Attending to Meaning in Life in the Lives of Marginalized Individuals

Abstract

This narrative study investigates how 8 participants who identify with marginalized groups in the United States transcend their experience of meaning frustration, which stems from internalized oppression. The themes of nonlinear transcendence of meaning frustration and transcending meaning frustration through the fundamentals of humanistic counseling are presented. Implications and suggestions for psychotherapists are discussed.

Using Gestalt Techniques to Promote Meaning Making in Trauma Survivors

“…Meaning can, therefore, be achieved as clients now have the wisdom to use their experiences and internal resources intentionally, channeling their parts in a more resilient and transformed way. Bellin (2017) found that meaning is not simply what clients aim to accomplish, but a deeper reminder from their worldly experience that they are fully alive. Trauma survivors demonstrate this revelation as PTG advances, clarifying their values, using their voice to express them, and changing the way they live their life.…”

“…One can live more meaningfully by living intentionally. Meaning in life is an empirically validated psychological construct that enhances well-being (Bellin, 2013(Bellin, , 2017. The process of examining and understanding one's reactions sets the foundation to live a more present and intentional life.…”

Will to Masculinity: An Existential Examination of Men's Issues

“…While existentialism is not a gender‐dependent approach, situating masculinity within particular counseling theories has been identified as a best practice when working with men (Mahalik, Good, Tager, Levant, & Mackowiak, ). Additionally, the present work is not the first example of theorists applying an existential‐humanist lens to working with particular populations (e.g., Barker, ; Basma & Gibbons, ; Bellin, ; Vereen et al, ). Existentialism is considered to be an aspect of the larger humanistic approach to counseling, largely because of the shared emphases on both the value and the irreducibility of human beings (Basma & Gibbons, ; Scholl et al, ).…”

“…The responsibility to choose is central to the existential approach (Yalom, ), and when counselors honor a client's agency, they are living out a commitment to humanist values (Scholl et al, ). Within that relationship, counselors must work to create a “container of safety” (Bellin, , p. 222), which facilitates a space where the client can feel comfortable sharing experiences. This requires the validation of feelings as being real and honoring that these are occurring in relation to the client's interactions with social systems.…”

“…If humans strive for pleasure or happiness, they will do more to distance themselves from those ends, thus increasing what he termed a noogenic neurosis (i.e., a sickness of the soul that can present as sadness and worry). The will to meaning can be frustrated by external and internal forces, which can take the form of social pressures or internalized concerns about consequences for noncompliance to norms (Bellin, ).…”