Addiction and Shame
Addiction psychologists generally believe that shame is a bad thing for someone suffering from addiction. Philosophers disagree.
Meaning-Focused Therapy
“Subversive” Thoughts on Psychotherapy
The play, Equus, has stirred the imagination of many psychologists—mainly because it raises doubts about what we do in the therapeutic hour.
The Opioid Crisis as a Problem of Meaning
The opioid crisis and fentanyl, the opioid most responsible for drug overdoses, has once again brought addiction into focus. In British Columbia, where the crisis is at its worst in Canada, the overdose death rate from illicit drugs has been rising since 2008.
Featured Member: Dr. Laura Armstrong
Dr. Laura Armstrong, Ph.D., C.Psych., is an Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychologist, and researcher at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, in the School of Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Spirituality.
Evolving Meaning of Work (MOW) Theory for High Performance
Changing Environments Over the past decade, “meaningful work” has become a phrase I see more frequently in management and leadership circles. Google Scholar searches for the term “meaningful work” yields 16 items between 1981 and 1990, 38 between 1991 and 2000, 140 between 2001 and 2010, and 297 between 2011 and 2018. I am quite […]
Creating a Positive “Can Do” Attitude for the Future
Empowering Individuals and Organizations to Excel in Growth While Delivering Sustainable, Accountable, and Excellent Work
Using a model researched and developed by Human Dynamics Inc., entitled The Agile Business Leader (ABL) Leadership Development Program, this session is designed to provide leaders with a primer on practices and tools for functioning in a world of complexity, chaos, interdependency, and ambiguity. This leadership development program creates strategies for success by leveraging existing […]
Featured Member: Janeta Fong Tansey, M.D., Ph.D.
My life’s work has been an intellectual, creative, and lived exploration of healing and existential meaning at the intersections of mind, body, and dialogue. Provocative questions in medical ethics brought me to the fields of philosophy and medicine, but it was sitting with patients as a psychiatrist and listening to their life-stories that invited a […]
A Brief Manual for Meaning-Centered Counseling
This manual grows out of MCC workshops I have given in the last ten years to psychologists, counselors, coaches, and other mental health professionals all over the world. The feedback I have received from attendees and alumni of these workshops confirm that MCC’s focus on positive motivation and the transformation through meaning has been very helpful for those devastated by the tsunami of life.
Existentialism and ACT
Exposition in existential terms of a case of “Negative Schizophrenia” approached by means of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
The present work attempts to show, through a case study, the possibilities of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) applied from existential thought. First of all we describe the symptoms referred to by a patient diagnosed as suffering from “negative schizophrenia”. These symptoms are then analyzed in existential terms, with special emphasis on the notion of “personal identity”.
Existentialism and ABC
Connecting Theory to Programming: Using Existentialism and Adventure Based Counseling with Adolescents
Adventure based counseling programs have been used with adolescents in a variety of settings. Typically, adventure based counseling programs are group oriented and help participants take responsibility for their own actions, increase self-awareness and connect with others. One potential limitation of adventure based counseling programs is that they are rarely identified with any established counseling theory.