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

Forsythe, Jeremy; Mongrain, Myriam

doi:10.1007/s10862-023-10052-w

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…They found that there was a strong negative relationship between existential nihilism and meaning in life. Additionally, high existential nihilism is associated with higher levels of depression and negative affect, and lower levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, and search for meaning (Forsythe and Mongrain, 2023). Their findings support our hypothesis that a deep sense of meaning and existential wellbeing is important for mental health.…”

Section: What Is the Meaning Of Suffering?supporting

confidence: 79%

Existential Wellbeing in Palliative Care: A Paradigm of Existential Positive Psychology

Wong,

Cowden,

et al. 2024

Preprint

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This article introduces existential wellbeing (EWB) as one of the most ignored but also the most important kind of wellbeing, especially for people who experience life-limiting diseases and need palliative care (Wong & Yu, 2021). This article will not only review the literature regarding the nature and practice of existential wellbeing in palliative care, but also propose a preliminary Existential Wellbeing Scale. EWB is defined as the quality-of-life characterized by living well and dying well in spite of pain, obstacles, and the shadow of death; wellbeing within the context of human suffering can only be fully understood from the perspective of existential positive psychology (EPP), dedicated to the study of sustainable wellbeing based on the foundation of transcending suffering. The basic tenets of EPP are (1) redefining positivity or wellbeing in terms of seeing and being the light in the darkness; (2) focusing on the dialectical process of navigating an adaptive balance; and (3) re-orienting one’s life attitude from egotism to self-transcendence (Wong, 2023a). More specifically, EWB depends on some combination of the following experiences: (1) Prior experience of overcoming adversity; (2) Existential intelligence (Gardner, 2020) in addressing existential concerns; (3) Existential wisdom of the soul (Wong 2022a; Wong, Ho, et al, 2023a) to achieve existential wellbeing and sustainable flourishing; (4) Spiritual wellbeing based on spiritual values such as faith, hope, and love (Wong, 2023); (5) Knowledge of meaning-focused coping (Eisenbeck et al., 2021); and (6) The new paradigm of self-transcendence (Reed & Haugan, 2021; Wong, Arslan et al., 2021; Wong, Ho et al., 2023b) to transcend and transform suffering into wellbeing and triumph.

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Section: What Is the Meaning Of Suffering?supporting

confidence: 79%

Existential Wellbeing in Palliative Care: A Paradigm of Existential Positive Psychology

Wong,

Cowden,

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, to accommodate the meaning of suffering, individuals may shift their global meaning beliefs in a manner that makes negativity the predominant feature (Park et al, 2012;Gerrish et al, 2014;Gerrish and Bailey, 2020), as in the adoption of cynicism or existential nihilism. Such negative belief orientations are associated with poor well-being outcomes ranging from depressive and anxiety symptoms to suicidal ideation (Nierenberg et al, 1996;Dangel et al, 2018;Forsythe, 2021). Thus, the threat of failure to comprehend the meaning of a suffering event, as well as the potential negative global meaning one might derive, comprise a dimension of suffering that demands cognitive pathways of resolution.…”

Section: Effects Of Self-transcendent Cognition On Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, such selftranscendent systems of global meaning may likewise successfully incorporate the suffering event-the prospect of death linked to "destruction" in the given example-into a perspective that also emphasizes positive features such as "creation, " thereby accounting for negativity in existence without sacrificing the positive. In contrast, cynicism or nihilism also do provide explanations for suffering, but they do not allow for the inclusion of such positivity and thereby lead to their associated negative well-being outcomes (Dangel et al, 2018;Forsythe, 2021). In providing an orientation of global meaning with a larger perspective and a focus on superordinate values, self-transcendent cognition may thus help resolve both the struggle to formulate acceptable meaning of suffering as well as the potential for maladaptive interpretations.…”

Section: Effects Of Self-transcendent Cognition On Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcending the self to transcend suffering

Yang

2023

Front. Psychol.

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Suffering is inevitable in human life. Our perspective paper theorizes on precise mechanisms for how self-transcendence—the state in which an individual looks beyond the self and adopts a larger perspective including concern for others and the world—may help people endure the experience of suffering. From an examination of empirical literature ranging from social psychology to clinical research, we propose that self-transcendence may aid the endurance of suffering along three psychological levels: (1) On the level of affect, the unique profundity and positivity of self-transcendent experiences (e.g., awe, flow, compassion) may supersede and reduce the salience of negative affect arising from suffering (e.g., fear, despair, depressive mood). (2) On the level of cognition, the larger frame of reference provided by self-transcendent thinking may contextualize one’s suffering as something comprehendible, thereby helping to resolve the challenges of making meaning from suffering (e.g., that one’s existing meaning systems are unable to explain the suffering event). (3) On the level of motivation, the drive to fulfill one’s need for self-transcendence may counterbalance the more hedonically-oriented motivations that can promote negative coping strategies in response to suffering (e.g., avoidance, substance abuse). All three mechanisms may also provoke downstream prosocial behaviors that help embed the individual into networks of social support. Altogether, by synthesizing specific mechanisms from affective, cognitive, and motivational self-transcendent processes, our paper establishes a theoretical framework for how self-transcendence may help people endure and transcend suffering, thereby elevating the conditions and experiences of our existence.

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Interest in anime and manga: relationship with (mental) health, social disconnectedness, social joy and subjective well-being

Hajek,

König

2024

J Public Health (Berl.)

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Aim Our aim was to examine the association between interest in anime and manga and their relationship with (mental) health (in terms of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, health-related quality of life, symptoms of hikikomori), social disconnectedness (in terms of preference for solitude, loneliness, objective social isolation, and perceived social isolation), subjective well-being (in terms of ikigai, life satisfaction, and happiness) and joy (frequency of laughter, and frequency of hugs). Subjects and methods Data were taken from a large sample of the general German adult population aged 18–74 years (n = 4,738 individuals, average age: 46.4 years). Established tools were used to quantify the outcomes. Multiple linear and ordered logistic regressions were used, as appropriate. Results Regressions showed that a higher interest in anime was associated with several adverse mental health and some social disconnectedness outcomes. Contrarily, a higher interest in anime was associated with favorable subjective well-being outcomes, and favorable joy outcomes. Similarly, regressions showed that a higher interest in manga was associated with several adverse (mental) health and some social disconnectedness outcomes. Contrary, it is associated with lower objective social isolation. Moreover, it is not significantly associated with subjective well-being outcomes, but significantly associated with the joy outcome frequency of hugs. Conclusion A higher interest in manga and anime was associated both with negative and positive outcomes. Particularly a higher interest in anime was associated with more favorable subjective well-being scores, laughing and hugging. In this respect, this topic needs to be approached in a very nuanced way.

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

Cited by 3 publications

References 107 publications

Existential Wellbeing in Palliative Care: A Paradigm of Existential Positive Psychology

Existential Wellbeing in Palliative Care: A Paradigm of Existential Positive Psychology

Transcending the self to transcend suffering

Interest in anime and manga: relationship with (mental) health, social disconnectedness, social joy and subjective well-being

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