Existential Psychology
Dr. Paul Wong
Adler versus Frankl: Similarities and Differences (Taiwan Society of Adlerian Psychology, Taiwan)
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) A Historical Overview After leaving Freud’s Society of Psychoanalysis as a young, 18-year-old medical student, Frankl joined Adler’s Society for Individual Psychology from 1923 to 1927. During these four years, he was...
The Courage to Live Well and Die Well (2017 Life Education International Academic Conference, Taiwan)
Abstract This paper proposes that the best way to lead a good life is to pursue a life of meaning, virtue, and happiness through self-transcendence. This meaning hypothesis was developed from the perspective of second wave positive psychology (PP 2.0), which sees...
Reflections on My Psychology Career: Where I Came From, and Where I Am Going (Autobiography, Ch. 21)
Dr. Paul T. P. Wong’s autobiography, A Lifelong Search for Meaning: Lessons on Virtue, Grit, and Faith, is published in weekly installments. Stay updated here. “I suffer, therefore, I rejoice.” This paradoxical statement sums up my entire academic career in...
Death Acceptance and the Meaning-Centered Approach to End-of-Life Care
Authors Co-authored with David F. Carreño, M.A. University of Almeria, Spain, and Beatriz Góngora Oliver, M.S., Torrecardenas Hospital, Almeria, Spain.The final examination that faces all of us is how to die well. Death anxiety, just like test anxiety,...
Paul T. P. Wong’s Contribution to Existential Therapy
Meaning therapy (MT; Wong, 2010, 2016) is also known as meaning-centered counseling and therapy (MCCT). It is based on Frankl’s logotherapy, but is extended to integrate with cognitive-behavioral therapy and positive psychotherapy. Thus, it is a pluralistic approach...
Critique of Positive Psychology and Positive Interventions
Authors Co-authored with Sandip Roy, M.D., Chief Medical Director, RKHC Charitable Hospital and Founder, Happiness India Project, Delhi, India.Abstract This chapter critiques positive psychology (PP) and PP interventions (PPIs) at three levels. First, it identifies...
How to Measure Existential Meaning
Note This is a manuscript review of the paper published as George, L. S., & Park, C. L. (2016). The Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale: A tripartite approach to measuring meaning in life. The Journal of Positive Psychology. Advance online publication....
Five Perspectives on the Meaning of Meaning in the Context of Clinical Practices
Authors Joel Vos* and Mick Cooper, Dept. of Psychology, University of Roehampton, United KingdomClara E. Hill, Dept. of Psychology, University of Maryland, United StatesRobert A. Neimeyer, Dept. of Psychology, University of Memphis, United StatesKirk J. Schneider,...
The Deep-and-Wide Hypothesis in Giftedness and Creativity
Authors Co-authored with Piers Worth, Ph.D., Bucks New University, London, UK.Abstract This paper provides empirical findings from four different sources that lend credence to the deep-and-wide (DAW) hypothesis (Wong, 2012) in accounting for giftedness and creativity....
Courage, Faith, Meaning, and Mature Happiness in Dangerous Times
President's Report for the Positive Living Newsletter (May 2017). Read the rest of the newsletter here.“The wound is the place where light enters you.” — Rumi The current tense political climate at home and abroad has the same feeling as the dreadful...
Frankl’s Self-Transcendence Model and Virtue Ethics
Authors Co-authored with Timothy Reilly, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, University of Notre Dame Abstract This presentation will conclude my research project on Viktor Frankl’s self-transcendence (ST) model as a framework of applying virtue ethics. My focus in this...
From Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy to the Four Defining Characteristics of Self-Transcendence
Introduction The present paper continues my earlier presentation on self-transcendence (ST) as a pathway to meaning, virtue, and happiness (Wong, 2016), in which I introduced Viktor Frankl’s (1985) two-factor theory of ST. Here, the same topic of ST is expanded by...