Italian humanistic-existential psychology

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Luigi De Marchi · 1984 · Rome

What it is

Read this first: source situation. This tradition has no openly available treatment manual, and De Marchi's own books are not online. What could be verified is (a) the theory's structure from the chapter headings of De Marchi's own chapter, (b) IPUE's current self-description of its model, aims and…

Format

• No published phase model was found. The sources describe dimensions of work, aims and a stance, not stages or session counts. Below: first what the sources give, then a sequence for a clinician starting now.
• What the sources give

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• This is a theory and training tradition, not a single manualised therapy. Luigi De Marchi (Milan 1927 – Rome 2010), psychologist, translator and biographer of Wilhelm Reich in Italy, co-founder of the Associazione Italiana di Psicologia Umanistica (1978) and founder of IPUE in Rome (1984 or 1986: IPUE's own pages give both dates), developed an "esistenzialismo umanistico" that combined Rogerian person-centred…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Clients who want a label; give one if useful, but keep the shared formulation primary.
• Medical deterioration needing liaison; anticipatory grief in family; your own death anxiety.
• Mixing protocol work with open existential work without telling the client which mode you are in.
• Fatigue (keep sessions short), family dynamics in the legacy document, the patient's editorial control.
• Over-disclosure of personal life (not the point); the client testing you with challenging questions, which is welcome and a sign of engagement.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.