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Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom and Responsibility
Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy (Yalom)
🛡️ Mastery 🧠 Cognition

Awareness and acceptance that the client is the author of their own life. A shift from "I am forced", "I have no choice", "that's how it turned out" to "I choose" — even if the choice is painful and difficult. Yalom, drawing on Sartre, shows that people avoid freedom through denial, shifting responsibility, the victim role. Existential responsibility is frightening, but it is the only path to authentic life.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Hear the language of helplessness: "forced", "have to", "no choice", "it turned out"
  2. Gently offer a reformulation: "What if we say not 'have to' but 'I choose'?"
  3. Explore what holds the client in the victim position: fear of responsibility? safety?
  4. Distinguish real limitations from illusory ones ("are they walls or your choice?")
  5. Support the first step toward claiming authorship, without judging past choices

When to use

  • A sense of victimhood and helplessness
  • Chronic "I am forced", "I have no choice"
  • Fear of choosing and taking responsibility
  • Complaints about limits (external and internal)
  • An impossible choice — being stuck in ambivalence
  • Following others' expectations without awareness of choice

Key phrases

What if we say not "have to" but "I choose"? Even if the choice is hard — it is still your choice.

Follow-up questions

What keeps you here — walls, or your choice?
If you didn't need anyone's approval — what would you choose?
You say "I have no choice". Let's look: what options are there after all, even painful ones?

Alternative phrasings

"Who makes this decision every day — you, or someone else?"
"If this is your choice — what does it say about your values?"

Warnings

  • ⚠️ Do not rush the client to take responsibility in the face of real trauma or objective limits
  • ⚠️ Risk of amplifying shame and self-blame if the client is not ready
  • ⚠️ Do not confuse with blaming the victim — the aim is not reproach but expanded freedom

Source: Yalom, 1980 — Existential Psychotherapy; Sartre, 1943 — Being and Nothingness; May, 1981 — Freedom and Destiny

responsibility choice freedom helplessness autonomy authorship

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Materials are informational and educational and summarize publicly available scientific sources. They are not medical or psychological advice, are not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, and do not replace consultation with a qualified professional.