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Clinical Perspectives on Meaning: Understanding, Coping and Thriving through Science and Practice

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Clinical Perspectives on Meaning

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Abstract

The will to meaning is a fundamental and basic need relevant to all people. With respect to the mental health professions, therapists, clinicians, and scholars are constantly confronted with existential questions, about which existing textbooks and diagnostic manuals carry little, if any, information. Despite the mounting research findings underscoring the importance of meaning for human coping and thriving, little research has focused on methods one can follow in order to nurture or reinforce it. This chapter introduces a book which aims to redress this imbalance, bringing together diverse and varied perspectives, bridging the gaps between disciplines and branches of meaning-oriented psychologies. This chapter reviews the book’s overarching goals and objective, extending the current literature in the rapidly growing and promising area of meaning, demonstrating its vital relationship to human health, well-being, and existential fulfillment considering a range of mental health settings, applications, and contexts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, 3498838, Israel

    Pninit Russo-Netzer Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology, Clinical-Disaster Research Center (UM-CDRC), University of Mississippi, University, Oxford, MS, 38677, USA

    Stefan E. Schulenberg Ph.D.

  3. International Academy of Philosophy, University in the Principality of Liechtenstein, Triesen, Liechtenstein

    Alexander Batthyany Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Pninit Russo-Netzer Ph.D.
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  2. Stefan E. Schulenberg Ph.D.
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  3. Alexander Batthyany Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Pninit Russo-Netzer Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Pninit Russo-Netzer

  2. Department of Psychology Clinical-Disaster Research Center (UM-CDRC), University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, USA

    Stefan E. Schulenberg

  3. International Academy of Philosophy, University in the Principality of Liechtenstein, Vienna, Austria

    Alexander Batthyany

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Russo-Netzer, P., Schulenberg, S.E., Batthyany, A. (2016). Clinical Perspectives on Meaning: Understanding, Coping and Thriving through Science and Practice. In: Russo-Netzer, P., Schulenberg, S., Batthyany, A. (eds) Clinical Perspectives on Meaning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41397-6_1

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