ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the similarities between certain concepts and practices in Systems-Centered Therapy (SCT) and concepts in existentialism. A particularly striking similarity between existentialism and SCT is the focus on the self as an ongoing creation, rather than an essential nature. At a broader level, the entire SCT approach in which early group interventions create a systems-centered group is also an application of Sartre’s view. The SCT approach taps into potentials in all groups, but all groups are not systems-centered. A key innovation of SCT is seeing frustration, not as an unpleasant situation to be avoided, but as the experience of potential and energy. The existential themes that SCT does not emphasize—death and guilt—are to some extent already implied by the approach and to some extent developing in SCT theory. SCT specifies that a “frame” contains some explanation of the situation, rather than just a linguistic label.
