ABSTRACT

Meaning in life is generally not considered to be one of the most central aspects of person-centered and experiential therapies. However, Carl Rogers described how clients found purpose in life by going through a process that helped them to connect to their inner experiencing. This process was evoked by an empathic, accepting, and genuine therapeutic relationship and resulted in positive therapy outcome. Recently, scholars have also stressed the importance of the therapeutic alliance to foster meaning-making processes in therapy. Meaning in life is also related to well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study is to test whether meaning in life would mediate between therapeutic alliance and therapy outcome in person-centered and experiential psychotherapies. Our sample consisted of 96 outpatients nested within 23 therapists. Using multilevel modeling, we found that meaning in life indeed mediates between the therapeutic relationship and therapy outcome. This suggests that meaning in life might actually be at the very core of person-centered and experiential therapies, and therefore deserves the attention of clinicians as well as theorists. Our results support the idea that the therapeutic bond might foster meaning(-making processes) in therapy, leading to better therapy outcome. However, this idea should be explored further using longitudinal methods.

摘要

生活中的意义通常不被认为是以人为本和体验疗法的最核心方面之一。然而，卡尔·罗杰斯 (Carl Rogers) 描述了客户是如何通过一个帮助他们与内心体验联系起来的过程来找到生活目标的。这个过程是由移情、接受和真正的治疗关系引起的，并导致积极的治疗结果。最近，学者们还强调了治疗联盟对促进治疗中意义构建过程的重要性。生活中的意义也与幸福有关。因此，本研究的目的是检验生命意义是否会在以人为本和体验式心理治疗中的治疗联盟和治疗结果之间起中介作用。我们的样本包括 23 名治疗师中的 96 名门诊患者。使用多层次建模，我们发现生活中的意义确实在治疗关系和治疗结果之间起到了中介作用。这表明，生活中的意义实际上可能是以人为本和体验疗法的核心，因此值得临床医生和理论家关注。我们的结果支持这样的观点，即治疗联系可能会促进治疗中的意义（制造过程），从而导致更好的治疗结果。但是，应该使用纵向方法进一步探索这个想法。我们的结果支持这样的观点，即治疗联系可能会促进治疗中的意义（制造过程），从而导致更好的治疗结果。但是，应该使用纵向方法进一步探索这个想法。我们的结果支持这样的观点，即治疗联系可能会促进治疗中的意义（制造过程），从而导致更好的治疗结果。但是，应该使用纵向方法进一步探索这个想法。