The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals, Third Edition

The first approach to a reaction paper on a theory of personality is a daunting task. Over the years in working with people, a specific set of theoretical constructs would be tough to identify. I work within the current and future reality that the individual with a brain injury is and simply tried to help those individuals understand how a brain injury affects his or her world. Trying to analyze, internalize and write about this theory has been a challenge.

The basis of the Existential Theory is that we are the result of our own choices and decisions. The essence of being human means that we are never rigid or predetermined and we are always striving to be a genuine human being. Existential Theory describes the definition of human nature that we are "…in a constant state of transition, emerging, evolving, and becoming." (Gerald Corey, 1996 Pg. 172). There seems to be a positive nature to the human condition due to the motivation to experience and strive toward becoming an authentic human being. Existentialist state that we are creating our identity in order to relate to other human beings and yet ultimately it seems Existentialism rests on experiencing aloneness, anxiety, meaninglessness, and nonbeing. The Existential Theory is one that is realistic and encompasses all of the phases of the human condition, positive and negative, as we all strive to be authentic human beings.

Within Existential theory, there are no specific developmental stages of the individual. In fact there are no specific set of techniques prescribed for the therapeutic process. Having the ability to think and reason does set human beings apart from other species. As such, we then would have the capacity for self-awareness that internalizes our experiences of the world around us. Decisions, knowledge, anxieties, finality and aloneness are all concepts that interact and develop each person's approach