Logotherapy
What is Logotherapy?
Literally, logotherapy means 'therapy through meaning'. It's an active-directive therapy aimed at helping people specifically with meaning crises, which manifest themselves either ina 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.
Foundations
Existentialism: emphasises the freedom of the will and the consequent responsibility. It also asserts the importance of the meaning of life. Whilst 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 the spiritual (noetic) dimension of man should be added to the physical and psychological dimensions. For Frankl, ultimate meaning does exist andis unique to each person and each situation. Each moment offers 'a sequence of unrepeatable situations each of which offers a specific meaning to be recognised and fulfilled'. Meaning cannot be invented but must be discovered.
Stoicism: because it holds that 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.
Freedom of will. Without the capacity for freedom of will, people would not be able to choose how to respond to a given situation and decide their own preferred life path. Freedom of will enables people to be responsible, moral agents. There is no escape from making choices, and people are accountable for the consequences of their decisions and actions. Frankl (1985a) emphasized that freedom without responsibility
Literally, logotherapy means 'therapy through meaning'. It's an active-directive therapy aimed at helping people specifically with meaning crises, which manifest themselves either ina 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.
Foundations
Existentialism: emphasises the freedom of the will and the consequent responsibility. It also asserts the importance of the meaning of life. Whilst 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 the spiritual (noetic) dimension of man should be added to the physical and psychological dimensions. For Frankl, ultimate meaning does exist andis unique to each person and each situation. Each moment offers 'a sequence of unrepeatable situations each of which offers a specific meaning to be recognised and fulfilled'. Meaning cannot be invented but must be discovered.
Stoicism: because it holds that 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.
Freedom of will. Without the capacity for freedom of will, people would not be able to choose how to respond to a given situation and decide their own preferred life path. Freedom of will enables people to be responsible, moral agents. There is no escape from making choices, and people are accountable for the consequences of their decisions and actions. Frankl (1985a) emphasized that freedom without responsibility