Goals

Question 1

Life meaning

Answer 1

Life meaning=

• Purpose: motivated by valued life goals, a sense of engagement with life, individuals feel pulled towards their goals
• Comprehension: one’s life makes sense
• Mattering: existence is significant

Philosopher perspective
Wolf: meaning of life and why it matters
- Loving something worthy of love, and being able to engage with it in some positive way
- Passion (subjective)
- Larger than oneself (objective)

Question 2

Clinical perspective on the meaning of life

Answer 2

• Jung: some people have inadequate, wrong answers to the questions of life -> neuroticism, they seek outward success, too narrow of a spiritual horizon, life does not have enough content, id they develop into more spacious personalities -> neurosis disappears
• Frank: “Even more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.”
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: focus on meaning

Question 3

Life meaning and importance of goals

Answer 3

• Erik Klinger: we are multi organisms -> we need to move to survive -> goals
• Behaviorism: rats have a representation of the goal
• Hedonic (pleasure) vs eudaimonic (meaning)
  Geographically: link between sense of purpose and mental distress

Question 4

Theory and research regarding how the different elements mentioned in the
definitions may be inversely related to psychopathology both in general and in
specific disorders

Answer 4

Theory 1: Access to reward
Goal progress -> positive emotions
Inhibitory relation between positive and negative emotions

Theory 2: Overcoming avoidance/inhibition
Approach-Avoid conflict: 
Behavioral avoidance 
Behavioral inhibition/paralysis
Anxiety + depression 

Theory 3: Gaining Perspective + Coherence
Jung: biggest problems can not be solved, only outgrown -> through widening of view, the insoluble problem loses its urgency
Trivialization through contrast -> less interesting
Alcohol
Threats

State of field
- More meaning correlated with
-> less depression
-> less anxiety
-> less heavy alcohol use + problems
- Meta-analysis: therapies including meaning elements = less depression and anxiety
BUT: mostly cross-sectional and not a lot know about mechanisms

Question 5

The goal-pursuit elements of Behavioral Activation for depression, including the rationale for goal-pursuit and how goal-pursuit is elicited in this therapy

Answer 5

Behavioral Activation Therapy
- Idea: causal/maintaining factor of depression is the absence of life’s naturally rewarding activities
(work from the outside-in)
- Intervention: Determine activities, schedule activities at particular times and places
- effective, no difference from cognitive therapy

Type of goal matters:
Self-determination theory
- Autonomous (=volition): intrinsic = interesting, enjoyment; identifies = really believe goal is important
- Controlled: external = someone/situation wants you to pursue (external reward/punishments); introjected - would be ashamed/guilty if didn’t pursue (= should & ought)

Does the type of goal matter?
Self-determination theory:
- it does matter what goals people pursue - some are better for mental health, well-being, maturation
- Study 1: people with more self-concordant goals put more effort into those goals
- Study 2: second-generation children more depressed, forced to behave one way

Question 6

Various theoretical models regarding why goal-pursuit may have transdiagnostic relevance

Meaning and Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 6

• CBT for eating disorders (Fairnburn): entire strategy for addressing over-evaluation of eating, shape, and weight needs to be changed and focus on more
• > meaning = over evaluation
• salience landscape for eating disorders: only eating (no family, food, meaning)
• Study 1: AN have less satisfaction with common sources of meaning, AN symptoms will be inversely related with satisfaction with common sources of meaning

Question 7

Various theoretical models regarding why goal-pursuit may have transdiagnostic relevance

Meaning and Addictive Behaviors

Answer 7

• Bringing meaning to the lab (experimental design)
• Motivationally salient: what is important to you, you will see it, influence of goals on perceptions

Previous research:

• Trait meaning inversely related with alcohol
• Inverse relation may be due to greater motivation to restrain alcohol use
• Trivialization perspective suggests meaning -> less temptation of alcohol
• Study 1: A Meaning intervention may alter the incentive salience of alcohol cues
• Study 2: Evidence for potential mediators of the inverse relation between meaning and problematic alcohol use
• > Weakening of the tempting present
• > Strengthening of the adaptive future

Question 8

Various theoretical models regarding why goal-pursuit may have transdiagnostic relevance

Meaning and Anxiety

Answer 8

Behavioral Activation for anxiety

• Idea: worry = an avoidance strategy (verbal worrying: have less emotional impact compared to pictures, people’s fears = pictures)
• Idea: behavioral activation leads to breaking avoidance patterns through repeated exposure to goal-directed behaviors

Study 1:
Reductions in worry, depression, avoidance, intolerance of uncertainty, and increase in social problem solving

Study 2:
Does life meaning predict fewer intrusive, anxiety-related thoughts after an aversive event (flood)?
CONCLUSION:
- people directly affected by the flood-> more intrusion
- For people directly affected by the flood, baseline meaning was protective (fewer intrusions)
- having a meaningful life may help to protect one against negative consequences of aversive (potentially traumatic) events

Study 3:
Role of post-trauma film meaning intervention
- After an aversive film, a meaning intervention will reduce anxiety and repetitive negative thoughts
- Effect of meaning on repetitive negative thinking will be partially mediated by state anxiety
CONCLUSION:
meaning intervention -> less anxiety and rumination (less rumination due to less anxiety)

Study 4:
- Fear of unknown as a mediator of the meaning-distress link
- Fear of unknown as fundamental fear
- Fear of the unknown: greatest predictor of anxiety
Transdiagnostic contributions: GAD, social anxiety, panic, agoraphobia, OCD, depression, eating disorders
- The amount of uncertainty influences fear
CONCLUSION: comprehension is most strongly related to psychopathology symptoms (less fear of the unknown)

Question 9

General summary

Answer 9

• Desire: meaning may help with disorders of desire, in part because of effects on valuing the tempting cue vs the future
• Depression: creating life purpose can counteract apathy of depressive mood
• Anxiety: meaning in life protects against internal chaos elicited by external chaos