ABSTRACT
Understanding and deconstructing how people make sense of their world and the lives they live is both fascinating and clinically rewarding as it reveals the multiplicity of factors that influence how distress is perceived and subsequently managed. Approaches to how meaning-making is understood as well as how it can be integrated into assessment and formulation is considered in this chapter. This chapter explores theoretical orientations, the range of qualitative and quantitative measures for meaning making and the complexities of considering such a non-clinical topic in formulation. The practitioner is prompted to consider that in the therapeutic relationship, both parties bring their templates for making sense of the world and deconstructing this with a client can create opportunities for learning how psychological distress is experienced and maintained. The chapter examines how the practitioner needs to be aware of their decision making process and how they monitor and regulate this in professional encounters given that clients will experience part of this process which they must make sense of in turn. The chapter gives a brief overview of some possible measures for clinical application and as an adjunct to clinical formulation.
