Logotherapy by Viktor Frankl
A. Biography of Viktor Frankl
The creator of logotherapy, a type of existential analysis, was the Austrian
neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. Frankl was born into a
Jewish civil servant family on March 26, 1905, in Vienna. He received his Gymnasium
diploma in 1923 and went on to study medicine at the University of Vienna, where he
later focused on neurology and psychology. His early therapy focused on preventing
suicide and sadness. Although his interactions with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler had
an early impact on his growth, he later broke away from their ideas. He oversaw the
suicide pavilion at the main hospital in Vienna from 1933 to 1937. In 1938, he was
unable to treat "Aryan" patients due to his Jewish origin, despite having treated more than
30,000 suicidal women. Frankl moved into private practice in 1940 due to Nazi
restrictions on his employment and served as the director of the neurological department
at the Rothschild Hospital (the only hospital in Vienna that would admit Jews) as a brain
surgeon.
Frankl, his wife (Tilly Grosser), and his parents were sent to the Theresienstadt
prison camp on September 25, 1942. Frankl served as a general practitioner in the camp's
clinic before his aptitude as a psychiatrist was recognized. After that, he was instructed to
create a special unit to aid camp arrivals in getting over their shock and grief over how
they had been treated. All indications of suicide were reported to Frankl, who established
up a suicide watch team. Up until the last few weeks of the war, Frankl was also given
regular work details. Frankl worked really hard, yet he still made an effort to cheer up his
fellow inmates and stop suicide.
On October 19, 1944, Frankl was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He
was then transferred to Turkheim, another Nazi concentration camp connected to Dachau,
where he was forced to work as a slave for 7 months. His wife was relocated to Bergen-
Belsen, a concentration camp, where she perished, while his parents were murdered at
Auschwitz. Frankl was freed by the Americans on April 27, 1945. The only member of
his immediate family to have survived the Nazi takeover was his sister, who fled to
Australia. Frankl came to the conclusion that even in the most terrible and dehumanizing
situations, life still has value, and hence even suffering is significant as a result of the
agony he and others had encountered in the Nazi concentration camps. This finding
served as the cornerstone for the therapeutic strategy he created, which he termed
Logotherapy. Frankl released 32 works in the decades following World War II. He
delivered lectures all over the world and received 29 honorary degrees. He passed away
in Vienna on September 2, 1997, from heart failure.
B. Frankl and The Search for Meaning
In his most well-known book, Man's Search for Meaning (1963), Viktor Frankl
relates his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp and how he managed
to find a purpose to survive. How was typical prisoner thought to depict daily life in a
concentration camp, according to Frankl, who maintained that this was the purpose of his
book? Frankl examines his time spent in the concentration camps in the book's first
section, and his theories on meaning and logotherapy are presented in the second section.
Frankl claimed that prisoners in the concentration camps experienced three distinct
psychological reactions: (1) shock during the period of initial admission; (2) apathy
following adjustment to camp life; and (3) reactions of depersonalization, moral
deformity, bitterness, and disillusionment upon survival and release.
The conclusion that significance can be found in every instant of life was what
struck people the most about Frankl's work. Even in pain and mortality, life continues to
have purpose. A prisoner's psychological responses, according to Frankl's theory, are
partly influenced by the freedom of choice they retain despite enduring great hardship.
When an inmate loses faith, they are doomed because they have lost touch with their
spiritual self, which is what keeps them alive in jail.
C. Logotherapy
Logotherapy term derived from the Greek terms logos (word or meaning) and
therapeia (healing). Frankl's hypothesis was inspired by his time spent in a Nazi
concentration camp. The three fundamental tenets of logotherapy are:
1. No matter what, life has purpose.
2. Humans have a desire for purpose.
3. Individuals are always free to exercise their will to meaning and pursue
significance in their lives.
Frankl outlines three methods for discovering purpose in life. Our experiential
values, i.e., the things or people we cherish or love, are the primary source of meaning for
us. The second approach for people to find purpose in their lives is by acting on their
creative values and doing good deeds. By taking on initiatives or designing the project of
one's life, one gives meaning to their own existence. Creativity is demonstrated in music,
poetry, invention, and the pursuit of meaning in life. The third method that people
discover purpose in their lives is through the values we accept as attitudes that direct our
conduct and deeds. Compassion for others, courage, and a strong sense of humor are a
few examples of attitudinal values. Yet, finding significance through suffering is Frankl's
most well-known example of an attitude value. Individuals who have gone through
various traumatic events, such as cancer or other illnesses, occasionally talk about how
their illness has helped them better comprehend their lives.
Even if we cannot control a scenario or circumstance, we may determine our
attitudes about a condition. Finding meaning by altering our perspectives is a self-
transcending strategy, especially when inescapable suffering occurs. When faced with
unavoidable sorrow, we can frequently discover significance in the circumstance by
taking a fresh perspective on it. Humans are able to grow beyond the limitations of their
circumstances. Frankl felt that regardless of their unique circumstances, people might
enliven their lives with spiritual meaning. The idea that our life—i.e., where we are right
now—is the result of the decisions we have made is a recurring one in logotherapy.
Making wise, responsible decisions leads to happiness. We all look for purpose in life till
the day we pass away.
D. Theory of Maladaptive Behavior
Frankl believed that existential anxiety was the root of many anxiety disorders.
The sufferer is unaware that a sense of unmet obligation and a lack of purpose are the
causes of his or her worry. In order to deal with a troublesome area in his or her life, he or
she takes that anxiety and directs it there. In trying to make meaning of their existential
distress or existential vacuum, people with various anxiety disorders.
Those who feel their existential need for significant objectives has been unmet
may act out in ways that lead to aggressiveness, addiction, depression, and suicide.
Clients who use logotherapy find it easier to recognize and get rid of obstacles that stand
in the way of their achieving important life goals. Therapists assist their patients in
realizing the significant potentials they have discovered inside themselves. The patient
must determine their own meaning in life; the therapist cannot provide it. The therapist
assists the patient in realizing that they are not victims of their circumstances. Although
the client may have symptoms, the symptoms do not identify the client.
E. Therapy Techniques
While the client and the therapist look for meaning in life, Frankl's logotherapy
employs the Socratic Method. To help their clients become more aware of their options,
logotherapists may use the conversational technique known as Socratic dialogue. Certain
inquiries are posed by the therapist to bring up the prospect of finding significance in
one's life and the freedom to live it to the fullest. To help his students better comprehend
themselves, Socrates questioned them in this way. For certain clients, finding meaning
fulfillment may be hampered by certain attitudes and expectations. A person can become
disconnected from the possibilities for significance in his or her life if they have a
negative attitude. Moreover, customer attitudes may potentially cause or exaggerate
neurotic diseases.
The paradoxical aim approach was created by Frankl, who is renowned for it as
well. Using a therapeutic approach known as paradoxical intention, a client is instructed
to act in a way that is different from their true intentions. The paradoxical intention is
carrying out the same thing you assert to be afraid of. Typically, the therapist will instruct
a client to do something that she or he knows would lead to disobedience. A client may
be told to sit at a table for three hours by a therapist if the objective is to get them to get
up from it. With the use of a paradoxical purpose, the therapist persuades the client to do
the initial request.
Dereflection is the name of the second method Frankl employed. According to
Frankl, people have issues because they place too much emphasis on themselves. People
own difficulties tend to reduce when they turn their focus to others. We get distracted
from ourselves by serving others. Service learning initiatives have been found to improve
student attitudes toward learning and academic performance in many schools.
