godot. They wait and do all sorts of absurd things (an illusion to the existential “absurd”) to pass the time. The take-away is that the meaning of life does not exist inherently. A person must create value by defining it and living it. On a grander scale, perhaps there is some inherent meaning but we, as humans, are incapable of understanding it. I’m getting carried away with philosophy. Back to psychology:

I have not studied or practiced existential therapy so do not mistake my pondering as truth. I would consider the focus on choices and consequences to be very effective in therapy because it gives the client some freedom. I can also see how understanding that death is inevitable would help a client who is grieving or about to lose a family member. All of this has to be tactfully and with skill. I doubt that very few clients would find it helpful to hear “death is inevitable and their time has come”. I also would not be surprised if that blunt satement does help someone. It is all about context. It really is. That is what makes therapy and life so difficult. We never know anyone’s story completely and we never will. We can only know our own stories, and even then, only if we try.

How can we take something so basic and make it so complicated?

You really should read the play. It’s short.