Meaning in Life: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Practitioners

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.- 6. Meaning-Specific Skills.- 7. Relational Skills.- 8. Phenomenological, experiential and mindfulness skills.- 9. Existential skills.- Part III: A ten-session treatment manual: Meaning-Centered Groups for Physically Ill Individuals.- 10. Overview of treatment.- 11. Individual assessment session.- 12. Session 1: introduction to meaning in life.- 13. Session 2: Changes in meaning in life.- 14. Session 3: Resilience as source of meaning.- 15. Session 4: material-hedonic sources of meaning.- 16. Session 5: self-oriented sources of meaning.- 17. Session 6: Social sources of meaning.- 18. Session 7: Higher sources of meaning.- 19. Session 8: Being-here as source of meaning.- 20. Session 9: Experiencing meaning in daily life and how to do it.- 21. Session 10: Ending and a new beginning.- Questionnaires

Dr Joel Vos is psychologist and philosopher. He is Director of the online education, therapy and research platform Meaning Online. He is an internationally recognised researcher on meaning in life, and is chairman of the IMEC International Meaning Conferences. Dr Vos gives lectures, training and supervision at universities and mental health services in the United Kingdom and abroad, such as the Metanoia Institute and the New School for Psychotherapy and Counselling in London. He has worked as Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Social and psychological Transformation at the University of Roehampton, and as researcher at Leiden University and Amsterdam Vrije Universiteit. www.joelvos.com