Spiritual-Self-Philo Final

Logotherapy in a Nutshell
VIKTOR FRANKL
Presented by:
Jullia Briones
Llheca Calleja
Hershey Dizon
Sharmaine Manimtim
Jen Privaldos
Viktor Frankl
● Neurology and Psychiatry Professor - University of Vienna Medical School
● Founder of Logotherapy (Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy)
● Concentration camp inmate during the World War II

● His work has been called "perhaps the most significant thinking since
Freud and Adler" by the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Logotherapy
Psychoanalysis Logotherapy Individual Psychology
Will to Pleasure Will to Power Will to Meaning
Logotheraphy’s methods are less retrospective and less introspective. It mainly

focuses on the future aspects of a patient’s life, more specifically the meaning
that one intends to fulfill.
Logotherapy focuses rather on the future, that is to say, on the meanings to be fulfilled by the
patient in his future. At the same time, logotherapy defocuses all the vicious-circle formations and
feedback mechanisms which play such a great role in the development of neuroses. Thus, the
typical self-centeredness of the neurotic is broken up instead of being continually fostered and
reinforced.
Logotherapy, or, as it has been called by some authors, "The Third Viennese School of
Psychotherapy," focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on man's search for such a
meaning.
The Will to Meaning
Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a
"secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and
specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it
achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.
There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live
for can bear almost any how." I can see in these words a motto which holds
true for any psychotherapy. In the Nazi concentration camps, one could have
witnessed that those who knew that there was a task waiting for them to
fulfill were most apt to survive.
Existential Frustration
● Man's will to meaning can also be frustrated, in which case logotherapy speaks of "existential
frustration."
● The term "existential" may be used in three ways: to refer to (1) existence itself, i.e., the specifically
human mode of being; (2) the meaning of existence; and (3) the striving to find a concrete meaning
in personal existence, that is to say, the will to meaning.
● Existential frustration can also result in neuroses.
● “Noogenic Neuroses” - Noogenic neuroses do not emerge from conflicts between drives and
instincts but rather from existential problems.
The Existential Vacuum
● The existential vacuum is a widespread phenomenon of the twentieth century.
● The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom. Now we can
understand Schopenhauer when he said that mankind was apparently doomed to
vacillate eternally between the two extremes of distress and boredom. In actual
fact, boredom is now causing, and certainly bringing to psychiatrists, more problems
to solve than distress.
The Meaning of Life
● One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own
specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which
demands fulfillment.
● Man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize
that it is he who is asked. Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer
life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being
responsible. Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of
human existence.
The Essence of Existence
● Logotherapy tries to make the patient fully aware of his own
responsibleness; therefore, it must leave to him the option for what, to
what, or to whom he understands himself to be responsible.
● According to logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three

different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by
experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the
attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
The Meaning of Love
● Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost
core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very
essence of another human being unless he loves him.
● In logotherapy, love is not interpreted as a mere epiphenomenon of

sexual drives and instincts in the sense of a so-called sublimation. Love
is as primary a phenomenon as sex.
The Meaning of Suffering
● We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when
confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be
changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely
human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy
into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.
The Super-Meaning
Frankl writes that man cannot access the “super-meaning” of life, or the
answer for why man must suffer. Man’s job, Frankl says, is not to endure the
void caused by a meaningless life, as some existentialist philosophers
believed, but rather to understand that man cannot know the full meaning of
life.
Life’s Transitoriness
● Those things which seem to take meaning away from human life include
not only suffering but dying as well.
● the transitoriness of our existence in no way makes it meaningless. But

it does constitute our responsibleness; for everything hinges upon our
realizing the essentially transitory possibilities.
Logotherapy as a Technique
Excessive intention or "hyper-intention"
Hyper-intention is Frankl’s term for a neurosis that causes patients to be unable to
accomplish that which they intend.
Paradoxical Intention on the twofold fact that fear brings about that which one is afraid
of, and that hyper-intention makes impossible what one wishes.
The basic capacity to detach one from oneself is actualized whenever the paradoxical
intention is applied.
The Collective Neurosis
● Every era has its own collective neurosis, and Frankl says that the twentieth-
century neurosis is nihilism, or the belief that life is meaningless. Nihilists often
argue that man is simply the product of biological and social factors and his life is
completely predetermined. Frankl contends, on the other hand, that while man’s
freedom is not absolute, in every possible situation, he maintains at least the
freedom to choose his own attitude.
Walker, Lanier. "Man’s Search for Meaning

Logotherapy in a Nutshell: The Collective
Neurosis." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 18 Jun 2017. Web.
17 Oct 2019.
The Psychiatric Credo
Frankl asserts that man is always free, and that his innermost self can never be taken
away or damaged by an external actor—even by mental illness itself. In cases in which
a patient is incurable, Frankl hopes to at least help them maintain their dignity and
humanity.
Psychiatry Rehumanized
Frankl writes that many psychologists have understood the mind as a machine and
thus have focused on techniques for fixing that machine. He feels that it is important to
treat patients as more than machines—as humans.
Walker, Lanier. "Man’s Search for Meaning Logotherapy in a Nutshell:
Psychiatry Rehumanized." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 18 Jun 2017.
Web. 17 Oct 2019.
The Case for a Tragic Optimism
● One is, and remains, optimistic in spite of the "tragic triad," a triad which
consists of those aspects of human existence which may be circumscribed
by: (1) pain; (2) guilt; and (3) death.
● An optimism in the face of tragedy and in view of the human potential

which at its best always allows for: (1) turning suffering into a human
achievement and accomplishment; (2) deriving from guilt the opportunity to
change oneself for the better; and (3) deriving from life's transitoriness an
incentive to take responsible action.
Optimism
● One cannot even force oneself to be optimistic indiscriminately, against
all odds, against all hope.
● To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again

and again, one is commanded and ordered to "be happy." But happiness
cannot be pursued; it must ensue.
● a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of

a reason to become happy.
Perception of Meaning
Specifically boils down to becoming aware of a possibility against the

background of reality or, to express it in plain words, to becoming aware of
what can be done about a given situation.
Three main avenues on which one arrives at
meaning in life:
● Creating a work or by doing a deed
● Experiencing something or encountering someone. Meaning can be

found not only in work but also in love.
● even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot

change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so
doing change himself.

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Logotherapy in a Nutshell

● Neurology and Psychiatry Professor - University of Vienna Medical School

● Founder of Logotherapy (Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy)

● Concentration camp inmate during the World War II

Will to Pleasure Will to Power Will to Meaning

Logotheraphy’s methods are less retrospective and less introspective. It mainly

● Existential frustration can also result in neuroses.

● According to logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three

● In logotherapy, love is not interpreted as a mere epiphenomenon of

● the transitoriness of our existence in no way makes it meaningless. But

Walker, Lanier. "Man’s Search for Meaning

● An optimism in the face of tragedy and in view of the human potential

● To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again

● a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of

Specifically boils down to becoming aware of a possibility against the

● Creating a work or by doing a deed

● Experiencing something or encountering someone. Meaning can be

● even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot

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