The Meaningfulness of Helping Others: Loren Eiseley's “The Star Thrower”

摘要

Social work, including psychoanalytic social work, is often highly stressful, but stress is ameliorated by the sense that our work is positively meaningful. Stories can help us retain this sense of meaningfulness. The stories upon which we draw may be real-life accounts of how we have assisted clients, or meta-narratives that address collective existential questions about the purpose of helping others. One such meta-narrative is “The Star Thrower” by the scientist Loren Corey Eiseley. A broadly psychodynamic examination of Eiseley's original work shows how this emerged in the context of the author's troubled life. He invites his readers to join him on a journey where he struggles with complex doubts, and forges a path to their resolution.View full textDownload full textKEYWORDSworkplace stress, supervision, meaning making, mindfulness, stories, narcissism, self psychology, Eiseley, The Star ThrowerRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15228878.2011.611787