Emmy van Deurzen

Emmy van Deurzen (born 13 December 1951 in The Hague, Netherlands) is an existential therapist. She developed a philosophical therapy based in existential-phenomenology.
Biography
van Deurzen was born and raised in The Hague, in The Netherlands, then went to France to study, where she earned two master's degrees, one in philosophy, at the University of Montpellier, where she studied with Michel Henry, and one in clinical psychology, at the University of Bordeaux, during which time she was supervised by Dr. François Tosquelles. She wrote her thesis on phenomenology and psychiatry in relation to solitude and loneliness for her philosophy dissertation and on attempted suicide for her clinical psychology thesis. She worked as psychotherapist in France, then moved to the UK in 1977, where she became involved in antipsychiatry activism and worked for some time with R. D. Laing. She came to her own version of existential therapy, and started teaching at Antioch University, after which she moved to Regent's University London when the program moved there, joining the Regent's faculty when the program was incorporated into the college.
She published her first book on her approach in 1987 and the next year founded the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA) and its Journal of Existential Analysis. After she left Regent's, she founded the New School for Psychotherapy and Counselling, and a conflict resolution centre. In 2005 she became an honorary professor at the University of Sheffield. She did her PhD on Heidegger's concepts of authenticity and inauthenticity and their relevance to psychotherapy, at City University, London. She has published widely on existential therapy and her work has been translated into twenty plus languages. She contributed numerous ideas to existential therapy, including that of the four worlds model and the emotional compass.
In 2014 she and her husband Prof Digby Tantam, created the Existential Academy, a community interest company, in West Hampstead, where they offer five masters programmes and two doctoral programmes in conjunction with Middlesex University, as well as a range of short courses. (www.existentialacademy.com)
Honours
As listed by the University of Sheffield.
2007–2008 - Visiting Associate, Darwin College, Cambridge University
2006 – Fellow, United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy
2005 – Honorary Fellow, Swedish Association for Existential Psychotherapy (SEPT)
2005 – Honorary Professor, University of Sheffield
2001 – Fellow, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
1999 – Fellow, British Psychological Society (BPS)
1999–2002 - Official Delegate to the Council of Europe, for the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP)
1998–1999 - Chair of the British Psychological Society, Psychotherapy Section
1998 – Honorary European Certificate for Psychotherapy
1997–1999 - Chair of the Universities Psychotherapy Association (UPCA)
1995–2002 - European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) Ambassador
Books
Rising from Existential Crisis: Living Beyond Calamity, (2021) Monmouth: Monmouth: PCCS books.
Wiley World Handbook for Existential Therapy, (2019) Co-edited with Craig, E., Schneider K. Längle, A., Tantam, D. and du Plock, S, London: Wiley
Existential Therapy: Distinctive Features, London: Routledge. (2018) Co-authored with Claire Arnold-Baker, London: Routledge
Skills in Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2nd Edition (2016). Co-authored with Martin Adams, London: Sage.
Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy, Second Edition (2015). Chichester: Wiley
Existential Perspectives on Relationship Therapy (2013). Edited with Susan Iacovou, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice, Third Edition (2012), London: Sage Publications
Existential Perspectives on Coaching (2012). Co-edited with Monica Hanway, London: Palgrave, Macmillan
Skills in Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy (2011). Co-authored with Martin Adams, London: Sage Publications
Everyday Mysteries: A Handbook of Existential Psychotherapy, Second Edition (2010), London: Routledge
Existential Perspectives on Supervision (2009). Co-edited with Sarah Young, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Psychotherapy and the Quest for Happiness (2008), London: Sage Publications
Dictionary of Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling (2005). With Raymond Kenward, London: Sage
Existential Perspectives on Existential and Human Issues (2005). Edited with Claire Arnold-Baker, Basingstoke: Palgrave, Macmillan
Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice, Second Edition (2002), London: Sage
Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy (1998), Chichester: Wiley
Everyday Mysteries: Existential Dimensions of Psychotherapy (1997), London: Routledge
Existential Counselling in Practice (1988), London: Sage
References
Further reading
© SACRI
Interviews with Emmy van Deurzen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HmiOBnfFL4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzt23ifzK6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yevcbeWqyy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdt7mBUlBGQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv8OEhYE6c8
External links
Emmy read her essay ‘Becoming an Existential Therapist’ on BBC Radio 3 on 15 November 2013: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hjw9f
1951 births
Living people
Academics of Regent's University London
Dutch psychologists
Dutch psychotherapists
Psychodramatists
Health professionals from The Hague
Existential therapists
Dutch women psychologists
Philosophical counselors
Dutch emigrants to England
Academics of the University of Sheffield