Logotherapy
What is Logotherapy?
a) Definition
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.
b) Foundations
i) Existentialism
It's existentialist becauseit emphasises the freedom of the will and the consequent responsibility.It also, of course, 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. ii) Stoicism
It's Stoic, 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. iii) Frankl's own experiences, in concentration camps and as a psychiatrist
"This was the lesson I had to learn in three years spent in Auschwitz and Dachau: other things being equal, those apt to survive the camps were those oriented toward the future - toward a task, or a person, waiting for them in the future, toward a meaning to be
a) Definition
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.
b) Foundations
i) Existentialism
It's existentialist becauseit emphasises the freedom of the will and the consequent responsibility.It also, of course, 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. ii) Stoicism
It's Stoic, 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. iii) Frankl's own experiences, in concentration camps and as a psychiatrist
"This was the lesson I had to learn in three years spent in Auschwitz and Dachau: other things being equal, those apt to survive the camps were those oriented toward the future - toward a task, or a person, waiting for them in the future, toward a meaning to be