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Exploring the Phenomenological Structure of Existential Anxiety as Lived through Transformative Life Experiences
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to offer a systematic phenomenological approach to
explore existential anxiety, typically defined as the experience of becoming aware of the
universal concerns including death, meaninglessness, freedom and loneliness. It focuses on
in-depth exploration of Transformative Life Experiences (TLE), events which often induce
radical and profound reorganization of one’s life. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 150 adults who self-identified and accounted for a TLE in their lives. Data analysis was guided by a hermeneutic phenomenology paradigm that postulates that people account for their experience within the four lifeworld existentials of temporality, spatiality, corporality (embodiment), and relationality.
A heuristic model was developed as an attempt to bridge the gap between the
theoretical notion of existential anxiety and how it is subjectively experienced by
interviewees. Implications of the model for further research and practice are discussed,
particularly the ability to identify a dominant universal concern, even when implicit, based on an exploration of one's subjective account of TLE.
... Research finds that the feeling of uncertainty can lead people to make systematically different plans and choices than they would under more certain circumstances (Tversky & Shafir, 1992). As people feel vulnerable and experience existential anxiety, they may even begin to question their identity and place in the present (Davidov & Russo-Netzer, 2021). To address the epistemological challenge of investigating how people anticipate the future, particularly when they feel insecure, new, prospective methods are needed in the social sciences (Lyon & Carabelli, 2016;Sools, 2020). ...
This paper present a new approach to analyze how people anticipate the future in times of uncertainty. Our approach combines insights from narrative theory and the sociology of anticipatory modes of engagement with the future. We applied a mixed method approach to analyze 166 letters from a creative writing exercise where residents from five countries was asked to write retrospectively from the viewpoint of a desired post-corona future. Using the methodology of Digital Story Grammar, we first categorized the letters given their grammatical structure in terms of who are in stories (characters), what the stories are about (type of action), and to what or whom were the actions directed to (objects for the character’s actions). This resulted in four writing styles: (1) analytical-observational, (2) collective-moral, (3) dialogical-personal, and (4) sensory-emotional. Consequently, we interpreted the four writing styles qualitatively in relation to the theory of modes of engagement with the future (i.e., familiarity, plans, exploration, and justification). We conclude by reflecting on the relationships between writing styles and modes in a multi-paradigmatic approach to the study of anticipation and the relevance to scenario-building practices.
The present study aimed to validate the Existential Concerns Questionnaire (ECQ), which measures Existential Anxiety(EA), in Korea. EA is ‘the negative emotions accompanied by an awareness of the ultimate concerns of life,’ and ECQ consists of 22 items measuring those concerns. As a result of factor analysis of 497 Korean adults, the two-factor Bifactor model was most appropriate. Additionally, the Omega coefficients and Explained Common Variance were computed to evaluate the psychometric properties. The result shows that most variances of K-ECQ reflected a general factor, so it is reasonable to use a total score like ECQ. K-ECQ showed excellent internal consistency and validities, and discriminated between the clinical posttraumatic stress group and nonclinical group by 91%. It was found that K-ECQ measures the unique effect of EA. In future studies, K-ECQ would contribute to treatment and prevention by confirming the transdiagnostic role in depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsion, eating, and somatic disorders known to be vulnerable to EA.
This chapter offers a heuristic model of the phenomenological structure of existential anxiety to help therapists identify salient features of the concept in their clients’ subjective experiences, even when those are implicit in their accounts. The theoretical model is based on a broad, in-depth study of transformative life experiences, which offers a systematic phenomenological approach to explore existential anxiety. The model allows therapists and clients to identify implicit universal concerns that organize and frame the client’s subjective experience and to better understand how those concerns shape their perceived reality and cause dysfunctional defense mechanisms that might cause pain and distress.KeywordsThe association between lifeworld mode of experience and the universal concernsTransformative life experiencesExistential anxietyUniversal concernsLifeworld existentials
Although existential loneliness seems to be a natural consequence of being human, some people may experience it more intensely. In this study, it was aimed to investigate whether frustration intolerance, which is one of the basic concepts of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and psychological need frustration, which is the basic concept of Self-determination Theory predicted existential loneliness or not. A total of 294 adults were included in the study. The results showed that existential loneliness was directly predicted by frustration intolerance. As a result of the mediation test, all dimensions of psychological need frustration (autonomy frustration, relatedness frustration, and competence frustration) fully mediated the relationship between frustration intolerance and existential loneliness. The place of these findings in the literature was discussed and some recommendations were made.
Researchers who plan to utilize the methodological approach of hermeneutical phenomenology must first understand the philosophical assumptions that provide the epistemological foundation for this methodology. The objective of this chapter is to present a set of resources for instructors of research methodology coursework, specifically instructors who aim to introduce students to the research methodology of hermeneutical phenomenological inquiry. The core philosophical concepts discussed in this chapter are 1) the phenomenological attitude, 2) hermeneutics as way of being, 3) the four lifeworld existentials, and 4) the significance of mood. This chapter will begin by presenting a brief summary of these four philosophical concepts. Then, this chapter will introduce three frameworks of curriculum theory, specifically as related to the use of curricular objectives in the practice of teaching. Finally, this chapter will present five distinct approaches to lesson planning and will apply each lesson planning approach to the teaching of these four core philosophical concepts.
Health is a trending topic in the office market, yet scientific research on healthy offices is scattered. This study undertakes a systematic literature review on the relationship between the interior space of offices and physical, psychological and social well-being. The review identifies the characteristics of interior office space that have been studied in relation to employee health, and outlines the empirical evidence. Of 2816 papers in the database, 50 addressed the relationship between interior office space and health and did so based on six features: layout, furniture, light, greenery, controls and noise. Evidence on the relationship between interior space and health has accumulated only within a few topics. On the one hand, open-plan offices, shared rooms and higher background noise are negatively related to health. On the other hand, positive relationships are found between physical well-being and aspects that encourage physical activity; between physical/psychological well-being and (day)light, individual control and real/artificial greenery; and between social well-being and small shared rooms. In measuring health, physical well-being is predominant. Similarly, studies have predominantly aimed to prevent health problems rather than enhance health. Overall, the related research is in a nascent stage. Further research is required to verify claims about healthy offices.
Growth following adversity is a well-known phenomenon. Yet studies often focus on specific populations and/or specific types of adversities, thus limiting opportunities to identify underlying common processes of growth. The present study sought to identify shared positive change processes in different samples of individuals each of whom faced life adversities (clinical/non-clinical) and experienced growth as a result. We conducted a secondary analysis comparing in-depth interviews from two independent study samples including 27 Israeli adults that experienced spiritual growth and 31 American mental health peer-providers in recovery. Using grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the findings point to existing shared transformative positive change pertaining to one's way of being and adhering to a generative orientation (Erikson, 1963) in the world. These changes were conceptualized under three growth dimensions: (1) strengthened sense of self, manifested in self-integration, self-acceptance and enhanced ability to face further adversity; (2) development of compassion, acceptance of others and a deep sense of connection to others; and (3) a prosocial commitment characterized by generativity and active contribution. These findings point to shared growth processes among individuals with a different backgrounds and different kinds of adversities. This change goes beyond mere coping, to an inner transformation in one's self, connection to others, and development of a proactive-prosocial approach in the world. The implications for health care practitioners and the importance of acknowledging the potential for growth following adversity and supporting such growth are discussed.
Not only do humans spend their lives in a densely woven web of meanings, but they also need and want meaning. Although there are a variety of reasons for why this is the case, the current chapter focuses on the function of meaning as an existential anxiety buffer. We argue that the relentless search for meaning is motivated, to a significant extent, by the uniquely human awareness of mortality. As our review of the literature reveals, meaning, at different levels of abstraction, effectively assuages the potential terror born from this awareness.
This study examined trajectories of posttraumatic growth or depreciation (i.e., positive or negative life change) in personal strength and relationships after 2 major earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand using group-based trajectory modeling. Participants completed questionnaires regarding posttraumatic growth or depreciation in personal strength and relationship domains 1 month after the first earthquake in September 2010 (N = 185) and 3 months (n = 156) and 12 months (n = 144) after the more severe February 2011 earthquake. Three classes of growth or depreciation patterns were found for both domains. For personal strength, most of the participants were grouped into a "no growth or depreciation" class and smaller proportions were grouped into either a "posttraumatic depreciation" or "posttraumatic growth" class. The 3 classes for relationships all reported posttraumatic growth, differing only in degree. None of the slopes were significant for any of the classes, indicating that levels of growth or depreciation reported after the first earthquake remained stable when assessed at 2 time points after the second earthquake. Multinomial logistic regression analyses examining pre- and postearthquake predictors of trajectory class membership revealed that those in the "posttraumatic growth" personal strength class were significantly younger and had significantly higher pre-earthquake mental health than those in the "posttraumatic depreciation" class. Sex was the only predictor of the relationship classes: No men were assigned to the "high posttraumatic growth" class. Implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Existential anxiety (EA) is an expression of being occupied with ultimate concerns such as death, meaninglessness, and fundamental loneliness. Philosophers and psychologists have claimed its importance for the study of human thinking, emotion, decision making, and psychopathology. Until now research has mainly focused on death anxiety. Several death anxiety instruments have been developed and evaluated. This article is the first to review instruments measuring EA in a comprehensive way, that is, by covering several existential themes. Such instruments might be useful to gain insight in the interrelatedness of the aspects of EA, and application in clinical practice. Four models of EA were reviewed and compared resulting in a working definition. This definition was used to develop a search strategy that, after an initial screening, yielded 532 potentially relevant articles. A total of 78 instruments were identified, most of them measuring death anxiety. Five instruments were included that had a comprehensive perspective on EA. These were further evaluated using the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments (COSMIN) criteria for publications about test development. The Existential Anxiety Questionnaire, turned out to be the most thoroughly examined, with promising results. The article concludes with recommendations about development and use of EA instruments.
In qualitative research we are often presented with a tension between having open and fluid interviews to support staying true to the lived experiences of participants and achieving a level of abstraction from the data in order to uncover the essential structures and meanings of that particular lived experience. A way of resolving this tension is through the application of theoretical frameworks. Van Manen's four lifeworld existentials offer a lens through which to explore and navigate disparate interview data and uncover the essences of lived experience, without imposing categories upon the data itself. Drawing on a study exploring the lived experiences of childless women, we explore the process and principles in operationalising the existentials and discuss the potential implications for analysis and findings. The article demonstrates how Van Manen's lifeworld existentials present us with a holistic and valuable method for reflective practice, in coming to understand lived experience.
Within this article, the authors outline the political and institutional structures that work to formulate operating norms that govern what is considered to be ``acceptable'' qualitative organizational research, and the quality indicators attached to foundational, quasi-foundational, and nonfoundational research orientations. They argue that encouraging a plurality of methods and representations will better position the field of organizational studies to address the most significant questions of our time. Located within this position, they call for a democratization of what counts in organizational research: a more considered and central space for nonhegemonic approaches to qualitative work. In so doing, they champion a moral-sacred epistemology that foregrounds ethical and moral concerns as underpinning both the purpose and the quality of the research.
Although scholarship in the social construction of technology (SCOT) has contributed much to illuminating technological development, most work using this theoretical approach is committed to an agency-centered approach. SCOT scholars have made only limited contributions to illustrating the influence of social structures. In this article, the authors argue for the importance of structural concepts to understanding technological development. They summarize the SCOT conceptual framework defined by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker and survey some of the methodological and explanatory difficulties that arise with their approach. Then the authors present concepts from organizational sociology and political economy that illuminate structural influences in shaping phe-nomena of interest to SCOT scholars. These structural concepts can be applied to the study of the design, development, and transformation of technology. The authors con-clude that the limited amount of scholarship on structural factors in the social shaping of technological development presents numerous opportunities for research.
The diagnosis of cancer has the potential to elicit positive change (posttraumatic growth [PTG]) through the experience of trauma and adversity. However, psychology and clinical practices and most recently positive psychology have been criticized for their indifference toward the influence of the body on positive psychological functioning. The aim of this study was to broaden the understanding of PTG, including its process and outcomes, using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Ten female breast cancer survivors, from an already existing study, participated in an individual, open-ended interview. These were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for themes that reflected the women’s experience of growing from adversity. The role of the body was found to be a vital component to the process and outcomes of PTG and was deconstructed into three smaller themes: fear of new body, negative effects of chemotherapy on the body (fatigue, loss of desire), and reconnection with body (cocoon to butterfly, listening to body, body as a barometer/monitoring). In addition, the analysis revealed how these 10 women perceived the body as an integral component to their self-identity and how this affected their achievement of PTG. Future research should begin to acknowledge and conduct further study into the neglected role of the body as a contributor or determinant of the PTG process.
Although theoretical and empirical work on topics related to meaning and meaning making proliferate, careful evaluation and integration of this area have not been carried out. Toward this end, this article has 3 goals: (a) to elaborate the critical dimensions of meaning as it relates to stressful life events and conditions, (b) to extend the transactional model of stress and coping to include these dimensions, and (c) to provide a framework for understanding current research and directions for future research within this extended model. First, the authors present a framework for understanding diverse conceptual and operational definitions of meaning by distinguishing 2 levels of meaning, termed
global meaning and
situational meaning. Second, the authors use this framework to review and synthesize the literature on the functions of meaning in the coping process and propose a definition of
meaning making that highlights the critical role of reappraisal. The authors specify the roles of attributions throughout the coping process and discuss implications for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In the field of social work, practitioners must remain well informed regarding research advances in their respective areas. Proponents of evidence-based practice expect social workers to engage in practice informed by the best available evidence. Research studies conducted through the lens of qualitative inquiry provide important contributions to the social work knowledge base. In many cases, these studies can represent the best available research regarding emerging problems or application of evidence to diverse populations. Yet, despite the relevance of qualitative research, many social workers receive minimal training regarding qualitative methodology hindering their ability to conduct and evaluate research that uses qualitative methods. The purpose of this article is to provide students and practitioners some orientation regarding qualitative research methods and to highlight potential strategies researchers and consumers of research may use to evaluate the trustworthiness and quality of qualitative research. Specifically, the concept of trustworthiness is defined in the context of qualitative inquiry and questions social work practitioners can ask when evaluating the quality and applicability of a qualitative research study are provided.
The authors propose that superstitions are employed as a heuristic device and that they influence a variety of consumer behaviors. Previous research has assessed superstition by investigating specific superstitious beliefs. The present research advances the literature by developing a general measure of a propensity to be superstitious. In a two-study sequence, a new measure of trait superstition is developed and a nomological net of its consequences and antecedents identified. Study 1 employed a sample of 322 student responses to investigate the influence of trait superstition on traditional superstitious behaviors, such as keeping good-luck charms. Study 2 employed a sample of 1158 consumer panel respondents to investigate the influence of trait superstition on consumer activities in which outcomes are uncertain and are likely to be influenced by chance. The studies reveal that after accounting for a set of antecedents, trait superstition is predictive of a wide variety of consumer beliefs, such as beliefs in astrology and in common negative superstitions (e.g., fear of black cats). In addition, a general predisposition to be superstitious leads to enduring dispositions to gamble, participate in promotional games, invest in stocks, forward superstitious e-mails, keep good-luck charms, and exhibit sport fanship. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are also discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Although many critics are reluctant to accept the trustworthiness of qualitative research, frameworks for ensuring rigour in this form of work have been in existence for many years. Guba's constructs, in particular, have won considerable favour and form the focus of this paper. Here researchers seek to satisfy four criteria. In addressing credibility, investigators attempt to demonstrate that a true picture of the phenomenon under scrutiny is being presented. To allow transferability, they provide sufficient detail of the context of the fieldwork for a reader to be able to decide whether the prevailing environment is similar to another situation with which he or she is familiar and whether the findings can justifiably be applied to the other setting. The meeting of the dependability criterion is difficult in qualitative work, although researchers should at least strive to enable a future investigator to repeat the study. Finally, to achieve confirmability, researchers must take steps to demonstrate that findings emerge from the data and not their own predispositions. The paper concludes by suggesting that it is the responsibility of research methods teachers to ensure that this or a comparable model for ensuring trustworthiness is followed by students undertaking a qualitative inquiry.
The present research investigated the hypotheses that elderly people can be reminders of our mortality and that concerns about our own mortality can therefore instigate ageism. In Study 1, college-age participants who saw photos of two elderly people subsequently showed more death accessibility than participants who saw photos of only younger people. In Study 2, making mortality salient for participants increased distancing from the average elderly person and decreased perceptions that the average elderly person possesses favorable attitudes. Mortality salience did not affect ratings of teenagers. In Study 3, these mortality salience effects were moderated by prior reported similarity to elderly people. Distancing from, and derogation of, elderly people after mortality salience occurred only in participants who, weeks before the study, rated their personalities as relatively similar to the average elderly person's. Discussion addresses distinguishing ageism from other forms of prejudice, as well as possibilities for reducing ageism.
Existential and spiritual concerns are fundamental issues in palliative care and patients frequently articulate these concerns. The purpose of this study was to understand the process of engaging with existential suffering at the end of life.
A grounded theory approach was used to explore processes in the context of situated interaction and to explore the process of existential suffering. We began with in vivo codes of participants' words, and clustered these codes at increasingly higher levels of abstractions until we were able to theorize.
Findings suggest the process of existential suffering begins with an experience of groundlessness that results in an overarching process of Longing for Ground in a Ground(less) World, a wish to minimize the uncomfortable or anxiety-provoking instability of groundlessness. Longing for ground is enacted in three overlapping ways: by turning toward one's discomfort and learning to let go (engaging groundlessness), turning away from the discomfort, attempting to keep it out of consciousness by clinging to familiar thoughts and ideas (taking refuge in the habitual), and learning to live within the flux of instability and unknowing (living in-between).
Existential concerns are inherent in being human. This has implications for clinicians when considering how patients and colleagues may experience existential concerns in varying degrees, in their own fashion, either consciously or unconsciously. Findings emphasize a fluid and dynamic understanding of existential suffering and compel health providers to acknowledge the complexity of fear and anxiety while allowing space for the uniquely fluid nature of these processes for each person. Findings also have implications for health providers who may gravitate towards the transformational possibilities of encounters with mortality without inviting space for less optimistic possibilities of resistance, anger, and despondency that may concurrently arise.
Interest in meaning and meaning making in the context of stressful life events continues to grow, but research is hampered by conceptual and methodological limitations. Drawing on current theories, the author first presents an integrated model of meaning making. This model distinguishes between the constructs of global and situational meaning and between "meaning-making efforts" and "meaning made," and it elaborates subconstructs within these constructs. Using this model, the author reviews the empirical research regarding meaning in the context of adjustment to stressful events, outlining what has been established to date and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current empirical work. Results suggest that theory on meaning and meaning making has developed apace, but empirical research has failed to keep up with these developments, creating a significant gap between the rich but abstract theories and empirical tests of them. Given current empirical findings, some aspects of the meaning-making model appear to be well supported but others are not, and the quality of meaning-making efforts and meanings made may be at least as important as their quantity. This article concludes with specific suggestions for future research.
This research explored the moderating role of age in the relationships between time perspective and meaning in life in Chinese adults. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (short version) and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire were distributed to 334 participants aged 18–65 who were divided into three groups: emerging (aged 18–24), young (aged 25–44), and middle-aged (aged 45–65). Our results indicated that middle-aged adults showed a higher present-hedonistic time perspective and a lower future time perspective than young adults. Middle-aged adults also had a higher presence of meaning in life and a lower search for meaning in life than emerging adults. Importantly, the relationship between time perspective and search for meaning in life was moderated by age. For emerging and young adults, the future time perspective was positively related to the search for meaning in life. In contrast, for middle-aged adults, the present-hedonistic time perspective was positively related to the search for meaning in life, and the future time perspective was negatively related to the search for meaning in life. The findings suggest that the associations between time perspective and meaning in life differ across age in adulthood.
The Phenomenology of Everyday Life presents results from a rigorous qualitative approach to the psychological study of everyday human activities and experiences. This book does not replace scientific observation with humanistic analysis, but provides an additional perspective on significant human questions. The qualitative approach this book employs is grounded in the philosophical traditions of existentialism and phenomenology, which use dialogue as their major method of inquiry. These traditions are especially well adapted to encompass and describe human events and activities. In addition, such events can be properly investigated only on the basis of a method sensitive enough to articulate the nuances of human experience and reflection. In this latter regard, it is important to note that insights deriving from literature and the humanities are equally revealing of the human world as those from experimental psychology, biology or medicine.
Many clients cope with the consequences of transformative life experience (TLE) in
psychotherapy. TLE often involves a radical, profound reorganization of or change in
one’s life because of resulting formative, life-changing choices. Yet the essence of the
mechanism people use to process and make sense of a TLE is unclear. This study is a
phenomenological exploration of such experiences that aims to offer a heuristic
theoretical view of how such change is constructed and played out. Data were
collected through in-depth interviews with 120 adults who had coped with the
consequences of a TLE. Data analysis was guided by a hermeneutic phenomenology
paradigm that postulates that people account for their experience within the four
existentials of temporality, spatiality, corporality (embodiment), and relationality.
Those lifeworld existentials were utilized as a framework and lens through which to
organize the data. This procedure was followed by a hermeneutical interpretation to identify common features of lived experience along all four domains of analysis with
the purpose of constructing a conceptual model that illustrates the essence of change
during TLE. Implications are considered for utilizing theoretical and applied insights
from the model.
This chapter includes a discussion of the concept of meaning and meaning-finding processes in Terror Management Theory (TMT). Although TMT theorists (e.g., Pyszczynski et al. 2004a, b) recognize the importance of growth processes, meaning striving is treated in TMT as a defensive mechanism, anchored in self-esteem striving, and intimately connected to the social-cultural context that is the provider of meaning. Thus, the experience of meaning is perceived as a means to enhance a sense of self-worth and, by doing so, helps to protect us against the existential terror of death. Beliefs in symbolic immortality, symbolic or even literal, are treated from the same defensive posture. In a typical TMT study increasing the salience of death (the mortality salience manipulation) has the effect of making the persons subjected to the manipulation less tolerant vis-à-vis a hypothetical other who challenged their value system. There is, however, empirical evidence that suggests a different approach, one based on growth motivation. For example, it was shown that focusing on the concept of an ideal (meaningful) death may eliminate mortality salience manipulation effects (Rogers 2011). Similarly, Florian, Mikulicer, and Herschnberger (Florian et al. 2002) have shown that focusing on relationships that provide meaning cancels the effects of mortality salience manipulations. In this chapter, in addition to providing such evidence, we argue that a modified view based on growth motivation is consistent with Becker’s description of “twin ontological motives” in the Denial of Death (Becker 1973), as well as with other critiques of the TMT (e.g., Deci and Ryan 2000; Wong 2008; Wong and Tomer 2011) and with the finding of an increased death acceptance in older adults. Such a view is based on the idea that meaning construction may affect the way life and death are viewed and that, as a consequence, the need for existential defenses may be diminished, if not completely eliminated. Moreover, a conclusion from this discussion concerns the necessity to construct an integrated theory that considers, in addition to anxiety, other death attitudes such as avoidance and different types of acceptance.
All human beings experience life’s givens or the ultimate concerns of death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness. Whether there is awareness or not, these givens influence how individuals interact and relate to self, others, and the world. Failure to understand these existential concerns can lead an individual to behave inauthentically in relation to her core values. This article will illuminate the role of existential psychotherapy in revealing the effect of life’s givens on an individual’s lived experience. First, this article will ground existential therapy within its philosophical roots. Second, it will highlight the use of the phenomenological method in existential psychotherapy as a means of building a strong therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. Attention to the client’s lived experience in a value-free way will provide space for the client to work through his or her existential anxiety toward authenticity. The client, in feeling deeply understood will be able to respond more authentically to the therapeutic relationship and by extension to others in his or her world. A framework for understanding how life’s givens can manifest across the physical, personal, social, and spiritual life dimensions are presented. This framework is used to conceptualize a case study of a client struggling with existential issues.
This contemporary introduction provides a comprehensive survey of past and present existential ideas, philosophers and practice. Darren Langdridge makes existential therapy accessible through clear language, numerous case studies, chapter summaries, activities and further reading lists.The three parts cover all the key areas taught on existential therapy courses, from the fundamental theory of - and key figures in - the approach, to its application in practice, using illustrative case studies. The final section develops contemporary cross-cutting issues in existential therapy, including the role of language/narrative, power and politics, and evaluation research.Trainees to existential therapy will find in this book a comprehensive, practical overview of the key areas of theory and practice, while more experienced trainees and practitioners will gain insights into contemporary developments in existential therapy today.
Aims and objectivesTo investigate patients' lived experiences of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation.Background
Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is used to enable patients with cardiac problems to move forward to lead satisfying lives. However, knowledge of patients' concerns while they follow the current programmes is sparse.DesignThis study, which included nine men and two women with unstable angina pectoris and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, used a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach.Methods
The patients were followed by field observations during exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. Focus group interviews were conducted at the programme end, and individual interviews were performed one to two months later. The interpretation comprised three methodological steps: naïve reading, structural analysis, and comprehensive interpretation and discussion.FindingsAlthough both physically and psychologically challenged, the patients were encouraged to maintain an active lifestyle. Three themes were identified: anxiety regarding exercise, whereby the patients are initially insecure about how to behave with their diseased hearts; encouragement from training together, whereby the patients support each other in exercising; and growing confidence in the heart, whereby the patients enjoy being physically active.Conclusions
In exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, patients' insecurity with respect to their heart disease is revealed as an existential anxiety. Through peer support and a positive physical perception, the patients gain renewed self-efficacy, helping them to continue their lives in an active and satisfying way.Relevance to clinical practiceKnowing that patients are confronted with an existential anxiety during exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is important because it requires specific care. Recognising this anxiety also highlights how participating in the programme can be very demanding, which can help us understand aspects of adherence problems. Of greatest importance is that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation enables patients to find a new foothold, which comprises enjoying being physically active.
This write-up aims to first clarify the notion of phenomenology by offering sayings of different experts of this genre. Thereafter, it attempts to briefly trace its genesis and classify this broad idea in three different schools viz. transcendental, hermeneutic and existential. After discussing very precisely on each of these schools, it focuses on the premises of hermeneutic phenomenology as a method for doing research. The purpose of this essay is to collect and exhibit a crude paradigmatic clue of doing a hermeneutic phenomenological research. During the course, it emphasizes on the metaphysical stance, methodological grounds, quality concerns and ethical issues that contribute to its paradigmatic assumptions. Bodhi: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5, 2011, Page 181-200 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/bodhi.v5i1.8053
Jack Mezirow and John Dirkx engage in a dialogue in which they explore the similarities and differences between their views of transformative learning. Mezirow describes a rational process of learning that transforms an acquired frame of reference. Dirkx focuses on the nature of the self—a sense of identify and subjectivity—which he sees as soul work or inner work.
This article examines the experience of existential regret, defined as a profound desire to go back and change a past experience in which one has failed to choose consciously or has made a choice that did not follow one’s beliefs, values, or growth needs. The person experiences a combination of existential anxiety and existential guilt. Existential anxiety stems from confrontation with existential givens, including the finitude of past choices, inability to change the past, and the finitude of freedom in the past. With existential regret, the object of regret is an experience in which one failed to make a conscious, wholehearted choice and instead has made a choice in a moment of bad faith or lack of authentic presence and subjectivity. One’s sense is of having abandoned and betrayed the self, thereby feeling deep existential guilt. A paralysis of action and choice may follow. Distinctions, examples, implications, and recommendations are also discussed.
Existential humanistic psychology postulates certain basic challenges inherent in the human condition, and studies how people come to terms with these paradoxical "givens" (Bugental, 1971; May, 1961; Greening, 1971; Yalom, 1980). Thus, it includes the study of pathological reactions, normal responses, and creative initiatives by individuals, groups and cultures. Using the insights from social constructionism, we must also acknowledge that the assignment of these evaluative descriptive labels may say as much about the labeler as the person or behavior being labeled. This paper considers four existential challenges: 1) Life (and death). We are alive but we will die, and we live a world that both supports and negates life. 2) Meaning (and absurdity). We have a conscious capacity and desire for meaning, but we live in a confusing and sometimes chaotic world that offers many meaning systems and also denies meaning. 3) Freedom (and determinism). We are free and determined, and we live in a world that allows and constricts our freedom. 4) Community (and aloneness). Human desire and capacity for authentic relatedness are countered by inauthenticity, alienation and loneliness. Each challenge consists of a blessing and a curse, a capacity for being that also entails non-being, an opening restricted by finiteness. We are endowed with "some" but not "enough." Our glasses are half full and half empty, and we can't agree on what "half" is. We must choose what to do with the "some" and how to endure the "not enough." To each of the four existential givens or challenges we have a choice of three possible responses: 1) Simplistic over-emphasis on the positive aspect of the paradox. False triumph over the difficulties presented by the challenge. 2) Simplistic over-emphasis on the negative aspect of the paradox. Fatalistic surrender to the difficulties presented by the challenge. 3) Confrontation, creative response, and transcendence of the challenge.
Phenomenology in the modern sense of the term is dated from 1900 when E. Husserl published
Logical Investigations (1900/1970), although the phenomenological method itself was not explicitly practiced in that work. It was in
Ideas I (1913/1983) that Husserl made the method explicit. It is important to appreciate that to make phenomenological claims in the strongest sense one would have to use some version of the phenomenological method, along with certain other key procedures. That is why the authors first present the philosophcal method as articulated by Husserl, and immediately following, they articulate a scientific version of the phenomenological method. Next, the specific procedures of the phenomenological method are explained, with an example of an analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
existential psychotherapy is not a specific technical approach that presents a new set of rules for therapy / it asks deep questions about the nature of anxiety, despair, grief, loneliness, isolation, and anomie / it also deals centrally with the questions of creativity and love
overview / basic concepts / the "I-Am" experience / normal and neurotic anxiety / guilt and guilt feelings / the three forms of world / the significance of time / our human capacity to transcend the immediate situation
other systems / behaviorism / orthodox Freudianism / the interpersonal school of psychotherapy / Jungian psychology / client-centered approach
history / current status / theory of personality / the Freudian model of psychodynamics / the interpersonal (neo-Freudian) model of psychodynamics / existential psychodynamics / death / freedom / isolation / meaninglessness
variety of concepts / specialness / the belief in the existence of an ultimate rescuer / theory of psychotherapy / process of psychotherapy / mechanisms of psychotherapy / death and psychotherapy / death as a boundary situation / death as a primary source of anxiety / existential isolation and psychotherapy / meaninglessness and psychotherapy
applications / problems / evaluation / treatment / management / case example
existential therapy is concerned with the "I Am" (being) experience, the culture (world) in which a patient lives, the significance of time, and the aspect of consciousness called transcendence (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The Western rational tradition, a set of assumptions upon which our major concepts of reality, learning, and education is based, constitutes an objectivist paradigm of learning. These assumptions are currently challenged by an interpretive paradigm of learning. The Transformation Theory of adult learning is based upon an emancipatory paradigm, and constitutes a dialectical synthesis of objectivist and interpretive paradigms. Transformational Theory grounds its claims pertaining to learning in the distinction between instrumental and communicative learning, particularly the roles of critical reflection and discourse in human communication, and in the transformative potential of our interpretive frames of reference. The assumptions and rationale upon which Transformation Theory seeks to develop a universal, abstract, idealized model of adult learning are presented.
The social construction of illness is a major research perspective in medical sociology. This article traces the roots of this perspective and presents three overarching constructionist findings. First, some illnesses are particularly embedded with cultural meaning--which is not directly derived from the nature of the condition--that shapes how society responds to those afflicted and influences the experience of that illness. Second, all illnesses are socially constructed at the experiential level, based on how individuals come to understand and live with their illness. Third, medical knowledge about illness and disease is not necessarily given by nature but is constructed and developed by claims-makers and interested parties. We address central policy implications of each of these findings and discuss fruitful directions for policy-relevant research in a social constructionist tradition. Social constructionism provides an important counterpoint to medicine's largely deterministic approaches to disease and illness, and it can help us broaden policy deliberations and decisions.
To study posttraumatic growth and psychological and physical well-being among 25 cancer survivors (12 men, 13 women) 9 years after receiving a hematopoietic stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor.
Participants completed measures of well-being (e.g., depression, physical function) and posttraumatic growth at the 9-year follow-up. Prior to treatment, optimism, social support, and well-being had been assessed.
Findings reveal high levels of physical and psychological well-being. Survivors reported posttraumatic growth in several domains, including increased personal strengths and enhanced interpersonal relationships. Higher levels of growth were significantly related to gender and age: Women reported more total posttraumatic growth, and older survivors reported more enhanced spirituality, one domain of growth. Posttraumatic growth and well-being after treatment were predicted by 2 psychosocial variables assessed prior to treatment: dispositional optimism and social support.
Although long-term survivors report ongoing physical limitations, they also experience well-being in both physical and psychological domains. Posttraumatic growth is an area of well-being deserving of additional research and clinical attention. In particular, there may be reason to assist survivors to articulate growth as part of ongoing care.
Obra sobre las características y métodos de la investigación cualitativa, desde la planeación del proyecto hasta la interpretación del material. Incluye un panorama sobre los desarrollos recientes en la materia.
Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is the phenomenon of positive change through the experience of trauma and adversity (O'Leary & Ickovics, 1995). Research suggests that the type of trauma sustained could have differing processes and outcomes from each other (Demark-wahnefried et al., 2000; Sabiston, McDonough, and Crocker, 2007). The aim of this study was to synthesize qualitative data on PTG and illness related trauma. Fifty-seven published journal articles dating from before November 1st, 2007 in PsychINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge and from the authors own knowledge of the area were reviewed. Key words included PTG; benefit finding; thriving and positive changes. Key themes included: 'reappraisal of life and priorities'; 'trauma equals development of self'; 'existential re-evaluation'; and 'a new awareness of the body'. Findings suggest that there are unique elements to illness related PTG and a need for additional research into the processes and outcomes of physical illness related trauma.
Men in the United States suffer more severe chronic conditions, have higher death rates for all 15 leading causes of death, and die nearly 7 yr younger than women. Health-related beliefs and behaviours are important contributors to these differences. Men in the United States are more likely than women to adopt beliefs and behaviours that increase their risks, and are less likely to engage in behaviours that are linked with health and longevity. In an attempt to explain these differences, this paper proposes a relational theory of men's health from a social constructionist and feminist perspective. It suggests that health-related beliefs and behaviours, like other social practices that women and men engage in, are a means for demonstrating femininities and masculinities. In examining constructions of masculinity and health within a relational context, this theory proposes that health behaviours are used in daily interactions in the social structuring of gender and power. It further proposes that the social practices that undermine men's health are often signifiers of masculinity and instruments that men use in the negotiation of social power and status. This paper explores how factors such as ethnicity, economic status, educational level, sexual orientation and social context influence the kind of masculinity that men construct and contribute to differential health risks among men in the United States. It also examines how masculinity and health are constructed in relation to femininities and to institutional structures, such as the health care system. Finally, it explores how social and institutional structures help to sustain and reproduce men's health risks and the social construction of men as the stronger sex.