Exploring Existential Meaning
Optimizing Human Development Across the Life Span
Edited by:
- Gary T. Reker - Trent University, Canada
- Kerry Chamberlain - Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
Other Titles in:
Existential Counselling
Existential Counselling
December 1999 | 240 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Both implicit and existential meaning are important constructs in fully understanding human experience. The editors of this volume present a forum for an array of viewpoints and recent research that address the notion of optimal human growth.
James E Birren
Foreword
Gary T Reker and Kerry Chamberlain
Introduction
PART ONE: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
Gary M Kenyon
Philosophical Foundations of Existential Meaning
Hubert J M Hermans
Meaning as Movement
Gary T Reker
Theoretical Perspective, Dimensions, and Measurement of Existential Meaning
PART TWO: RESEARCH ON EXISTENTIAL MEANING
Nancy Van Ranst and Alfons Marcoen
Structural Components of Personal Meaning in Life and their Relationship with Death Attitudes and Coping Mechanisms in Late Adulthood
Kay O'Connor and Kerry Chamberlain
Dimensions and Discourses of Meaning in Life
Dominique L Debats
An Inquiry into Existential Meaning
Freya Dittman-Kohli and Gerben J Westerhof
The Personal Meaning System in a Life-Span Perspective
Edward Prager, Rivka Savaya and Leora Bar-Tur
The Development of a Culturally Sensitive Measure of Sources of Life Meaning
PART THREE: APPLICATIONS AND INTERVENTIONS
Carol J Farran, Karen Lowe Graham and Dimitra Loukissa
Finding Meaning in Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer's Disease
Doris D Coward
Making Meaning within the Experience of Life-Threatening Illness
Susan H McFadden
Religion and Meaning in Late Life
David Guttmann
Logotherapeutic and `Depth Psychology' Approaches to Meaning and Psychotherapy
PART FOUR: OVERVIEW AND NEW DIRECTIONS
Gary T Reker and Kerry Chamberlain
Existential Meaning