Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy in the Oncology and Palliative Care Settings

Abstract

Meaning-centered psychotherapy (MCP) was developed when meaning was first identified by our research group and others as a central tool in diminishing psychosocial distress and despair at the end of life. MCP is based on Viktor Frankl's logotherapy and was developed to help patients with advanced cancer to sustain or enhance a sense of meaning, peace, and purpose in their lives even as they approach the end of life. MCP is based on a theoretical model in which the enhancement of meaning results in improved quality of life and reduced distress, despair, and suffering. MCP has shown to be a highly effective intervention for existential distress among cancer patients, specifically improving quality of life and spiritual well-being, while diminishing depression, hopelessness, and the desire for hastened death. The core principles that have contributed to its success in treating advanced cancer patients have been utilized and built upon to generate solutions for a wider population, including cancer survivors, young adults, caregivers, and bereaved parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)