MCC & Meaning Management Theory (MMT)
Paul T. P. Wong Ph.D. C.Psych
Tyndale University College
Toronto, Ontario

Introduction to MCC

1. Yalom’s existential therapy focuses on addressing the unconscious conflicts of existential anxieties
2. Frankl’s logotherapy focuses on bringing to consciousness one’s sense of freedom and responsibility to discover meaning
3. Wong’s meaning-centered counselling and therapy (MCC) focuses on advancing the positive role of meaning through cognitive-behavioral processes
4. MCC extends existential therapy and logotherapy to incorporate elements from cognitive-behavior therapy, narrative therapy and cross-cultural counselling

What is MMT?

1. It is the theoretical basis for MCC, providing treatment guidelines and research predictions.
2. It is a comprehensive theoretical framework for restoring meaning and hope in all human conditions.
3. It creates a new positive vision of transforming both the individual and society.
4. It integrates various counselling theories and incorporates the wisdoms from East and West.
5. To manage meaning is to manage meaning-related cognitive-behavioral processes.
6. The basic meaning processes are: meaning-seeking, meaning-making, and meaning-reconstruction.
7. To manage meaning is to manage one’s inner life, social interactions & daily living.
8. To manage meaning is to learn how to live a better life in spite of suffering and death.

Basic assumptions of MMT

• The three basic tenets of logotherapy
• We are meaning-seeking and meaning-making creatures
• We move and live in a world of shared meanings (i.e., culture)
• We are constantly engaged in meaning-reconstruction
• We use story-telling to achieve unity and coherence of meanings
• The quest for meaning is a primary, universal motivation, essential for survival and flourishing
• Meaning management offers protection against the terrors of life and death
  Meaning management provides pathways to meaning, fulfillment and personal growth
• Self-regulation provides feedback and evaluation

The two necessary conditions for positive change

1. All we need is positive meaning
2. All we have is trusting relationship

Need for positive meaning

1. Things go better with positive meaning
2. People suffer from negative meaning as much as from meaninglessness
3. Need to overcome the negativity bias
4. Need to transform negative meanings into positive meanings

Need for trusting relationship

1. Things go better with trusting relationships
2. Trust is the foundation for all relationships
3. Trust is the cornerstone for any positive community
4. N eed to build trust with positive personal traits, such as empathy, compassion, integrity and authenticity

Managing meaning-seeking (focus on cognition)

• Triggered by a crisis (Early part of MCC)
• Begin by asking important questions to examine one’s life (why, how, what, where and who)
• Causal vs. existential attributions (Wong, 1993)
• Wong’s existential coping (Wong, 2006)
• Sense-making and benefit-making (C. Davis)
• Situational meaning vs. ultimate meaning
• Learn to see and hear deeply (See Levels of Listening)
• Learn the difference between illusion and reality
• Learn to accept what cannot be changed
• Discover what really matters and what one wants to do with one’s life
• See Wong’s ABCDE intervention strategy & Wong’s Tragic Optimism)
• Become mindful and appreciative of the present
• Frankl’s experiential values

Listening skills: Levels of listening

1. Listening with one’s ears - words and language
2. Listening with one’s eyes -- body language
3. Listening with one’s cultural map -- implicit cultural meanings
4. Listening with one’s head - knowledge of the context and the individual
5. Listening with one’s heart -- emotions, relations and intentions
6. Listening with one’s soul - existential, symbolic and poetic meanings
7. Listening to the spirit -- spiritual guidance and insights

Learn to listen with the 6th sense (for levels 5, 6, and 7)

1. Need to create the proper context of the message
2. Need to develop poetic sensitivities to the metaphors

MCC Intervention strategy

1. Accept and confront the reality -- the reality principle
2. Believe that life is worth living - the faith principle
3. Commit to responsible actions - the action principle
4. Discover the meaning and purpose in life - the meaning principle
5. Enjoy the results of positive changes - the reinforcement principle

Wong’s five factors of tragic optimism

1. Acceptance of what cannot be changed
2. Affirmation of what is good
3. Courage to overcome adversities
4. Faith in an ultimate Rescuer
5. Self-transcendence of limitations

Managing meaning-making (focus on action)

1. Frankl’s creative values -- Create meaning through giving of oneself
2. Frankl’s responding to the demand of each situation, thus, creating meaningful moments and memories
3. Wong’s Seven Sources of Meaning
4. Wong’s PURE Model - Identify and pursue meaningful and realistic goals
5. Practice compassion & altruism
6. Serve a larger cause or higher calling
7. Wong’s double-visioning strategy (one eye on the immediate goal, another eye on the large picture)

Wong’s (1988) Seven Sources of Meaning

1. Achievement and goal striving (agency)
2. Intimacy and family (love)
3. Relationships (community)
4. Self-transcendence (larger cause)
5. Religion (spirituality)
6. Self-acceptance (maturity)
7. Fairness (justice and morality)

Wong’s PURE Model of Meaningful Living

Purpose - Identify the purpose and goals
Understanding - Understand the meaning
**Right response - Respond according your purpose and understanding
Evaluation - Evaluate the effectiveness of your action

Right response (DO THE RIGHT THING):

1. Right action/reaction
2. Right choice
3. Right attitude
4. Right speech
5. Right emotion
6. Right goal

Managing meaning through action

1. The primacy of action over emotion and cognition
2. “Do it anyway, even if you don’t feel like it”
3. “Do it anyway, even if everyone tells you that it can’t be done”
4. “Do it anyway, even if you are scared to death”
5. “Do it anyway, even if everybody will be mad at you”
6. The necessity of responsible actions in daily life
7. The need to rebel against the status quo to make the world a better place
8. Affirmation of meaning through action
9. Courage to act according to one’s meaning and value systems
10. Create a better future through activism
11. A small step resulting in a different destination

Managing meaning-reconstruction (focus on attitude)

1. Frankl’s attitudinal values
2. Awaken the defiant human spirit
3. Reaffirm one’s belief or faith (See Wong’s Magic Wheel)
4. Reconstruct memories
5. Recover hope through tragic optimism
6. Recover meaning and purpose through re-storying
7. Re-evaluating one’s priorities and values
8. Recreate the future -- change one’s life goals
9. Learn to connect with some meta-narrative
10. Manage death attitudes

Meaning management through self-regulation

1. Evaluate goal attainment
2. Evaluate effectiveness of responses
3. Evaluate life satisfaction

Wong’s Magic Wheel of faith:

• Believe and affirm
• Pray all kinds of prayers
• Endure and persevere
• Accept one’s condition and fate
• Praise God in spite of suffering

Wong’s five death attitudes

• Death avoidance (denial)
• Death anxiety (fear)
• Death acceptance (neutral)
• Death acceptance (escape)
• Death acceptance (approach)

MCC and Meaning-management theory