The purpose of this article is to explore the possibility of providing philosophical counseling for an individual who has led a tragic life. The study focuses on the historic case of Ellen West. This case can be representative understood in the context of Binswanger’s daseinsanalysis. Twenty years after Binswanger had failed in his own treatments, he developed daseinsanalysis as a new paradigm of psychiatric treatment by incorporating Husserl’s phenomenology and Heidegger’s philosophy. While focusing on the famous case mentioned above, this paper discusses the similarities and differences between Binswanger’s daseinsanalysis and philosophical counseling. First, I briefly introduce the case of Ellen West, who had committed suicide after leading a tragic life, and thoroughly investigate how Binswanger understood her tragic death. My investigation is based on the key elements of "tragic existence" in Binswanger’s daseinsanalysis. On the one hand, Binswanger is well appreciated for introducing a new anthropological understanding of psychiatry and counseling. However, on the other hand, if we reexamine the crux of "tragedy" and "existence" from the perspective of philosophical counseling, daseinsanalysis appears to be limited to the interpretation of Ellen West’s tragic life. Thus, I aim to understand West’s tragedy on the basis of "the Dionysiac passion" that affirmed her life by referring to Nietzsche’s early philosophy. Furthermore, I propose an alternative interpretation West’s "tragic life" and "existential struggle" in the context of Heidegger’s view of existence as "geworfener Entwurf".