Logotherapy in the Care of the Terminally Ill

SUMMARY

Logotherapy is very useful in dealing with a person with a terminal illness in that such a person often feels that life is meaningless. Viktor Frankl asserts that each person's life has a unique meaning even when the person is confronted with a terminal condition over which he/she seemingly has little control. It is the role of the logotherapist to help the person to discover that unique meaning within himself/herself. The logotherapist does not provide the meaning, but rather assists the person in discovering his/her own meaning. This article explores the various ways by which meaning may be discovered through the methods of logotherapy.     

The commonsense conception and its relation to scientific theory

Abstract

In this paper I discern two concepts of meaning: meaning O ‐ which is assigned by us on the basis of our commonsense conception in order to constitute our own daily reality — and meaning I, which we assign when we interpret reality scientifically. Authors who contend that the commonsense conception is nothing but a kind of scientific theory, do not see that the two fields of life have their own concept of meaning. Commonsense and science are not separate from each other, however: though both have their own practices, the way we interpret reality scientifically presupposes our commonsense conception.     

Un éclairage de la transition de retraite par l’analyse interprétative phénoménologique (IPA)

IntroductionInterpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a method of qualitative discourse analysis that aims to understand lived experience and the meaning that individuals attribute to it.ObjectivesAfter describing its theoretical foundations and its methodology, this paper applies this method on a research on the experience of retirement transition which collected 28 interviews. It thus aims to show the interest of this method in understanding the psychological and reflexive processes inherent in periods of life marked by transformations.MethodCentred on the way in which people imagine their own transformation of identity at retirement age and on the meaning they give to it, the analysis takes into account the adjustments made to daily life, to the relationship with time, and to social relations. This analysis is based on the detailed study of a case, and then compared to five other cases.ResultsThe need to make a break, manifested by the extent and form of the transformations given on a daily basis, varies according to the subjects, meaning being attributed not only to the break but also to continuity. A temporal experience marked by a present to be reconfigured and interpersonal relationships deemed meaningful, is, on the other hand, very shared.ConclusionBy bringing to light the psychological and reflexive processes of the experience of retirement, this study carried out with reference to the IPA can contribute to nourishing the practices of support for retirement, which are tending to develop.     

Wonder,Mystery, and Meaning

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between wonder and meaning, in particular ‘the meaning of life’, a connection that, despite strong intrinsic connections between wonder and the (philosophical) search for meaning has not yet received any sustained attention. Does wonder ‘merely’ inspire our search for meaning, or does it also point the way towards meaning? In exploring this question I first engage with Hannah Arendt, then examine the suggestion (by Josef Pieper and Rachel Carson, among others) that the meaning wonder points us to lies in connecting us with the mystery of existence. Can there be meaning in mystery, or is wonder––as a state of being lost for words in the face of mystery––rather antithetical to meaning? This discussion leads to the idea, emphasized in recent writing on wonder, that wonder (also) depends on the meaning we ascribe to things. In the final section I discuss wonder as a potential source of meaning in life, then return to the question whether it can also point towards a deeper meaning of life. I conclude that no purely rational justification can be given for this view, but that this need not detract from the importance of wonder in our lives.     

Life Meaning and Sign Meaning

Abstract

Philosophers once dismissed questions about meaning in life as conceptually confused. Only language and related phenomena, it was thought, can have meaning; thus, to ask about the meaning of life is to misapply the concept. Recent work by Susan Wolf, Thaddeus Metz, Aaron Smuts, and others has brought new attention and respectability to the topic. However, while talk of life meaning is no longer considered nonsense, most theorists continue to assume that such talk has nothing to do with meaning in the ‘sign’ sense that applies to language. In this paper I argue that this assumption is not well justified and that reflection on the example of Sherlock Holmes's life can help us to see why.     

Meaning in life and violations of beliefs and goals: reciprocal relations among individuals with congestive heart failure

Background and objectives: In the context of highly stressful experiences, violations of beliefs and goals and meaning in life may have a reciprocal relationship over time. More violations may lead to lowered meaning, whereas higher meaning may lead to lowered violations. The present study examines this relationship among congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.

Design: A cross-lagged panel design was used.

Methods: CHF patients (N?=?142) reported twice, six months apart, on their meaning in life and the extent to which CHF violates their beliefs and goals.

Results: Overall, results were consistent with a reciprocal relationship, showing that greater goal violations led to negative subsequent changes in meaning, whereas greater meaning led to favorable subsequent changes in violations of beliefs and goals.

Conclusions: Meaning in life and violations may contribute to one another, and therefore, in understanding the adjustment process, it is important to consider their interrelationship. The results are also broadly informative regarding the experience of meaning, showing that disruption of beliefs and goals may undermine meaning.     

Prolongement du dispositif d’accompagnement sens de la vie et sens du travail : « Développer le sens de sa vie en cultivant ses liens aux autres et aux communautés sociales »

IntroductionAs an extension of the counseling program for adults, dedicated to meaning of life and meaning of work, a complementary session called “Developing the meaning of one's life by cultivating one's links with others and social communities” has been created. It is developed under the impetus in particular of formulated research perspectives in which broadening the focus is encouraged, by no longer focusing solely on individuals but also on social groups, collectives and communities.ObjectiveThe intention is to understand the way through which meaning is developed by way of contact with social interactions and how the development of reflection on social communities makes it possible to enrich the individual in the construction of his identity, his references and of his social integration. This session strives not to reinforce, with the accompaniment to meaning, individualism, excessive self-centeredness, withdrawal into oneself within what is known of the intimate sphere. On the contrary, it strives to promote an awareness of the importance of the link to others, of an openness to otherness which is fundamental in the construction of meaning.ProcedureThe objective of this study is to present the session by considering its processes and its effects in order to provide practicing psychologists and counselors in the field of orientation with an intervention device and operational tools.Concluding discussionThe scientific and practical implications are discussed in the light of the main results collected during the 2019 experimentation of this session with four communities and its application within five counseling programs validating its contributions for the beneficiaries and for the overall device.     

Ineffability,Signification and the Meaning of Life

Abstract

There is an apparent tension between two familiar platitudes about the meaning of life: (i) that ‘meaning’ in this context means ‘value’, and (ii) that such meaning might be ineffable. I suggest a way of trying to bring these two claims together by focusing on an ideal of a meaningful life that fuses both the axiological and semantic senses of ‘significant’. This in turn allows for the possibility that the full significance of a life might be ineffable not because its axiological significance is ineffable, but because its semantic significance is ineffable in virtue of the signification relation itself being unsignifiable. I then explore to what degree this claim about signification can be adequately defended.     

Being Forgotten: Implications for the Experience of Meaning in Life

ABSTRACT

Two studies investigated the effects of being forgotten on the target of memory. In Study 1, undergraduate women (N = 96) who had completed a lab session two days prior, were randomly assigned to be remembered, forgotten, complimented, or to a control group. In the absence of effects on mood or social self-esteem, being forgotten resulted in lower meaning in life. In Study 2, participants (N = 47) who had completed a group exercise were informed two days later that no one remembered them, that everyone remembered them, or that no one wanted to work with them. Being forgotten led to lower meaning in life than being remembered but did not differ from being excluded. Being forgotten may be considered a type of incipient ostracism that influences meaning in life but not mood or state social self-esteem.     

Broken Bonds

SUMMARY

Infidelity comes in many forms. Different meanings may be assigned to the various forms. This article discusses not only the different forms infidelity may take, but also the larger issue in the field of couple and family therapy; the meaning frame for understanding the impact of different kinds of events, specific relationship problems, and how to deal with them. This is done through the use of emotion focused therapy and the context of adult attachment.     

Death and the Meaning of Life

Abstract

Thoughts of mortality sometimes bring on a crisis in confidence in the meaning in one's life. One expression of this collapse is the midlife crisis. In a recent article, Kieran Setiya argues that if one can value activities as opposed to accomplishments as the primary goods in one's life then one might avoid the midlife crisis. I argue that Setiya's advice, rather than safeguarding the meaning in one's life, substitutes for it something else, a kind of happiness. I use Susan Wolf's concept of meaning in order to make this case. Wolf has not written much about the importance of death, but I argue that her account of meaning shares essential features with the theories developed by Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. Sartre argues that death is an unqualified harm, while Heidegger argues that there is meaning in life only because we are mortal. I conclude by showing how Heidegger's theory of mortality underwrites accounts of meaning like those found in Wolf.     

Prioritizing Patterns and Life Satisfaction among Ultra-Orthodox Jews: The Moderating Role of the Sense of Community

Abstract

Recent research suggests that individuals differ in the extent to which they seek activities that promote hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. Prioritizing positivity describes a strategy of pursuing happiness by seeking pleasurable activities or circumstances that can lead to naturally occurring positive emotions, while prioritizing meaning describes a strategy of cultivating well-being by purposefully seeking activities that are conducive to experiencing meaning in life. While these notions have been examined among the general population, little is known about how these prioritizing patterns are linked with well-being in closed religious groups, who often promote the benefit of the collective group in lieu of the individual’s personal choices and interests. Based on a sample of 407 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish individuals (mean age?=?33.58, SD?=?8.89), 55.5% of which were women, the results demonstrated that prioritizing meaning and sense of community were positively associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, a significant interaction of sense of community?×?prioritizing positivity was found, indicating a positive connection between prioritizing positivity and life satisfaction for individuals with a high sense of community, but a negative connection for those with a low sense of community. Our findings suggest that even in extremely close-knit community-oriented societies, a strong sense of belonging to a community enables individuals to prioritize more hedonic aspects of their lives in order to promote their life satisfaction.     

Beyond-personal love – Experiencing love beyond the person

ABSTRACT

Love is seen as interpersonal phenomenon in western society. The love of things that are non-interpersonal or ‘beyond-personal’ is less understood. A sample of 208 adults responded to a questionnaire asking what they loved, and how much they loved 61 common objects, activities, experiences and ideas. An exploratory factor analysis yielded five distinct categories of beyond-personal love including spiritual ideology, physical activity, material objects, hedonic experiences and social experiences. Loving physical activities predicted life satisfaction, happiness, and presence of meaning. Loving social experiences predicted happiness and presence of meaning. Loving hedonic experiences, spiritual ideas or material objects did not predict any of the outcome variables when all factors were considered, but material love was correlated with search for meaning. Results show that beyond-personal love can be considered adaptive, yet the target of beyond-personal love can predict whether one feels life satisfaction, feels subjectively happy or has meaning in one’s life.     

The contribution of role satisfaction,meaning in life and work–home conflict to explaining well-being among working grandparents

Background and objectives: The study aimed to examine the relationship of satisfaction with occupied roles as well as the sense of meaning in life and experience of work–home conflict to well-being among working grandparents in Israel.

Design and methods: The research sample consisted of 316 employed grandparents aged 50–80 (153 grandfathers and 163 grandmothers), who were employed in various types of organizations. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

Results: The research findings indicate that the sense of meaning in life mediated the relationship between role satisfaction and the two types of work–home conflict. A significant relationship was found between “work interferes with family” conflict and negative affect. Higher personal resources were associated with higher meaning in life. Gender was not related to the experience of work–home conflict or to any of the outcome variables.

Conclusions: The centrality of meaning in life in the model that explains the experience of work–home conflict and its outcomes among working grandparents, derives from its mediating role in the relationship between the experience of role satisfaction and both types of role conflict, as well as from its direct impact on positive and negative affect.     

Spiritual Care: Recognizing Spiritual Needs of Older Adults

SUMMARY

This paper explores aspects of spiritual needs and assessment, while emphasizing the importance of aged care providers being spiritually self-aware. The context of this exploration is meaning in life, spirituality and quality of life as experienced by older adults. Depression and dementia are frequently seen among older adults in residential aged care with resultant lowered quality of life. Pastoral and spiritual care may be used effectively to help alleviate depression and support older people who have dementia. However, to be able to provide appropriate spiritual care, spiritual needs should be assessed. Ways of assessing spiritual needs are suggested.     

‘Just Because I Can't Remember …’ Religiousness in Older People with Dementia

SUMMARY

This paper reports part of a pilot study that used spiritual reminiscence techniques to explore issues of religiosity, church attendance and meaning in life of a group of older people with dementia. The study used small groups, individual interviews and participant observation to examine the experience of dementia and the search for meaning used by people with dementia. There were 22 participants from three aged care facilities involved in the project. The majority of participants had been long-term church attendees and could describe how their religion and relationship with God had impacted on their lives. They had few fears for the future and derived considerable meaning in life from their relationships with family. Participants were able to describe early memories and also remember things happening recently in their aged care facility. This would seem to be the opposite of community expectations (and sometimes staff expectations) of older people with dementia.     

Making sense of emotion in stories and social life

Abstract

This paper is concerned with some limitations of the vignette methodology used in contemporary appraisal research and their implications for appraisal theory. We focus on two recent studies in which emotional manipulations were achieved using textual materials, and criticise the investigators' apparent implicit assumption that participation in everyday social reality is somehow comparable to reading a story. We take issue with three related aspects of this cognitive analogy between life and its narrative representation, by arguing that emotional reactions in real life are not necessarily mediated by symbolic processes, that people are involved participants of real life rather than neutral observers, and that in real life people's evaluations and emotions are typically part of an ongoing dialogue rather than the expression of a soliloquy. Results from these studies of emotional vignettes therefore tend to overestimate the importance of constructive, abstract, and individualistic processes in the everyday causation of social emotions. In real life, people do not necessarily have to calculate, transform, or internally represent the meaning of the dynamic situation in order to make emotional sense of what is happening to them in the social world.     

Des psychologues en milieu hospitalier lors de la crise sanitaire de la Covid-19 : mieux comprendre leur vécu à l’aide du concept de générativité

IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was confronted with their finitude, risking a crisis of meaning. Considering with Erikson (1950) that generativity is a great vector of meaning in life, which allows an individual to ensure the continuity of society through transmission and care, caregivers usually have a higher generativity score than the general population (Grossman & Gruenewald, 2017). This study then looks for signs of generativity among caregivers, hypothesising that it was particularly mobilised during this health crisis.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of psychologists working in hospitals on somatic wards in order to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and signs of generativity.MethodIn this exploratory, qualitative, prospective, multicenter study, nine psychologists working in hospital wards were interviewed individually to explore their experiences during a semi-structured interview.ResultsThe markers of existential crisis linked to COVID-19, such as signs of exhaustion and anxiety, were prominent in their discourse. Strong elements of generativity are also found in the interviews. This reflects the testing of their resources.ConclusionGenerativity allowed adaptation during the crisis but does not seem to be sufficient to protect against exhaustion and existential crisis.     

Judgments of happiness during trail running: Pleasure,engagement, and meaning

ObjectivesIt has been theorized that happiness is derived from three major, unique sets of life experience: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. The present study examined the mental processes by which individuals combined five information cues (relatedness, autonomy, competence, mental vitality and physical vitality) when judging the degree of happiness felt by a trail runner during a run.Design/methodThe participants (104 adult male athletes; M_age = 32.70; SD = 10.86) rated pleasure, engagement, and meaning in 32 scenarios built from combinations of these cues.ResultsThe results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that all five cues had a positive effect on judgments of pleasure, engagement, and meaning. The participants used three different information integration rules, depending on the pathway to happiness being probed.ConclusionsThe information integration and the integration rules highlighted the different contributions of pleasure, engagement, and meaning in cognitive building of happiness.