Meaning in Life

This inspiring, insightful new text provides a practical guide to helping clients live a meaningful and satisfying life despite the challenges they may be facing.
Divided into three parts, it starts by drawing on empirical research to demonstrate the effectiveness of meaning-oriented practice and reviews a large body of literature on meaning in a wide-range of psychological and philosophical approaches, translating this into specific recommendations for practitioners. It continues by exploring the basic skill set required for working effectively in this area - from how to assess clients' needs and address issues of meaning, to specific existential, phenomenological and mindfulness skills. Finally, it provides a step guide to applying the skills to clinical practice with the support of examples and case studies from a range of professions.
In what is still an emerging area of practice, this text stands alone as a comprehensive source of reference for both students and practitioners across the full range of people professions.

Dr Joel Vos is psychologist and philosopher. He is Director of the online education, therapy and research platform, Meaning Online, and chairman of the IMEC International Meaning Conferences.

Introduction
Part I:Scientific foundations: meaning in life for sceptics
1. Traditional Approaches to Meaning
2. A pragmatic-phenomenological approach to meaning
3. Research on the meaning of meaning
4. Research on meaning-centered practices
Part II: Practical foundations: practitioner skills
5. Pluralistic Framework
6. Meaning-Centered Assessment Skills
7. Meaning-Specific Skills
8. Relational Skills
9. Phenomenological, experiential and mindfulness skills
10. Existential skills
Part III: A ten-session treatment manual: Meaning-Centered Groups for Physically Ill Individuals
11. Overview of treatment
12. Individual assessment session
13. Session 1: introduction to meaning in life
14. Session 2: Changes in meaning in life
15. Session 3: Resilience as source of meaning
16. Session 4: material-hedonic sources of meaning
17. Session 5: self-oriented sources of meaning
18. Session 6: Social sources of meaning
19. Session 7: Higher sources of meaning
20. Session 8: Being-here as source of meaning
21. Session 9: Experiencing meaning in daily life and how to do it
22. Session 10: Ending and a new beginning
Questionnaires