He survived imprisonment in a concentration camp at Auschwitz under the Nazi regime during WW2. He was a doctor, a neurologist who became a famous psychiatrist. He survived because he found a personal meaning to survive.
He founded the so-called 'Third2 School of Viennese Psychiatry'.
The book's title, Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy sums up much of Frankl's psycho-therapeutic approach.
He studied with Sigmund Freud and with Alfred Adler but concluded that each fundamentally reduced the stature of man. For Freud focussed on man's 'will to pleasure' as the chief spring for many human acts, and Adler on man's 'will to power'. Frankl didn't deny the importance of these aspects of humanity but he denied their centrality.
But Frankl believed that what was more basic to humanity was the 'will to meaning [logos]'. Men and women will become neurotic, he said, when their 'will to meaning', their ability to find meaning within their present circumstances becomes thwarted and blocked.
He studied with Sigmund Freud and with Alfred Adler but concluded that each fundamentally reduced the stature of man. For Freud focussed on man's 'will to pleasure' as the chief spring for many human acts, and Adler on man's 'will to power'. Frankl didn't deny the importance of these aspects of humanity but he denied their centrality.
But Frankl believed that what was more basic to humanity was the 'will to meaning [logos]'. Men and women will become neurotic, he said, when their 'will to meaning', their ability to find meaning within their present circumstances becomes thwarted and blocked.
Frankl's Search For Personal Meaning
Frankl was incarcerated for three years at Auschwitz and observed his own responses, those of his fellows and his guards to the inhumane camp conditions.
He found that what kept his fellow inmates alive during these terrible years of neglect and virtual starvation was finding some meaning within their wretched state. For many, it was the thought of those who waited for them beyond the prison.
Frankl believed that life is full of meaning of some sort and that it is up to a person to find that meaning: it may be a small task; a larger calling; even a memory of someone or of better times. Each of these can become one's meaning in the present.
The task that kept Frankl alive was his wish to write a book which he subsequently did on liberation even though he had his 'manuscript' (tiny scraps of paper) taken from him by the guards. He also kept himself alive by his belief that he would see his wife and parents again when he was released.
That hope was not realised. All his family, except for one sister, died in the camps. It took him some time as one would expect to recover from the grief of these losses.
He claimed, much to the great annoyance of Jewish organisations, that good and bad people were to be found in all nations. He saw acts of kindness by Nazis in the camps and acts of terrible brutality by Jewish overseers to fellow Jews which supported this belief.
2. Three 'schools' of psychotherapy arose in Vienna: first, Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy; second, Alfred Adler's, Individual Psychology. Thus, Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy, made a third form of therapy.
He found that what kept his fellow inmates alive during these terrible years of neglect and virtual starvation was finding some meaning within their wretched state. For many, it was the thought of those who waited for them beyond the prison.
Frankl believed that life is full of meaning of some sort and that it is up to a person to find that meaning: it may be a small task; a larger calling; even a memory of someone or of better times. Each of these can become one's meaning in the present.
The task that kept Frankl alive was his wish to write a book which he subsequently did on liberation even though he had his 'manuscript' (tiny scraps of paper) taken from him by the guards. He also kept himself alive by his belief that he would see his wife and parents again when he was released.
That hope was not realised. All his family, except for one sister, died in the camps. It took him some time as one would expect to recover from the grief of these losses.
Frankl's Jewishness
Frankl was a non-observant Jew and went through a period when he was an agnostic. (Interestingly, his second marriage was to a devout Roman Catholic.) He made no fanfare about his Jewishness and also refused to damn the Nazi guards as opposed to Jewish prisoners.He claimed, much to the great annoyance of Jewish organisations, that good and bad people were to be found in all nations. He saw acts of kindness by Nazis in the camps and acts of terrible brutality by Jewish overseers to fellow Jews which supported this belief.
A Clinical Account
Frankl has given the example of a medical doctor who came to him still in great grief over the death of his wife some two years before. He was constantly crying and weeping over the deep loss he felt at her passing and couldn't seem to find a way to live with his grief and yet be not overwhelmed by it. His whole life now lacked any meaning according to him and he was contemplating ending it.
Frankl asked him, 'What would have happened if you had died first and your wife had been left behind alone?' The doctor replied, 'My wife would have been heartbroken and unable to cope'.
After some conversation around this point to accentuate the details and bring out the depth of what his wife would have suffered, Frankl suddenly looked him in the face and said, 'Could it be that to you has been given the calling to bear this burden of grief in the place of the wife you so dearly loved?'
The doctor left Frankl's rooms transformed. He now had a purpose for living.
Frankl's wisdom was not formulaic but relied on a carefully assisting patients towards finding the 'word of wisdom' specific for them in their situation.
1. If readers are interested in a fuller treatment of Frankl, see my Tabor College lecture here.Frankl asked him, 'What would have happened if you had died first and your wife had been left behind alone?' The doctor replied, 'My wife would have been heartbroken and unable to cope'.
After some conversation around this point to accentuate the details and bring out the depth of what his wife would have suffered, Frankl suddenly looked him in the face and said, 'Could it be that to you has been given the calling to bear this burden of grief in the place of the wife you so dearly loved?'
The doctor left Frankl's rooms transformed. He now had a purpose for living.
Frankl's wisdom was not formulaic but relied on a carefully assisting patients towards finding the 'word of wisdom' specific for them in their situation.
2. Three 'schools' of psychotherapy arose in Vienna: first, Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy; second, Alfred Adler's, Individual Psychology. Thus, Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy, made a third form of therapy.
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