Part I: Introduction -- Psychologies of meaning -- Part II: Conceptualizations of Meaning -- Meaning of Life: The Nature, Needs, and Myths -- Existential Mattering: Bringing Attention to a Neglected but Central Aspect of Meaning? -- Meaning as a Buffer for Existential Anxiety -- Meaning in Terror Management Theory -- Finding the Keys to Meaningful Happiness: Beyond Being Happy or Sad is Love -- Part III: A Dialogue Between Positive and Existential Psychology: Exploring Connections -- Extending the contexts of existence: benefits of meaning-guided living -- Ultimate Concerns from Existential and Positive Psychological Perspectives -- Narrative coherence and disruption: negotiating between positive and existential psychology -- Viktor Frankl’s Meaning-Seeking Model and Positive Psychology -- Positive Psychology, Existential Psychology, and the Presumption of Egoism -- Anxiety and the Approach of Idealistic Meaning -- Positive and Existential Psychological Approaches to the Experience of Meaning in Life -- Part IV: Empirical and Applied Perspectives -- Clinical Utilizations of Meanings -- Meaning in life and coping: Sense of meaning as a buffer against stress -- Perceived Meaning and Disaster Mental Health: A Role for Logotherapy in Clinical-Disaster Psychology -- Meaning Sensitive Psychotherapy: Binding Clinical, Existential, and Positive Psychological Perspectives -- Special Issues and Challenging Life Events -- Hardiness Leads to Meaningful Growth Through What is Learned when Resolving Stressful Circumstances -- Do Meaning in Life and Purpose in Life Protect Against Suicide Ideation among Community-Residing Older Adults? -- Mourning, Meaning and Memory: Individual, Communal and Cultural Narration of Grief -- Ebb and Flow in the Sense of Meaning Purpose: A Lifespan Perspective on Alcohol and Other Drug Involvement -- Well-Being and Personal Growth in Emerging Motherhood – And What about Meaning?.

"This volume, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology is a timely and engaging exploration of these contrasting, but potentially reconcilable, orientations. It raises questions that have wide ranging academic, clinical and personal significance… a volume such as this, written by some of the most influential figures in positive psychology, is very much welcomed. But it also gives equal voice to the existentialists and this is where the volume has a distinctive strength" - From the Foreword by Professor Brian R. Little, Ph.D. C.Psychol. FBPsS, Distinguished Scholar, Department of Psychology and Fellow, Well-Being Institute, Cambridge University Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology presents a broad overview of contemporary empirical research and theoretical work on the meaning/purpose in life construct from two perspectives - Positive psychology and Existential psychology. Although they may have common ground, these perspectives have only recently come into fruitful dialogue. They may, in fact, be viewed as more complementary than strictly opposing. Positive psychology's focus on human strengths tends to emphasize the brighter side of human functioning, whereas existential psychology, traditionally, tends to address the more unsettling aspects of human existence, such as guilt, suffering, and mortality. Despite their different approaches, both positive and existential psychology have come to view meaning and meaning awareness as central psychological (and philosophical) factors, relevant both for human striving and for human coping. Written by an international and interdisciplinary assembly of leading researchers in existential and positive psychology and related disciplines, this book includes twenty-one chapters on current trends and topics in meaning oriented clinical and theoretical psychology. Among the topics covered: A dialogue between positive and existential psychology on: Conceptualizations of meaning Clinical utilizations of meaning Meaning – Oriented Meaning and mortality Meaning and challenging life events Benefits of meaning-oriented living Meaning and existential anxiety Intellectually rich and empirically robust, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology is breakthrough reading for instructors and students, psychotherapists, clinical, social, existential, and positive psychologists and psychiatrists, philosophers, and interested general readers.