Meaning Systems and Mental Health Culture: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Counseling and Psychotherapy

by James T. Hansen

The creation of meaning is a central feature of human life. The full spectrum of experience, from joyful, devoted living to unbearable psychological suffering, is orchestrated by the meanings that people endorse and create. Meaning Systems and Mental Health Culture: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Counseling and Psychotherapy examines the intersection of meaning systems, mental health culture, and counseling and psychotherapy. By viewing mental health care through the lenses of culture and history, James T. Hansen argues that a defining element of mental health culture, throughout various eras, is the relative value placed on meaning systems. Contemporary mental health care, with its idealization of symptom-based diagnostics, biological reductionism, and the medical model, severely devalues meaning systems. This devaluation has led modern counselors and psychotherapists to largely abandon the factors that should be central to their work. Meaning Systems and Mental Health Culture weaves together empirical, historical, cultural, and philosophical perspectives to raise awareness of the need for counseling and psychotherapy to revalue meaning systems, even while operating within a culture that disregards them.

Genres: Psychology

200 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2016

About the author

James T. Hansen is a Professor at Oakland University in the Department of Counseling. His primary scholarly interests are philosophical and theoretical issues in counseling and critical examination of contemporary mental health culture. Dr. Hansen has published over fifty articles in leading counseling journals and multiple books. Several of his books have won awards for their contributions to humanistic philosophy in counseling. Dr. Hansen has over twenty-five years of experience as a practitioner, supervisor, and consultant. If you would like further information about Dr. Hansen's publications and professional activities, please visit his professional website.

Reviews

[Vince Anila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my all-time favorite book in the field of psychotherapy / counseling by one of its most thoughtful interpreters. Dr. Hansen interrogates the history and assumptions of the field like no other, and his curiosity, playfulness, and simultaneously broad and deep knowledge are all on full display here. Stunning, required reading.