An assumption of existential therapy is that individuals are:

• A. We are determined by our past and cannot change
• B. We are free and therefore responsible for our actions and the results of those actions and choices, authors of our lives not the victims of circumstances
• C. Therapy aims to eliminate freedom
• D. Responsibility is irrelevant in existential therapy

Answer: (B)

Existential therapy centers on the belief that people are free to choose and responsible for those choices and their consequences. It sees life as something we actively create through our decisions, not something we’re passively determined by the past or by external factors. With this freedom comes the responsibility to own the outcomes of our actions and to shape our lives rather than feel like victims of circumstances. This makes the statement describing us as free and therefore responsible for our actions and the results of those actions, authors of our lives not the victims of circumstances, the best fit. It captures the core idea that meaning arises through deliberate choices and that anxiety or discomfort can be a sign of engaging with that freedom. The other views—seeing people as determined by the past, aiming to remove freedom, or considering responsibility irrelevant—run counter to the existential emphasis on agency and accountability.