Give people a sense of purpose and they\u2019ll need less mental health treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you haven\u2019t read psychologist Viktor Frankl\u2019s 1959 book, \u201cMan\u2019s Search for Meaning\u201d, I recommend that you do. While a Holocaust prisoner in a series of Nazi concentration camps, he noticed that fellow prisoners who had a sense of purpose showed greater resilience to the torture, slave labor, and starvation rations to which they were subjected. Writing of his experience later, he quoted Friedrich Nietzsche: \u201cThose who have a \u2018why\u2019 to live, can bear almost any \u2018how.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Human beings crave purpose and suffer psychological difficulties when they don\u2019t have it. It makes us more vulnerable to boredom, anxiety, and depression. Having a purpose in life is associated with benefits. A 2004 study found that highly purposeful older women had lower cholesterol, were less likely to be overweight, and had lower levels of an inflammatory response. Another from 2010 found that individuals who reported higher purpose scores were less likely to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and even Alzheimer\u2019s Disease. Having purpose is also linked to having a higher income and net worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is purpose? When people ask, \u201cWhat is my life purpose?\u201d, what they\u2019re actually asking is \u201cWhat gives our lives meaning and happiness?\u201d To psychologists, purpose is an intention to achieve a long-term goal that is both personally meaningful and makes a positive mark on the world. It includes goal orientation, personal meaningfulness, and a focus beyond the self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Purpose is a skill. It\u2019s something that we can learn, practice, and apply in our daily lives. A sense of purpose can mean different things to different people. Purpose isn\u2019t something we find at all. It\u2019s something we cultivate. Purpose is not a destination, but a journey and a practice. That means it changes as we age. It is not what we do that determines how much purpose and meaning we feel, but rather how we view our lives and pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many people lack a sense of purpose and can develop \u201cpurpose anxiety\u201d. According to researcher Larissa Rainey, it can encompass a range of negative emotions including stress, worry, frustration, fear, as well as anxiety. In her research on the concept, she found that 91 percent of participants surveyed reported experiencing purpose anxiety at some point in their life. This is rooted in a belief that they\u2019d never find one, true purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how can you develop your purpose? You can find what is important to you and what can add more meaning to your life through reflection. See developgoodhabits.com for 9 Life Purpose Questionnaires & Quizzes to Discover Your \u201cWhy\u201d in Life. The article contains references to nine questionnaires and quizzes to help you clarify your sense of purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Give people a sense of purpose and they\u2019ll need less mental health treatment. If you haven\u2019t read psychologist Viktor Frankl\u2019s 1959 book, \u201cMan\u2019s Search for Meaning\u201d, I recommend that you do. While a Holocaust prisoner in a series of Nazi concentration camps, he noticed that fellow prisoners who had a sense of purpose showed greater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}