Reality and quality of care in dealing with questions of meaning in outpatient psychotherapy

Background to the study
The experience of meaning is an outcome-relevant factor in psychotherapeutic and medical healthcare, as several reviews and meta-analyses show:

"Overall, higher levels of meaning are clearly associated with better physical health, as well as with behavioural factors that decrease the probability of negative health outcomes or increase that of positive health outcomes." (Roepke et al., 2014).

At the same time, many studies show that a lack of meaning and crises of meaning can lead to depression, anxiety, addiction, aggression, hopelessness, apathy, reduced well-being, physical illness and/or, in the worst cases, suicide.

Aims of the study
To date, there have been hardly any healthcare research studies, particularly in Germany, but also internationally, on how patients and therapists experience dealing with questions/crises of meaning within psychotherapy. The aim of these qualitative-explorative studies is therefore to describe and understand the subjective perspective of patients and psychological psychotherapists (with and without further training in meaning issues and with a transpersonal/spiritual orientation) in dealing with questions of meaning in their complexity and depth.

Expected benefits of the study
In addition to closing the above-mentioned research gap, the results of these three qualitative studies would be a first step towards generating approaches to improve psychotherapeutic care for questions of meaning. For example, recommendations for action for psychology studies, for the training and further education of psychotherapists and for the communication training of prospective doctors could represent a practical study result.