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cumstances (environmental factors/influences). Behaviorists disagree with this.
According to them the influence ofthe environment cannotbe separated from a per­
son's behavior.
The statements do not reflectthe idea that the past ofa person and/orhislherenviron­
mentcan shape and/orcontribute(s), and/oris the cause for the present suffering ofa
person. Psychoanalytic thinking is not reflectedin the type ofstatements thatwere
made. Ignoring the past suffering and events that led to the present state ofsuffer­
ing, as well as a possible finding ofmeaning in the "now", are basicallyabsent. It is
clearthat the way the statements were originally formulated and structuredin the
MIST-test was not made in the lightofpsychoanalytic presuppositions, reasoning and
thought-processes.
Although the purposeofthe MIST-test is to ascertain the client's/patient's percep­
tion ofthe extent to whichhe/she has foundmeaning in suffering experiences (Gutt­
mann 1996:216), the over-emphasis on the "I believe... " (perception) ofthe client/
patient, seems superfluous. These statements deliberately ignore the past and possi­
ble environmental influences that have influenced the present "meaning-perception
and experience(s)" ofthe client/patient.
In the lightofthis the presenttest wouldbe totally unacceptable to those who are of
the opinion that man is not living in a historical vacuum, but is part and parcel ofa
specific historical-socio-cultural setting. We cannottake man out ofhisJher histori­
cal-cultural environment. We mustunderstand himlher in the lightofhislher histo­
rical-cultural settingthatinfluences him/her. Everyone stands and is firmly rooted in
hislherSitze im Leben. Ignoring this fact, is to deny that man is a historical reality
that is shapedby eventsand matters aroundhimlher.
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