Logotherapy and Adult Major Depression: Psychotheological Dimensions in Diagnosing the Disorder

Abstract

SUMMARY The diagnostic categories of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are expanded psychotheologically in a model which includes not only the biological and psychological symptoms but also those emerging in the dimensions of personal meaning and continued being. Frankl's Logotherapy assists in elucidating what a crisis of meaning looks like clinically and Tillich's formulation of the anxiety of non-being is adapted for describing the ontological crisis in MDD. A case study applies the model to one individual's approach to eldership. The ontological dimension is identified as the particular concern of Pastoral Counseling.