Logotherapy in a Nutshell

1. Logotherapy in a Nutshell Man’s Search for Meaning By Victor E. Frankl

2. Literally, logotherapy means 'therapy through meaning'. It's an active-directive therapy aimed at helping people specifically with meaning crises, which manifest themselves either in a feeling of aimlessness or indirectly through addiction, alcoholism or depression. Logotherapy also employs techniques useful for phobias, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders and medical ministry. Other applications include working with juvenile delinquents, career counselling and helping all of us find more meaning in life.

3. The Existentialist Framework • It's existentialist because it emphasises the freedom of the will and the consequent responsibility. • Italso asserts the importance of the meaning of life. • Freud said human's have a will to pleasure and Adler the will to power, Frankl says we have a will to meaning. If it is frustrated, spiritual (noogenic) neuroses result. • Frankl argued that the spiritual (noetic) dimension of man should be added to the physical and psychological dimensions. • For Frankl, ultimate meaning does exist and is unique to each person and each situation. Each moment offers 'a sequence of unrepeatable situations each of which offers a specific meaning to be recognized and fulfilled'. • Meaning cannot be invented but must be discovered.

4. The Stoic Connection • No matter what the state of the world, our • attitude can always help us. • The Stoic, Epictetus held that 'Men are not • moved by events but by their interpretations'. • Even in facing death and suffering, by showing • courage we can turn a situation into a supremely • meaningful one. 

5. The Meaning of Life • It differs from person to person; from day to day; from hour to hour • It isn’t about the general meaning of life • It is about the meaning of person’s life at any given moment • Frankl argues that one shouldn’t ask “What is the meaning of life?” • It is, rather, life asking us to speak for our own lives • We can only respond by being responsible

6. The Essence of Existence • “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now” • Imagine that the present is past and that the past may yet be changed • Human beings are charged with the responsibility of actualizing their own potential meaning in life • The only true meaning in life is to be discovered in the world and not in the human psyche • This is known as the “Self-transcendence of human existence”

7. “Self Actualization” • The more one forgets one’s own self, the more human the person becomes • One cannot attain self-actualization. Rather, self-actualization is a side effect of self-transcendence • This is achieved in one of three ways: • By doing some work or deed • By experiencing something or encountering someone • By the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering

8. The Meaning of Love • Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of one’s personality • In order to become fully aware of another, one must love that person • Love enables one to see the essential traits and features in the beloved • It allows one to see the potential in the other • Furthermore, the loving person helps the other achieve those potentialities • In some cases, sexual expression is a side effect of that love

9. The Meaning of Suffering • Suffering provides for one to bear witness to the human potential at its best • We transform personal tragedy into triumph • Suffering, however, is not necessary to finding meaning in life • Meaning is possible in spite of suffering – if the suffering is unavoidable • Frankl is speaking of the attitude one takes towards one’s fate and the potential to see a meaning in one’s suffering