EHI Bibliography

Here are some publications and textbooks written, edited or contributed to by members of the Existential-Humanistic Institute team. Find textbooks on Existential therapy practices, existential-humanistic philosophy, and more.  This list is always growing as new publications are released. Check back for updates! 

bookcover for Kirk Schneider's Life Enhancing Anxiety

Kirk Schneideri, PhD
University Professors Press, 2023

Life-Enhancing Anxiety makes a bold proposal: It is not less anxiety that we need today, but more, at least of a certain kind of anxiety. The book comprises a collection of original and previously published essays that converge on what Schneider calls life-enhancing anxiety.  Life-enhancing anxiety is the invigorating degree of anxiety needed to become passionately engaged, ethically attuned, and creatively enriched. Set against our anxiety-avoidant times, life-enhancing anxiety enables us to “live with and make the best of the depth and mystery of existence.”

a African American man sits facing opposite a police officer with Dr Schneider between as mediator: the Depolarizing of America by Kirk Schneider PhD book cover

Kirk Schneideri, PhD
University Professors Press, 2020

The Depolarizing of America is the culmination of years of effort to promote safe, mindfully structured dialogues in homes, offices, classrooms, and community centers. It is an attempt to “give away” the time-tested skills and methods with which the author, Kirk Schneider, has intimate experience, to a range of both laypersons and professionals; people who yearn to socially heal. As a follow up to Schneider’s groundbreaking book, The Polarized MindThe Depolarizing of America is an essential read for those who are striving for social healing and positive collective change.

ambiguity

Nader R Shabahangi, PhD
Eldership Academy Press, 2018

The development from psychoanalysis to Processwork can be summarised in the way we understand human suffering. Whereas psychoanalysis still understands suffering as a disease to be overcome, Processwork views human suffering as a key to awareness. Understood as such, suffering holds one of the deeper meanings of life: the ability to connect with your soul, your deep humanity. It is this connection with suffering that pushes us to become ever more aware. Rather than trying to eliminate suffering, we can celebrate it as an opportunity to deepen who we are. This book is my effort to re-introduce a love of philosophy to psychology.

awakening

Kirk J Schneider, PhD
Jason AronsoN, 2009

Awakening to Awe is a self-help meditation on an alternative-and growing-spiritual movement. This is a movement comprised of people who refuse the “quick-fix” model for healing, whether that model entails popping pills, indulging in material comforts, or adhering to doctrinal dogmas. By contrast, the movement about which Schneider writes is composed of people who have developed the capacity to experience the humility and wonder, or in short, awe, of life deeply lived.

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Ed Voris, Nader Shabahangi, and Patrick Fox, in collaboration with Sharon Mercer
Eldership Academy Press(frm. Elders Academy Press) 2009

How can we not be afraid of Alzheimer’s Disease? How can we not dread aging? by posing these questions we are invited alternate ways of seeing Alzheimer’s disease as well as aging. In so doing we do not want to minimize the suffering that people may experience watching a loved one become forgetful. Nor do we want to minimize that becoming forgetful and growing old can be pain processes. Rather, Conversations with Ed wants to create a positive cultural space for people with dementia, for those who accompany them on their journey and for those who fear being afflicted with it.

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Nader Robert Shabahangi and Bogna Szymkiewicz
Eldership Academy Press(frm. Elders Academy Press) 2009

Deeper into the Soul reminds us that each stage of forgetfulness is a meaningful part of the life journey, during which people have important emotional and spiritual experiences. The authors remind us that with each effort to understand others, we expand our view of the world. Rather than simply a disease, forgetfulness has purpose and meaning; rather than simply being in need of our care, people with forgetfulness can teach us about life and living; rather than a burden, people with dementia offer us an opportunity to slow down, to be more open and caring, to get in touch with the essence of our human nature. In the process, we deepen ourselves, deepen our souls.

This book is a practical guide for people who work and live with relatives or residents with symptoms of forgetfulness. The authors offer ideas and tips dealing with symptoms such as aggression and wandering, but they also explore a new way of understanding the people for whom we care. They ask the basic existential questions: What are the possible meanings of forgetfulness? What purpose does it serve for both caregiver and the one experiencing forgetfulness? 

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Mary Madrigal, PhD
Mary G. Madrigal, PhD, 2015

Enough: You are Enough is a collection of affirmations and quotes to inspire and motivate you. A gentle reminder that you are enough. What you do is enough. You are a beautiful person just the way you are.

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Kirk J Schneider, Orah Krug
APA Books, 2017

Existential-Humanistic Therapy [2nd Edition, 2017] provides an in-depth survey of contemporary existential-humanistic (E-H) theory, practice, and research. In particular, this uniquely American version of existential therapy, currently experiencing a renaissance, highlights E-H therapy’s historical development, theoretical underpinnings, and practical applications alongside the very latest in process and outcome research. New to this revised edition is an increased focus on a more integrative perspective, which makes existential–humanistic therapy applicable to a wider array of settings and diagnostic populations. This flexibility also makes it more adaptable to other therapeutic approaches and expands its influence on clinical psychology as a whole. Companion DVD available.

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Kirk J Schneider, PhD
Routledge, 2015

Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy promises to be a landmark in the fields of psychotherapeutic theory and practice. A comprehensive revision of its predecessor, The Psychology of Existence, co-edited by Kirk Schneider and Rollo May, Existential- Integrative Psychotherapy combines clear and updated guidelines for practice with vivid and timely case vignettes. These vignettes feature the very latest in both mainstream and existential therapeutic integrative application, by the top innovators in the field.

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Nader R Shabahangi, PhD
Eldership Academy Press(FRMR Elders Academy Press), 2002

Faces of Aging is a collection of essays and photographic images that address the challenge of aging in a society that is not sympathetic to older people. The result of this negativity deprives us all from interaction with a very valuable segment of the population.

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Kirk J Schneider, PhD
Paragon House, 2004

Rediscovery of Awe offers a potential bridge between two ostensible adversaries today: science and religion (also conceived as relativism vs. absolutism, atheism vs. theism, and postmodernity vs. fundamentalism).
At its core, Rediscovery of Awe is a practical, psychological translation of an emerging spiritual transformation—a humanistic spirituality. It presents a provocative, and revolutionary, vision. The aim of the book is to revive a sense of awe—the humility and wonder, thrill and anxiety, splendor and mystery of living—in self, society, and spirit. It is an attempt to revive the capacity to be moved. Rediscovery of Awe promotes a new relation to life, and illustrates this relation over a broad range: from child-raising to education to the workplace, and from religion to politics and ethics. Set against our awe-deprived times, in which we tend to favor either a high tech, consumerist mentality or, contrastingly, a dogmatic, fundamentalist orientation, it presents a dynamic and rejuvenating alternative.

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Orah Krug, PhD and Kirk J Schneider, Phd
American Psychological Association, 2016

This concise guide applies the principles of Existential-Humanistic (E-H) therapy to the practice of clinical supervision. With the skillful use of case examples—including transcripts and analyses of real sessions with a real clinical trainee—the authors utilize the key ingredients of the E-H therapeutic approach, including empathy, acceptance, and genuineness, to model how trainees can create safe, collaborative, and supportive relationships with clients. E-H supervisors help trainees learn to enter their clients’ self-constructed worlds, using their own personal contexts to develop responsiveness to clients, while also cultivating the “presence” that enables genuine encounters and real therapeutic change. Companion DVD available!

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Edited by Kirk J Schneider, J Fraser Pierson and James F. T. Bugental
Sage Publications, 2014

The Second Edition of the cutting edge work, The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, by Kirk J. Schneider, J. Fraser Pierson and James F. T. Bugental, represents the very latest scholarship in the field of humanistic psychology and psychotherapy. Set against trends inclined toward psychological standardization and medicalization, the handbook offers a rich tapestry of reflection by the leading person-centered scholars of our time. Their range in topics is far-reaching—from the historical, theoretical and methodological, to the spiritual, psychotherapeutic and multicultural.
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Kirk J Schneider
University Professors Press, 2013

What do a school shooter, a corporate swindler, and a bullheaded ideologue have in common? They all converge on what Dr. Kirk Schneider terms “the polarized mind.” The polarized mind, which is the fixation on one point of view to the utter exclusion of competing points of view, is killing us—personally, politically, and environmentally. Drawing from the standpoint of existential psychology, The Polarized Mind: Why It’s Killing Us and What We Can Do About It details the basis for the polarized mind, how it has ravaged leaders and their cultures throughout history (up to and including our own time), and steps we urgently need to take to address the problem. These steps combine contemporary insights with centuries of cross-cultural, awe-inspired wisdom.

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Mary Madrigal, PhD
Mary G. Madrigal, PhD, 2015

The Spirit of the Female Warrior is a collection of pictorial narrative and quotes to inspire the warrior in each woman. To remind her that she is both tender and compassionate but can also rise up and be fierce and passionate.

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Kirk J Schneider, PhD
University Professors Press, 2019

The robotic revolution is here and there is no going back. From the way we raise our children, to our work settings, to our governments, and even our wars, the quick fix-instant result society is roiling our world. Yet what is lost in this delirium is depth, the awesomeness, not just of our machines, but of our flesh, our capacity to feel, and our capacity to dwell in the miracle of the unknown. The Spirituality of Awe dwells in the miracle of the unknown. It is an intimate trek into the evolving spirituality of awe–the humility and wonder; sense of adventure toward life. Can we preserve awe–the arguable “heart” of humanity–in spite of and even in light of our technologies? Or will we devolve into mechanically driven puppets, numb to our possibilities, blind to our servitude? There is no more critical problem for our age.

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Emmy van Deurzen (Editor-in-Chief); Erik Craig , Alfried Laengle, Kirk J. Schneider, Digby Tantam, Simon du Plock (Eds.)
Wiley, 2019

The Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy is a work representing the collaboration of existential psychotherapists, teachers, and researchers. It’s a book to guide readers in understanding human life better through the exploration of aspects and applications of existential therapy. The book presents the therapy as a way for clients to explore their experiences and make the most of their lives. Its contributors offer an accurate and in-depth view of the field. An introduction of existential therapy is provided, along with a summary of its historical foundations. Chapters are organized into sections that cover: daseinsanalysis; existential-phenomenonological, -humanistic, and -integrative therapies; and existential group therapy. International developments in theory, practice and research are also examined.