daseinsanalysis

Daseinsanalysis (German: Daseinsanalyse) is an existentialist approach to psychoanalysis. It was first developed by Ludwig Binswanger in the 1920s under the concept of "phenomenological anthropology". After the publication of "Basic Forms and Perception of Human Dasein" (German: Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins), Binswanger would refer to his approach as Daseinsanalysis. Binswanger's approach was heavily influenced by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger and psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud. The philosophy of daseinsanalysis is centered on the thought that the human Dasein (Human existence) is open to any and all experience, and that the phenomenological world is experienced freely in an undistorted way. This way initially being absent from meaning, is the basis for analysis. This theory goes opposite to dualism in the way that it proposes no gap between the human mind and measurable matter. Subjects are taught to think in the terms of being alone with oneself and grasping concepts of personhood, mortality and the dilemma or paradox of living in relationship with other humans while being ultimately alone with oneself. Binswanger believed that all mental issues stemmed from the dilemma of living with other humans and being ultimately alone.

After World War II a form of Daseinsanalysis that differed from Binswanger's evolved in Zurich by Medard Boss. This new form of Daseinsanalysis focused on the practical application of Heidegger's phenomenology to the theory of neuroses and psychotherapy. Boss worked closely with Heidegger and in 1957, published a work that directly critiqued Freud, Jung, and Binswanger. While Binswanger refused to institutionalize his "psychiatric Daseinsanalysis" and focused more on research, Boss focused on the psychotherapeutic values and opened the Swiss Society for Daseinsanalysis in 1970 and the Zurich Institute for Daseinsanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in 1971. Here, Boss would use Daseinsanalysis as a form of therapy. This therapy focuses on what is obvious and what is immediately experienced. Trying to escape dualistic thinking and to establish a clear connection between body and soul. In this way, Daseinsanalysis is similar in environment to psychoanalysis, but differs in the interpretation of the experience.