Finding Meaning in Life Through Philosophy and Psychotherapy

Difficulties such as loss and depression often make people question how their lives can be meaningful. Sometimes, they seek answers in mystical sayings, such as that everything happens for a reason and that whatever goes around comes around. Better advice about the meaning of life may come from philosophy and psychology.

According to Epicurus (quoted in Lucretius 1969, p. 22):

Vain is the word of a philosopher by whom no human suffering is cured. For just as medicine is of no use if it fails to banish the diseases of the body, so philosophy is of no use if it fails to banish the suffering of the mind.

Philosophy addresses important questions about knowledge and reality, and not all of them are directly relevant to suffering. But many ethical questions are highly relevant to suffering and can be addressed by philosophy in alliance with psychology. A sound theory of life’s meaning should help people to improve their lives.

One philosophical strategy for helping people is to rebut skeptical arguments that life has no meaning at all. Landau (2017) usefully responds to claims that meaning is undermined by the inevitability of death, the enormity of the universe, relativism, determinism, and chance. More positively, he offers (pp. 278-279) wise practical advice including:

• Avoid perfectionism and do not try to achieve the impossible.
• Treat yourself well.
• Recognize that life is not a dress rehearsal so seek meaning now.
• Work.

Nevertheless, most people who have issues about meaning in their lives consult psychologists rather than philosophers. Clinical psychologists are increasingly aware of the relevance of the meaning of life to people’s mental and physical well-being (Hill, 2018). People who are depressed have feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness that imply that their lives are bereft of meaning. The other major malady treated by psychotherapists is anxiety which can be tied to fears that life is lacking in value and direction.

Hill provides a rich model for how psychotherapists can deal with clients who have concerns about meaning in their lives. Her first recommendation is that therapists should first have sorted out how they feel about meaning in their own lives. Research has shown that successful therapy depends less on the theoretical approach of the therapist than on the establishment of a therapeutic alliance with the client based on empathy and trust. Therapists who do not understand the meaning in their own lives will have difficulty establishing the desired alliance with clients who are troubled about meaning.

Hill suggests interventions for helping people explore meaning in their lives, including restating their concerns, reflecting on their feelings, and disclosing the therapist’s own struggles with meaning. Such disclosure furnishes analogies to guide the client’s thinking and also shows empathy for the client’s problems. Hill provides advice about how to help clients gain insights about their understanding of the meaning in their lives and how to help them reinterpret and revise their views.

Hill provides case examples of clients who sought help from psychotherapists in dealing with issues about meaning in life. Bruce was a man in his mid-60s who was having difficulties with retirement, his troubled long-term marriage, and health problems. With the therapist, he talked about faith, spirituality, his need for freedom, and his attraction to another woman. The therapist helped him to gain clarity about his spiritual struggles and to sort out what he wanted.

Introducing psychology into deliberations about meaning in life does not eliminate philosophy, which remains relevant because of its normative contribution. A purely descriptive approach to values would accept clients’ claims that their lives are meaningful because of practices such as collecting beer bottle caps or having violent sex with strangers. Philosophy is crucial to finding meaning in life by assessing the legitimacy of different values.

Thagard (2010, 2019) summarizes objectively desirable values in the slogan that the meaning of life is love, work, and play because these three contribute to satisfaction of the vital psychological needs of relatedness, competence, and autonomy. This slogan provides a concise answer to what provides purpose and value to a great many people without having to deal with the abstractness of concepts like relatedness.

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Coherence comes when people understand that their actions are motivated by the legitimate pursuit of love, work, and play and when they are able to achieve a reasonable balance among these pursuits. As in the case of Bruce, questions about finding meaning in life sometimes concern finding balance among different values. The relevant mental mechanism for working out conflicts is emotional coherence among actions and goals (Thagard, 2006).

Thus, philosophy and psychology can work together to help people find meaning in their lives.