Binswanger, Ludwig (1881-1966), a Swiss psychiatrist, was one of the founders of existential psychotherapy, a form of psychoanalysis that applies the principles of the philosophy of existentialism to psychotherapy. Existentialism is a philosophy holding that reality consists of living and that humanity makes itself what it is and people are responsible only to themselves. Psychotherapy is the treatment of mental or emotional disorders by psychological means, especially those involving intercommunication, such as psychoanalysis.