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Group admin:: Fromz
Created:: November 25, 2007
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Hope Therapy

Posted: Aug 20, 08 2:29pm

From new study, it seems haaving hope is effective in fighting depression:

We’re finding that hope is consistently associated with fewer symptoms of depression. And the good news is that hope is something that can be taught, and can be developed in many of the people who need it,” said Jennifer Cheavens, assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080817223648.htm

This may help explain why people with strong belief systems seem to do better in bad times.

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Hope Therapy

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15 Comments // 11 Members

whitemanitou

Posted: Aug 20, 08 2:38pm

I liked the difference referenced between optimism and hope (having a plan and a direction).

A strong belief system and faith are probably the most important things we humans need for survival as a species.

I believe a sense of humor is also helpful.

I would also like to see some input from survivors of cancer and otherwise fatal diseases.

This is a very positive topic.

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Jerr

Posted: Aug 20, 08 4:31pm

whitemanitou wrote:

I would also like to see some input from survivors of cancer and otherwise fatal diseases.

This is a very positive topic.

What would you like to know, 17 years ago ""Jackie "O"" and I had the same cancer. She had millions of dollars, I went to the VA, She didn't make it, I'm still here.

I guess what you want to know is "why." I honestly believe because I "knew" I wasn't going to die, even though the doctors told me I was. I'm sure the surgery, the chemo and the radiation all helped, but I really believe the big difference was attitude. I just kept going about my life as best I could. A couple of my friends came by and asked, "Jerr don't you realize you have cancer, what are you doing?" I simply said, "I'm either gonna die or I'm not and either way I'm gonna live till I die and I don't think its gonna be any time soon.". Been 17 years, no sign of cancer.

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ZenDog

Posted: Aug 20, 08 4:34pm

It isn't always a question of hope. Even the hopeless may yet prevail, given sufficeint conviction.

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justme1

Posted: Aug 20, 08 5:41pm

fromz

i am all about hope, optimism and conviction.

psychologists sometimes label it resilience.

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Jon Deisher

Posted: Aug 20, 08 6:31pm

Victor Frankl's work on the importance of meaning fits in here. You might remember Frankl: he was a psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz (http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/frankl/frankl.html) ... while there, he studied why it was that some people lived and others died. The foundation of hope is meaning. Those without meaning are also without hope. Those without hope willed themselves to death.

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Julie Hershey

Posted: Aug 20, 08 9:27pm

Jon Deisher wrote:

Victor Frankl's work on the importance of meaning fits in here. You might remember Frankl: he was a psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz (http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/frankl/frankl.html) ... while there, he studied why it was that some people lived and others died. The foundation of hope is meaning. Those without meaning are also without hope. Those without hope willed themselves to death.

Jon, that link didn't work for me. Was he saying that Jews in Auschwitz may have contributed in some way to their own demise?

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Jon Deisher

Posted: Aug 20, 08 9:41pm

Hello Julie ... it seems that the parenthesis at the end messes up the address ... try this: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/frankl/frankl.html

Frankl's thesis was that people live for that which is meaningful to them ... without it, they lose the will to live. Therefore, the "will to meaning" is key to life ... It was not only Jews in the extermination camps of WWII that this was observed, but also American POWs in N. Korea.

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