Reconstructing Meaning After Trauma: Theory, Research, and Practice informs actual therapeutic work with clients who present with traumas or other life disruptions by providing clinicians with information on the construction of meaning. It includes material on diverse mechanisms of clinical change and positive-promoting processes. The book covers identifiable treatments and specific lines of research in assisting clients in developing new meaning, such as posttraumatic growth (after sexual assault, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, destructive natural phenomena, such as hurricanes, and refugee experiences), and finding benefit (in the context of loss—loss of health, or loss of a loved one). - Addresses a specific treatment or line of research - Includes extended case vignettes at the beginning of each chapter - Describes the associated theoretical background for each method - Summarizes the research supporting each mechanism - Concludes with a discussion of future directions for treatment, research, and theory

Trauma represents a spiritual or religious violation for many survivors. This book describes how to promote healthy healing and meaning-making in clients with a history of trauma.

Trauma and Meaning Making highlights multiple practices of meaning making after traumatic events in the lives of individuals and communities. Meaning making consists both in a personal journey towards a new way to exist and live in a world shattered by trauma and in public politics locating and defining what has happened. In both perspectives, the collection evaluates the impact achieved by naming the victim/s and thus the right of the victim/s to suffer from its aftermath or by refusing to recognise the traumatic event and thus the right of the victim/s to respond to it. A range of paradigms and techniques invite readers to consider anew the specificities of context and relationship while negotiating post-traumatic survival. By delineating how one makes sense of traumatic events, this volume will enable readers to draw links between practices grounded in diverse disciplines encompassing creative arts, textual analysis, public and collective communication, psychology and psychotherapy, memory and memorial.

The Science of Religion, Spirituality, and Existentialism presents in-depth analysis of the core issues in existential psychology, their connections to religion and spirituality (e.g., religious concepts, beliefs, identities, and practices), and their diverse outcomes (e.g., psychological, social, cultural, and health). Leading scholars from around the world cover research exploring how fundamental existential issues are both cause and consequence of religion and spirituality, informed by research data spanning multiple levels of analysis, such as: evolution; cognition and neuroscience; emotion and motivation; personality and individual differences; social and cultural forces; physical and mental health; among many others. The Science of Religion, Spirituality, and Existentialism explores known contours and emerging frontiers, addressing the big question of why religious belief remains such a central feature of the human experience. - Discusses both abstract concepts of mortality and concrete near-death experiences - Covers the struggles and triumphs associated with freedom, self-regulation, and authenticity - Examines the roles of social exclusion, experiential isolation, attachment, and the construction of social identity - Considers the problems of uncertainty, the effort to discern truth and reality, and the challenge to find meaning in life - Discusses how the mind developed to handle existential topics, how the brain and mind implement the relevant processes, and the many variations and individual differences that alter those processes - Delves into the psychological functions of religion and science; the influence on pro- and antisocial behavior, politics, and public policy; and looks at the role of spiritual concerns in understanding the human body and maintaining physical health

This book offers an in-depth exploration of the burgeoning field of meaning in life in the psychological sciences, covering conceptual and methodological issues, core psychological mechanisms, environmental, cognitive and personality variables and more.

How to release anger and reconnect to yourself using mindfulness techniques. Anger is one the most common human emotions, so if you’re not feeling it, then you’re probably unconsciously burying it. But anger that is buried isn’t actually gone. In fact, hidden or covert anger may be just as damaging as the overt, outwardly destructive kind, only it wreaks havoc from the inside-out. All sorts of physical and emotional problems can stem from suppressed anger: headaches, digestive problems, insomnia, just to name a few. Buried anger is expressed in a continuum, with rage and aggression at the top, and frustration, annoyance, irritation at the bottom, and everything in between. Unless this anger is addressed, it is impossible to overcome. This book urges readers to practice mindfulness-deliberately allowing physical sensations and emotions to surface so they can be examined and released. This sort of processing of anger-fully felt in the body as it happens, moved out through appropriate expression, and let go-will allow readers to process anger before it becomes unhealthy. Whether for you or your clients, this book offers simple tools of mindfulness to strengthen your connection with your inner world and learn to explore your anger, paying heed to the important messages it is sending.

"This volume is especially useful in demonstrating the effects of placing social discourses at the center of therapy. It gores many sacred cows of the larger modernist therapeutic community, but in doing so it offers new ideas for mental health professionals attempting to help their clients with common and serious life problems." —PSYCRITIQUES "This compilation is an insightful read for practitioners who have not taken the opportunity to use narrative therapy in practice...Experienced practitioners will certainly appreciate the theoretical analysis offered by the writers as well as the opportunity for reflective practice. Narrative Therapy is a meaningful contribution to a Canadian book market lacking in clinical literature for social workers" —CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives offers a comprehensive introduction to and critique of narrative therapy and its theories. This edited volume introduces students to the history and theory of narrative therapy. Authors Catrina Brown and Tod Augusta-Scott situate this approach to theory and practice within the context of various feminist, post-modern and critical theories. Through the presentation of case studies, Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives shows how this narrative-oriented theory can be applied in the client-therapist experience. Many important therapeutic situations (abuse, addictions, eating disorders, and more) are addressed from the narrative perspective. Rooted in social constructionism, and emerging initially from family therapy, narrative therapy emphasizes the idea that we live storied lives. Within this approach, the editors and contributors seek to show how we make sense of our lives and experiences by ascribing meaning through stories which themselves arise within social conversations and culturally available discourses. Our stories don’t simply represent us or mirror lived events; they actually constitute us—shaping our lives as well as our relationships. Narrative Therapy will be a valuable supplemental textbook for theory and practice courses in departments of Counseling and Psychotherapy and of Social Work as well as for courses in Gender and Women Studies.