The Experience of Emptiness

Very few books explicitly examine the experience of emptiness, and while several authors have examined the related phenomenon of meaninglessness, it has, for the most part, been regarded as a pathological sign. This book reviews the work of many authors who have tackled this topic and provides an integrated explanation for the experience of emptiness, showing that it is correlated with emotional growth and is thus a sign of an opportunity for personal development, even though not always an expected or welcome one. By providing explanations for this experience, numerous case examples spanning a variety of situations and descriptions of different manifestations of and reactions to emptiness, readers should be helped in understanding themselves and others. This book should be of interest toclinicians, students of psychology and culture and anyone interested in human growth and development.