Meaning-Fullness: Developmental Psychotherapy and the Pursuit of Mental Health

by Jan Resnick

The purpose of Developmental Psychotherapy and the Pursuit of Mental Health is to show why current mental health practices are falling short in the ever-growing need for effective responses to the epidemic of mental unwellness. Jan Resnick begins by taking a critical look at psychiatry and psychology, especially the misuse and corruption of research that undergirds these practices. He goes on to offer an alternative perspective, understanding, and approach to issues of mental disorders. Resnick focuses upon the existential vacuum, a term originating in Viktor Frankl’s classic text Man’s Search for Meaning, which refers to feelings of emptiness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness. Feelings that are increasingly prevalent in our contemporary world. The existential vacuum points to a domain of experience not well described by the DSM or treated with a bio-medical approach.

A radically different therapeutic approach emerges through elaborating Winnicott’s ideas in Playing and Reality, his last published work. Resnick shows how the capacity for meaning-making originates in early childhood development, and how this understanding can be applied to adult experience, thereby making psychotherapy a developmental process. Developmental psychotherapy aims to cultivate a greater capacity for play, creativity, relationship, and meaningful living. In addition, therapy must work toward relief of mental suffering, recovery from trauma, and mitigation, if not resolution, of psychological disorders. The theory is richly supported with clinical examples throughout the book, culminating in a long case study that integrates the ideas with clinical practice, which forms the final part of the book.

Dr Jan Resnick has created a must-read work for mental health practitioners the world over. His easy-to-read prose makes it accessible and of value to anyone concerned with issues of mental health and well-being, personal development and creating a meaning-full way of living.

442 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2023

About the author

Jan Resnick, PhD, is an internationally respected Psychotherapist and couple’s counsellor whose work has spanned four decades, three continents, and has helped hundreds of people connect to what matters most: each other. The Founding President of the Psychotherapists and Counsellors’ Association of Western Australia; founding Director of The Churchill Clinic, a nationally recognised and accredited training organisation; and long-standing member of the Editorial Advisory Panel for the national journal Psychotherapy in Australia, Jan believes in the accessibility of information and support. Jan currently resides in Perth, Western Australia, with his wife Cath and six children.

Reviews

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is tremendous value in this book. Jan has true talent, writing in a way that is an absolute pleasure to read, and there are so many profound statements that you can literally open the book at any page and be inspired, or find something interesting and thought provoking. I deal daily with chronic pain, and have found reading to be too hard. But this book is so different. I can read small portions and my day is better for having done so. It’s even a beautiful book to hold! The cover page is soft and even the paper and font chosen are a pleasure to look at. Every detail is gold. I am very glad this book came into being, and very happy I own one. It is a treasure trove. and there is no other book like it.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book Jan develops a new way of viewing and working with a psychotherapeutic journey to mental health, in a world where mental health is ever worsening as the result of being viewed and treated through a medicalised lens. Jan sees much mental suffering as people living meaning-limited lives, being diagnosed as mentally unwell, but desperately needing/seeking meaning-full-ness as a way to mental health. He views the therapeutic journey as one of meaning-seeking within a therapeutic relationship in a way that echoes the original journey of a young child as it separates from fusion with the caregiver, through transitional objects/spaces to a symbolisation or inner representation and hence a being-ness that is meaning-full in a separateness from the caregiver so that connection with life/others/the world can occur, and a meaning-full life can be had. I feel this is an important book free of any particular modality but focussed on the therapeutic relationship as the agent in this echoed journey to mental health. This understanding is and will be very useful indeed for me in my psychotherapeutic practice.

[Natasa Starcevich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most important psychotherapy books I’ve ever read. Jan Resnick has a talent for explaining things in way that really resonate and can be understood. As a psychotherapist, I have been able to apply many ideas in this book to the patients I work with, particularly the importance of play as a way to cultivate a meaningful life. Play, the absence of it, and how it relates to meaning always hits home, not only with my patients, but in my personal life too. This book will always be one that I return to.

[Миша Резник · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book, inspired by over four decades of clinical practice, brings rich insights to the important endeavour of finding meaning in one's life. Complex ideas are presented clearly and thoughtfully, making it an engaging read for both seasoned thinkers and those new to these concepts. The book is written with a personal touch and conversational style that feels relatable and clear.