Latin American existential psychotherapy

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Susana Signorelli, Alberto de Castro Correa, Yaqui Andrés Martínez Robles · 2003 · Cartagena, Colombia

What it is

This is a regional movement and professional network, not a single manualised therapy. The Asociación Latinoamericana de Psicoterapia Existencial (ALPE) grew out of meetings that began at an international congress in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2003. It was formally constituted in 2010 at the III Latin…

Format

• No common phase model. None of the primary sources gives a staged protocol, a session count or explicit transition criteria. Martínez Robles describes a set of attitudes and questions, and Feijoo & Protasio reject mapping or steering the client. The phases below are therefore a practical scaffold…
• Format. Individual therapy is the default in the sources. Session length and frequency are not specified, so a weekly 50–60-minute session is a reasonable default. The Argentine strand also uses hospital, oncology and community formats: sessions moved outdoors, an open patient film group, and a…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Key people: Alberto de Castro Correa (Colombia, co-editor of the 2020 volume); Yaqui Andrés Martínez Robles (Mexico, Círculo de Estudios en Psicoterapia/Terapia Existencial, training since 2002, ALPE honorary president); Pablo Rispo (Argentina, early collaborator of Signorelli); Ana María López Calvo de Feijoo and Emilio Romero (Brazil); Ana María León (Ecuador). Signorelli is also named as a key person. The…

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?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• 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

• Bracketing becoming a refusal to recognise risk. See section 5.
• Indirection read as evasiveness. Explain your reasons if asked.
• Treating the write-up as the truth about the client. Step 7 guards against this.
• Clients may feel patronised. It is working when the answer surprises you or the client.
• Clients experiencing this as abandonment. Name the stance openly. Safety decisions are an exception (section 5).

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.