Man’s Search for Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl seeks to describe the logotherapy method, which is a particular form of therapy that addresses psychological influences in an individual with the help of a counselor or trained professional. Frankl's book chronicles the experiences he had while in an Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Frankl provides a dynamic understanding of man’s choices, the effects of those choices and how best to deal with them through an extensive psychosomatic discourse.

The first part of Man's Search for Meaning, deals primarily with Frankl's experience as an inmate in the concentration camp itself. Frankl intends to answer how the question of how one discovers their true purpose in life through the atrocity of the concentration camp. Frankl expresses the characteristics of the phases that he encountered being the camp during the Holocaust. "The symptom that characterizes the first phase is shock. Under certain conditions shock may even precede the prisoner's formal admission to the camp," Frankl writes (Frankl). He then begins to describe the horrific experience of desolation and cruelty and how one's mind will undoubtedly be affected by the "frightened faces [and] the nakedness [that] was brought home to us" (Frankl). Frankl discusses how there is not much to find humor in and thus, what is life all about if the end result is being put to death as a prisoner in a concentration camp? It is the natural psychological reaction of "entertaining thoughts of suicide [even though] the prisoner of Auschwitz, in the first phase did not fear death" (Frankl). Frankl moves to the second phase after describing in significant detail, the psychological aspects of an individual enduring the madness. 

The second phase was apathy. "The prisoner's psychological reactions made him insensitive to daily and hourly beatings" (Frankl). Here, Frankl is ascertaining an understanding of what happens to humans when they are put into psychologically debilitating experiences and how they form a protective shell. The question still resides through his description of the beatings as to what one's purpose is? Apathy is a form of self-defense to Frankl and to the majority of the prisoners who were underfed and treated equal to slaves. This suffering is also expressed in the Night. Frankl states, "the most ghastly moment of the twenty-four hours of camp life was awakening" (Frankl). This speaks to the sheer horror of knowing that each day for the prisoner could be their last. Frankl notes that in spite of the lack of physical life, a spiritual life could develop for the prisoner living in the concentration camp. He describes the experience of a spiritual séance and to find the deepest meaning of oneself was of relative importance. "This intensification of inner life helped [us] find refuge from the emptiness, desolation and spiritual poverty of existence" (Frankl). As the horrifying occurrence ends, Frankl recounts his experience in a concentration camp and the liberation after seeing photographs of some of the prisoners.

The single greatest concept that Frankl developed out of the experience was that "man does have a choice of action. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions" (Frankl). This Frankl believed was the sole factor that helped him develop his theory of psychotherapy. In other words, in order for humans to find the meaning of life, "it ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to [one's] problems and to fulfill tasks which it constantly sets for each individual" (Frankl). Part Two of Man's Search for Meaning addresses Frankl's logotherapy theory. Logotherapy is more concerned with the future, than the past. It is "indeed a meaning centered psychotherapy. The patient is actually confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life" (Frankl). Logotherapy then, is a derivative of psychotherapy which was initially thought of by Sigmund Freud. "Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a secondary rationalization," Frankl states (Frankl). Logotherapy is the existential therapy that helps man in his search for meaning essentially.

Currently, logotherapy is in practice and utilized with other forms of psychotherapy. The primary therapy that is used is cognitive therapy. A therapist, who is the individual who administers psychotherapy typically, seeks out this therapy because it is the least restrictive of psychotherapies. Criticism of logotherapy has often been that it is too similar to psychoanalysis, but Frankl insists that "logotherapy deviates from psychoanalysis insofar as it considers man a being whose main concern consists in fulfilling a meaning, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of drives and instincts, or in merely reconciling the conflicting claims of id, ego and superego in the mere adaptation and adjustment to society and environment" (Frankl). Therefore, logotherapy is a mechanism that forces man to look his decisions and choices in his life and find meaning of these choices, whatever that meaning may be. A therapist who practices logotherapy will inevitably ensure that a patient tries to understand themselves as a complete individual, both on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels.

Man's Search for Meaning, may be one of the most respected books in the field of psychology since Freud's writings. The experience that Frankl underwent to analyze man and his consideration of what life to him means was definitely a fascinating read. Reading the book provides insight into the human condition, and expands upon Freud's work of what the id, ego and superego entail. Where Freud was too objective, Frankl becomes more in tune with the practical side of the self analyzing the entire spectrum. Frankl presents a compelling case for therapy and man's core mission to know himself on all levels and discover his motivation for living. Frankl states that man should focus on the future rather than being centered on the past. Man, then should acknowledge his decisions and the consequences of those decisions and be comfortable with what happened and move forward in a more ownership fashion than the traditional schemata. 

Work Cited

Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1959.