PSICHOLOGIJA. (Psychology) 1996, vol. 15

When we speak about the novelty of existential psychology we should mention first of all the idea of the total, indissoluble interrelationship of the individual and his/her world. Each individual and his/her world are said to coconstitute one another. Existential psychology posits after L. Binswanger three different planes of the world that characterize our life as Being-in-the-world: (1) Umwelt - the surrounding world; (2) Mitwelt - the world of other people and relations with them; (3) Eigenwelt - our own world and our relations to ourselves. Another important principle of existential psychology is understanding the individual and his/her life in view of his/her intrinsic ontological characteristics. The main characteristics are finiteness of life (death), anxiety, and guilt.

From its very beginnings, existential psychology was not only theoretization about the understanding of men, but as a practice of psychotherapy (existential analysis, Daseinanalysis, existential therapy, logotherapy, etc.). The main goal of existential therapy is to help the individual who is looking for help to experience his/her existence as real, authentic, as Being-in-the-world with certain potentialities and certain limitations. Existential therapy is oriented namely towards three main features of authentic existence: (1) towards full awareness of the present situation; (2) towards the choice of how to live in this present situation; and (3) towards accepting responsibility for one's decision. Concerning the work of existential therapists, there are some principle points: the basic attitude of the therapist; the understanding of the client; the relationship between the therapists and the client; encouraging the client to under take real actions in his/her life. Existential therapy differs from other trends, not because it has some specific techniques and methods, but because it perceives and understands the clients' problems in a specific, existential context, with a specific, existential attitude. In practice, existential therapy deals with the main, inevitable questions of human existence, with existential dilemmas or, what was called by J. Yalom, existential gives or concerns. They are death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. Encounters with them constitute the essence of existential dynamic conflicts. They are the main themes in existential therapy and they createting the context of discussing concrete problems of clients.

This article discusses the border of methods of the Natural sciences in the field of Human sciences as well as the need fora new method of conducting research of consciousness and using consciousness as a tool to get knowledge instead of denying it. These ideas are discussed in connection with the ideas of E. Husserl's article "Renewal: Its Problem and Method."

The main ideas of phenomenology in connection with psychological research are presented; What ideas are possible to accept in the practice of psychological research? and How can one use it practically? Phenomenological dates are discussed as the meaning of experience, and phenomenological analysis, as an active process with the goal of giving verbal expression to the stream of human conscious experience.

The present paper reveals the peculiarities of the structure of the intellect of mentally retarded pupils, learning-disabled pupils, and pupils with high achievements. The experimental investigation has shown a significant difference between all the groups in the WISC results of full-scaled scores, verbal and performance scores (p<0,05). The performance IQs of children with learning disabilities were significantly higher than their verbal IQs. The profile of children with auditory - visual disorders has a tendency to become flatter (there is no significant difference between verbal IQs and performance IQs). The largest variability of WISC scaled scores appeared in the results of children with high achievements, and the smallest variability, in the results of mentally retarded children.

The results show a positive relationship between all forms of coping and physical exhaustion the day before the surgery. The level of anxiety correlated positively with the level of physical exhaustion.

Patients who coped predominately using social support had the highest scores on the GBB preoperatively, and patients with cognitive coping had the lowest scores on the GBB. A depressive form of coping showed the highest positive correlation with the level of anxiety, preoperatively and postoperatively.

The postoperative level of anxiety had a close positive relationship with all the scales of the GBB. Patients who coped through compliant behavior were likely to deny anxiety. They showed the highest level of somatic complaints postoperatively. Cognitive coping was associated with a decrease in the level of anxiety after the surgery.

It is concluded that somatic complaints depend selectively upon the form of coping. Planning psychotherapeutic supportive means should be considered before and after surgery.

The motive for approaching success (SS) is characterised as the capacity to anticipate pleasure or pride and the motive for avoiding failure (NV), as the capacity to anticipate pain or embarrassment. A measuring instrument for these motives has been developed by T. Gjesme and R. Nygard (the Achievement Motivation Scale, AMS). The present investigation was undertaken in order to analyse the relationship between the scores on the SS and NV scales and other possible near features. A positive and statistically reliable relationship between the SS scale and CPI Dominance scale was found, and a negative relationship between the NV and H. Eysenck extroversion-Introversion Neurotism scale, R. Amthauer's third test and fifth subtest. It was also found that there is no direct relationship between SS and NV motives and the different attractivenesses in the process of the job, the result of the job, or the evaluation of the job.