Positive Psychology: Hope and Meaning

Friday, April 1, 2022

Hope and Meaning

Hope and Meaning are two important ingredients needed to live without an existential vacuum in our lives

Hope and Meaning are two important ingredients needed to live free of an existential vacuum in our lives.

Lacking hope and meaning can cause: 1) emotional exhaustion, 2) depersonalization and cynicism, and 3) feelings of inefficiency or lack of accomplishment.

This three-dimensional model has been widely accepted as a conceptual framework for burnout syndrome/

Burnout can result in severe problems with both physical and mental health, and it can lead to depression or addictive disorders.

Victor Frankl suggested that existential meaning is fundamentally important to mental health, and this finding led Frankl to the formulation of the concept of existential vacuum.

Frankl defined the term existential vacuum as a loss of life interests and a lack of initiative and proactiveness, which can lead to deep feelings of meaninglessness.

Positive Psychology given credence by Academia:

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Commentators on the subject Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, note that:

"The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).

At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom.

At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation,tolerance, and work ethic."