Existential group work focuses on the subjective aspects of a member's experiences.

The central issues in existential group therapy and therapy are: Freedom, Responsibility, and the anxiety that accompanies being both free and responsible.

Some of the concepts of existential therapy in a group setting are:

1. The meaning of death is a productive focus for group sessions, for from the concept of death do we realize the meaning of living.

2. "We have to learn to stand alone before we can stand beside anyone."

3. "If it does not kill me, it can only make me stronger."

4. People become what they choose to become. The focus is on our potential to find our own way, and the search for identity and self-actualization.

5. Existential crises are seen as a part of living and not something to be remedied. These crises frequently concern the meaning of life, anxiety and guilt, recognition of one's aloneness, the awareness of death and finality, and the fear of choosing and accepting responsibility for one's choices. The "crisis" is necessarily pathological - it can be externally alleviated, lived through, and understood in the context of a group.

6. Group leaders become "active agents" in the group.

7. Existential therapy is best considered as an invitation to members to recognize the ways in which they are not living fully authentic lives and to make choices that will lead them to become what they are capable of being.

8. Existential groups do not focus on curing sickness or merely providing problem-solving techniques for the complexities of real life.