Discovering Meaning and Purpose in Life through Meaning-Centered Therapy, based on Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy & Existential Analysis. IN COLOR 8-SESSION MANUAL & HANDBOOK. Downloadable Color and Black-n-White Conceptual Pictographs-Client Handouts available in Appendix, with purchase. This transformative Meaning-Centered Therapy Manual: Logotherapy & Existential Analysis Brief Therapy Protocol for Group & Individual Sessions includes one-of-a-kind, colorful Conceptual Pictographs-Client Handouts that are to be used in an 8-session protocol for individual and group counseling across clinical, medical and spiritual settings. With its emphasis on a Mind-Body-Spirit Integrative Approach, the manual addresses Existential Exploration, Existential Crisis and Despair, Meaning in Life, as well as many other concerns of the Human Condition through Fostering the Discovery of Meaning and Purpose, and Inner Resources. The 8-Session Protocol allows clinicians and facilitators to follow a manualized format to assist individuals in examining: What areas of freedom exist within current life circumstances to activate and discover meaning in life? How can meaning be uncovered with an ongoing discovery throughout life? How can inner resources and strengths be used toward meaning and purpose in life, and in overcoming adversity? What goals and possibilities were once mentioned, never completed, and could be reactivated? What new possibilities can be discovered and become meaningful? What meaningful tasks can be accomplished as part of a personal Legacy Project of one's human existence? Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy & Existential Analysis (LTEA) philosophy and therapeutic framework encourages individuals to: Recognize strengths and weaknesses, and utilize both for personal and relational growth. Develop a greater personal understanding of the experiences within the human condition. Uncover and discover inner strengths and resources to live passionate, fulfilling and meaningful lives. Live authentically, heal from traumatic experiences, and have personal and relational transformation. This process facilitates accessing and discovering Meaning, and fulfilling one's existential Responsibility to life through: Self-Awareness, Self-Reflection, Self-Discovery, Self-Connection, Self-Acceptance, & Self-Transcendence.

Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) for advanced cancer patients is a highly effective intervention for advanced cancer patients, developed and tested in randomized controlled trials by Breitbart and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. This treatment manual for group therapy provides clinicians in the oncology and palliative care settings a highly effective, brief, structured intervention shown to be effective in helping patients sustain meaning, hope and quality of life.

Meaning-Centered-Psychotherapy in the Cancer Setting provides a theoretical context for Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP), a non-pharmalogic intervention which has been shown to enhance meaning and spiritual well-being, increase hope, improve quality of life, and significantly decrease depression, anxiety, desire for hastened death, and symptom burden distress in the cancer setting. Based on the work of Viktor Frankl and his concept of logotherapy, MCP is an innovative intervention for clinicians practicing in fields of Psycho-oncology, Palliative Care, bereavement, and cancer survivorship. This volume supplements two treatment manuals, Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy (MCGP) for Patients with Advanced Cancer and Individual Meaning -Centered Psychotherapy (IMCP) for Patients with Advanced Cancer by Dr. Breitbart, which offer a step-wise outline to conducting a specific set of therapy sessions. In addition to providing a theoretical background on the MCP techniques provided in the treatment manuals, this volume contains chapters on adapting MCP for different cancer-related populations and for different purposes and clinical problems including: interventions for cancer survivors, caregivers of cancer patients, adolescents and young adults with cancer, as a bereavement intervention, and cultural and linguistic applications in languages such as Mandarin, Spanish, and Hebrew.

The importance of spiritual well-being and the role of "meaning" in moderating depression, hopelessness and desire for death in terminally-ill cancer and AIDS patients has been well-supported by research, and has led many palliative clinicians to look beyond the role of antidepressant treatment in this population. Clinicians are focusing on the development of non-pharmacologic interventions that can address issues such as hopelessness, loss of meaning, and spiritual well-being in patients with advanced cancer at the end of life. This effort led to an exploration and analysis of the work of Viktor Frankl and his concepts of logotherapy, or meaning-based psychotherapy. While Frankl's logotherapy was not designed for the treatment of patients with life-threatening illnesses, his concepts of meaning and spirituality have inspired applications in psychotherapeutic work with advanced cancer patients, many of whom seek guidance and help in dealing with issues of sustaining meaning, hope, and understanding cancer and impending death in the context of their lives. Individual Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy (IMCP), an intervention developed and rigorously tested by the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is a seven-week program that utilizes a mixture of didactics, discussion and experiential exercises that focus around particular themes related to meaning and advanced cancer. Patients are assigned readings and homework that are specific to each session's theme and which are utilized in each session. While the focus of each session is on issues of meaning and purpose in life in the face of advanced cancer and a limited prognosis, elements of support and expression of emotion are inevitable in the context of each group session. The structured intervention presented in this manual can be provided by a wide array of clinical disciplines, ranging from chaplains, nurses, palliative care physicians, to counselors, psychotherapists, social workers, graduate psychology students, psychologists and psychiatrists.

This new book by international experts in psycho-oncology has arisen from the teaching academies offered by the International Psycho-oncology Society. It distills the wisdom and experience from the training manuals dedicated to individual psychological therapies and combines them into an accessible handbook for clinicians in cancer care today. The editors have brought together leading researchers and therapists, who provide accounts of the prominent models of psychotherapy currently being used in cancer care, the key themes they address and the essential techniques needed to apply each approach successfully. Helpful clinical illustrations are woven throughout the book to make overt the strategies found in each model. Provides practical guidance about how to deliver a range of individual, group, couple and family interventions that have proven utility in cancer care. Describes comprehensively each model of psychotherapy as taught by experts delivering the International Psycho-Oncology Society’s Educational Academy on cancer care for patients and their families. Features practical suggestions on therapy delivery from the world’s leading proponents of each therapy. Serves as a valuable tool to assist teaching and to facilitate research into psychological interventions in oncology, palliative care and bereavement. Functions as a readily accessible resource for clinicians struggling to support someone effectively, through its provision of insight into the common challenges and traps that arise when providing patients with emotional support. This practical handbook will help not only psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers but also physicians, surgeons, general practitioners and nurses interested in better understanding and supporting the patients and families they care for.

Viktor E. Frankl, the founder of the "meaning centred psychotherapy" called logotherapy, was awarded 29 honorary doctorates from around the world for his work. One distinguishing feature of this form of psychotherapy is that it works well in the long term as well as providing short time relief. This is more and more important in view of the increasing numbers of people in the world who suffer from mental instabilities or disorders. The two renowned authors of this book offer exciting insights into the practical application of logotherapy. In doing so, they inspire readers to come up with ideas and tips for their own lives.