Meaning in Psychologists' Personal and Professional Lives

Kernes, Jerry L.; Kinnier, Richard T.

doi:10.1177/0022167807300204

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Through this meaning-making process, therapists experienced a deeper commitment to the profession, and yet accepted the limits of their work and influence. Spirituality and religion offer a language for therapists to frame their identities, cultivate humility and conceptualize the meaning of their own and their clients’ journeys (Kernes & Kinnier, 2008; Menigat, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locating the sacred within the therapeutic landscape: Influence of therapists’ religious and spiritual beliefs on psychotherapeutic practice.

Duggal¹,

Sriram²

2022

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

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Religious and spiritual beliefs constitute individual identities and are central to personal world-views. Religion and spirituality of clients and therapists’ enter into the therapy process in multiple ways, and the need to understand their role, particularly in religiously diverse contexts cannot be underscored enough. This article explores the religious and spiritual beliefs and practices of psychotherapists from India, and how they impact their psychotherapeutic practice. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted using a constructivist grounded theory approach, with 16 practising psychotherapists from diverse religious/spiritual orientations. Findings revealed that therapists’ religious/spiritual beliefs and practices were interwoven with the theoretical orientation, permeated therapeutic techniques, helped make meaning of the therapeutic role, and facilitated personal and professional growth. Implications for psychotherapy practice, training, and supervision have been discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locating the sacred within the therapeutic landscape: Influence of therapists’ religious and spiritual beliefs on psychotherapeutic practice.

Duggal¹,

Sriram²

2022

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

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“…For example, in Reker and Woo’s [ 25 ] study of community-residing older adults, a relationship with nature emerged as a meaning source within the cluster they called a “self-transcendent meaning orientation”. Psychologists in Kernes and Kinnier’s [ 26 ] study rated the item “Nature and the environment bring meaning to my life” among the top ten items representing personal terrestrial meaning, that is, ways in which individuals create or discover meaning in their lives. Affinity with nature emerged as a source of meaning in life in Shoshtari et al’s [ 27 ] study of meaning in life for a sample of Iranian university students.…”

Section: Providing Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Beyond-Human Natural World: Providing Meaning and Making Meaning

Krause

2023

IJERPH

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Much academic and media attention has been focused on how nature contributes to psychological health, yet, most of this focus has been on happiness or hedonic well-being. Although numerous writers and researchers have linked connecting with nature as a pathway to meaning in life, an integrated overview has not yet (to our knowledge) been offered. Our manuscript is thus of both theoretical and practical importance with respect to finding meaning in life. In this hybrid commentary/review paper, we examine the link between meaning in life and relating to the beyond-human natural world. Through presenting supportive empirical research and interdisciplinary insights, we make the case that connecting with the natural world provides us with meaning in various ways. We discuss how nature is a common source of meaning in people’s lives and how connecting with nature helps to provide meaning by addressing our need to find coherence, significance/mattering, and purpose (the three aspects comprising the tripartite model of meaning life). We also consider how connecting with nature enhances our experiential appreciation for life, a fourth aspect of meaning in life recently proposed. Our discussion then expands to examining nature as a place of attachment. Going beyond how nature provides us with meaning, we consider how engaging in nature-based activities provides an avenue for many people to build meaningful lives. We close by considering how threats to nature are a threat to meaning in life.

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“…Aside from the NoM, the other three measurement tools contained only one item relevant 5 to the existential nihilism construct. These scales were the Meaning in Life Scale (MILS; Jim et al, 2006), the Sources of Meaning and Meaningfulness Questionnaire (SoMe; Schnell, 2009), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire 6 (MILQ; Kernes & Kinnier, 2008).…”

Section: Further Review Of Measurement Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Existential Nihilism Scale (ENS): Theory, Development, and Psychometric Evaluation

Forsythe

Mongrain

2023

J Psychopathol Behav Assess

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Existential nihilism is a meaning-related worldview characterized by a rejection of the existence of meaning in life and a belief in the futility of trying to ameliorate this absence. Despite the rich but often ambiguous philosophical and cultural history of existential nihilism, its impact on mental health and society remains largely unknown due to a gap in the scientific measurement literature. To address this gap, an 8-item scale measuring the proposed construct was rigorously developed and tested in accordance with psychometric theory and scale development guidelines. Two identical studies were conducted within an undergraduate sample (N = 329) and a community sample (N = 307) to evaluate the scale's item quality, reliability, internal structure, convergent validity, concurrent validity, divergent validity, and incremental validity. Evaluation of the Existential Nihilism Scale (ENS) provided evidence of strong psychometric properties. This new measure promises to contribute to future research examining the impact of existential nihilism on mental health, wellbeing, and social outcomes.

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Meaning in Psychologists' Personal and Professional Lives

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Locating the sacred within the therapeutic landscape: Influence of therapists’ religious and spiritual beliefs on psychotherapeutic practice.

Locating the sacred within the therapeutic landscape: Influence of therapists’ religious and spiritual beliefs on psychotherapeutic practice.

The Beyond-Human Natural World: Providing Meaning and Making Meaning

The Existential Nihilism Scale (ENS): Theory, Development, and Psychometric Evaluation

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