Integrating psychological therapies: processes of meaning transformation

We review the role played by meaning in different schools of psychotherapy, and propose that the systematic study of meaning transformation has the potential to unify understanding of the scientific basis of psychotherapy. We describe some of the most important innate and social origins of meaning, and identify seven major themes that characterize the thinking of people with psychological disorders. We also describe how these themes are processed cognitively on multiple levels, and propose common change processes that are consistent with research in cognitive psychology. These core sets of themes and processes are offered as a first step toward a systematic study of meaning and psychotherapeutic change.