meaning of life?

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andrea

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What do you (or would you) tell your patients when they ask what the meaning of life is?
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If I asked my former psychologist about that, she'd say "what do you think that the meaning of life is?" :rolleyes: . If I asked my current psychiatrist that, she would give me some silly study on how they discovered the meaning of life by scanning people's brains and finding the meaning of life center in the brain (she's big on psycho-biology, I don't think that she was meant to be a psychiatrist). If a patient asked me that, I would just say that there is no meaning to life and you should just do whatever you want to do.
 
a-good-cup-of-expresso,being-able-to-see-and-smell-a-rose,not-being-constipated,eating-your-favorie-chocholatemaking-a-child-and-people-smile,-
 
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"Life is like a penis: when it's soft you can't beat it; when it's hard you get screwed." - House of God
 
An old philosophy prof had a great answer for that. He said he was less interested in the meaning of life and more interested in the nature of human consciousness.

He should have gone into psych/neuro!
 
To better yourself in whatever way possible.

(This could mean anything from becoming a world class snowboarder to being kinder to those around you. The idea is more to become passionate about something and be proud of the life you have lived)
 
To paypal your life's savings to me at...

[email protected]

Actually in all seriousness,
To figure out the answer to the question...

Only thing I heard that seems to make anything close to sense is what Jack Palance said in City Slickers. Its what you make of it.
 
Originally posted by andrea
What do you (or would you) tell your patients when they ask what the meaning of life is?
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The answer is 42.
 
Haha, Hameroff's been on that Special K too much...
 
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I would say that the meaning of life is whatever one ascribes to it.
 
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."
.....Joseph Campbell

You might also read Yalom's chapter on "The Meaning of Life" in his excellent book "Existential Psychotherapy".
 
The meaning of life is to learn to love.
 
Meaning of life is simple... It is the best thing in life...

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!"

I wonder how many actually know this quote...
 
My therapist (yes, I see a therapist) has helped me understand that life won't have a meaning unless I give it one. Although I could be wrong, especially since I'm giving you perspective from a patient point of view.

I have a feeling my point of view only works on a non-spiritual individual, though. But when I came to the conclusion life was what I made it, and no purpose was going to appear after a certain number of epiphanies I experienced, it helped me take a much more forward, optimistic attitude on my life, rather than the stagnant feeling I had when I was pointlessly searching for the meaning of life.

If your patient is more spiritual in nature, it could be worth your while to tell him/her that its quite possible the grand purpose of life is beyond our comprehension. Maybe (insert deity here) doesn't want us to know his master plan, as it is irrelevant to our existence.

But, these responses might only work for those who are philosophical at heart. Yet, I have a feeling any patient wanting to know the ultimate meaning of things will have a philosophic streak in them somewhere.

I know I'm probably nowhere near qualified enough to give you, someone much more intelligent than me medical advice. But I figured you can just ignore me if what I'm saying is that bad of advice.

Also from a standpoint of a person who suffers from depression, I can say that the more I personally examine my life, the more I come to the conclusion its not worth living. So I stopped asking rhetorical questions. Its much easier said than done, but it can be done.
 
It's A Freakin' Cookbook???!! Awwwwe Maaaan!!!
 
I don't think you can find a meaningful answer to this question without bringing some kind of "higher power" into the mix. Life makes no sense without "God." Eventually you will find in life that any lover, friend, amount of money, accomplishment, travel location, hobby, drug, family member, or any other worldly thing you would like to put here will never completly fufil your life. There will always be something missing and you will never be completely fufilled.
Life is like a puzzle that requires a piece that only a "higher power" can fill the shape of in your heart/soul. People try to insert any other thing into that certain puzzle piece to fufil their lives and nothing ever will. At some point you must accept that like every other creation on this planet, all the animals that live out their amazing and unique ways of living, your life too must glorify "God." Every creation on this planet glorifies "God" just by living and doing what they've been programed to do. Human are no exception except that we choose how we want to live our lives when for animals it is almost entirely pre-given instincts. Everything was put here to glorify "God." Until you accept that there is a part of you that only a dialogue and relationship with "God" can fill, your life will seem pointless.
Now how exactly do we "glorify God" with our lives. That is something I cannot answer for you but you can do this in countless ways. It is your personal decision how you feel you should glorify your Creator after you start a relationship with it/her/him.
 
andrea said:
What do you (or would you) tell your patients when they ask what the meaning of life is?
Click to expand...

I like the idea of saying that it's up to each individual to find. And while I think the generic answer is fine, but this is a moment when the physician has a chance to appear very real to a patient. Go ahead and say what you believe. They didn't ask a deep question to receive a canned answer.

In my eyes, that's to serve God, to give, to learn to love (all one and the same), to bring a family into the world, and to standy by them in whatever way possible through the same course. It's an answer much bigger than ourselves.
 
freaker said:
I like the idea of saying that it's up to each individual to find. And while I think the generic answer is fine, but this is a moment when the physician has a chance to appear very real to a patient. Go ahead and say what you believe.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine a situation in which this sort of disclosure would be beneficial to the therapeutic relationship, and could imagine far more situations in which it would be harmful.

Your patient needs to know your answer to this question just as much as they need to know your address and where your kids go to school.
 
whopper said:
The meaning of life is up to the individual.

But that individual must be at a high level on Maslov's pyramid to figure out the meaning.

There are exceptions. Some can discover their meaning without reaching the high levels.

http://wildgreenyonder.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/maslows_hierarchy_of_needssvg.png?w=362&h=238
Click to expand...

I agree that it is up to the individual, and disagree that you must be at the top of Maslow's pyramid. For some, the meaning of life well may be getting together with mates (sorry, friends) at a local pub once a week - and that may be perfectly fine for them and the society around them. For others, it is to serve their country; or God; or to achieve success in one's profession; or, to make a crap load of money; or, to get laid... As long the these goals are a) ego-syntonic and b) are not harmful to the society, allowing the individual to function successfully within their society, the individual can be anywhere as far as Maslow's hierarchy is concerned and have their well-defined meaning of life.

BTW, I agree with BP37 - the last thing your patient needs to know is YOUR meaning of life. A part of your job is to help them to figure out theirs.
 
The meaning of life can be found in a cold, trout stream while fly-fishing, deep in thought.
 
fstop said:
I don't think you can find a meaningful answer to this question without bringing some kind of "higher power" into the mix. Life makes no sense without "God." Eventually you will find in life that any lover, friend, amount of money, accomplishment, travel location, hobby, drug, family member, or any other worldly thing you would like to put here will never completly fufil your life. There will always be something missing and you will never be completely fufilled.
Life is like a puzzle that requires a piece that only a "higher power" can fill the shape of in your heart/soul. People try to insert any other thing into that certain puzzle piece to fufil their lives and nothing ever will. At some point you must accept that like every other creation on this planet, all the animals that live out their amazing and unique ways of living, your life too must glorify "God." Every creation on this planet glorifies "God" just by living and doing what they've been programed to do. Human are no exception except that we choose how we want to live our lives when for animals it is almost entirely pre-given instincts. Everything was put here to glorify "God." Until you accept that there is a part of you that only a dialogue and relationship with "God" can fill, your life will seem pointless.
Now how exactly do we "glorify God" with our lives. That is something I cannot answer for you but you can do this in countless ways. It is your personal decision how you feel you should glorify your Creator after you start a relationship with it/her/him.
Click to expand...

My "meaning of life" is so far from this its not even funny.

Abram Hoffer said:
The meaning of life can be found in a cold, trout stream while fly-fishing, deep in thought.
Click to expand...

Existentialism.

Nuff said.
 
billypilgrim37 said:
Hemingway FTW?
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Actually, it was my own original thought. But since you unintentionally placated me, you still get the win. :D Along the same lines, meaning of life... my brother stole a rock from Hemingway's home while on a "contemplative" journey alone across the US. That was many yrs ago. I still have it and use it as a door stop.
 
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billypilgrim37 said:
I can't imagine a situation in which this sort of disclosure would be beneficial to the therapeutic relationship, and could imagine far more situations in which it would be harmful.
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I, too, can think of several. I'm curious why you state this. It frankly doesn't make sense to me.
 
As a near fast rule, self-disclosures to patients distract from the therapeutic relationship and encourage disruptive transferrences. They usually hurt patients by removing the focus from them.

There are rare exceptions to every rule, of course. But you've got to have a really good reason to break this one. There are many ways to build rapport and establish a warm, hospitable, non-judgmental environment than by telling your patients things they do not need to know about you.

There is no imperative for a therapist to "appear real" to their patients by stating what they believe about life, the universe, and everything. This is a conversation for buddies at a bar or the next morning at church, but not in the therapeutic relationship.
 
billypilgrim37 said:
As a near fast rule, self-disclosures to patients distract from the therapeutic relationship and encourage disruptive transferrences. They usually hurt patients by removing the focus from them.

There are rare exceptions to every rule, of course. But you've got to have a really good reason to break this one. There are many ways to build rapport and establish a warm, hospitable, non-judgmental environment than by telling your patients things they do not need to know about you.

There is no imperative for a therapist to "appear real" to their patients by stating what they believe about life, the universe, and everything. This is a conversation for buddies at a bar or the next morning at church, but not in the therapeutic relationship.
Click to expand...
I agree. It's begins a slippery slope when you choose to divulge (notice, I did not use the word, 'disclose') information that is personal in nature. The shift of focus from them to you creates an imbalance that leads the treatment in a different direction. While it seems easiest in a new clinician's career to develop rapport by self-disclosing, it is a bad idea and only leads things in the wrong direction. It is much easier to give a child what he wants, but is it truly of benefit to the child in the long-run? I think this is only something that develops with the trial and error of gaining experience. Some never really get it, but it does matter tremendously.
 
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Faebinder said:
Meaning of life is simple... It is the best thing in life...

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!"

I wonder how many actually know this quote...
Click to expand...

I don't have an answer for the meaning of life, but I do know a quote from Conan The Barbarian when I see it...
 
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