Logotherapy by Viktor Frankl: 3 basic principles

Logotherapy is also known as “the third psychological school of Vienna.”. The first psychological school was that of Sigmund Freud, the second was that of Adler and the third is the school founded by Viktor Frankl, and it is the one we are going to focus on in this article.

Sigmund Freud defined man as a being directed towards “pleasure”. Adler defined it as oriented toward “power.” V. Frankl had the vision of man as a being directed towards “meaning”.

Historians of psychology agree that the study of psychoanalysis also allows us to know the life of Freud, its founder. In the same way, it can be said that When studying logotherapy we approach the personal experiences of V. Frankl, The development of the third psychological school can hardly be understood without knowing the life history of the person who started it.

Viktor Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl was born in Vienna on March 26, 1905. He survived the experience of four concentration camps, including Auschwitz. From a young age he showed interest in the study of medicine and natural sciences, but he maintained a very critical spirit towards reductionist positions.

His calling came to him too soon and his own search for meaning began long before the Holocaust took place. During it, his best-known book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” came to light. V. Frankl was convinced that what makes us unique is the human spirit. Reducing life and human nature to “nothing”, as many philosophers and psychiatrists of the time did, was not the most appropriate vital thought.

At the age of 19 he had already developed his two fundamental ideas. First of all, that we must answer the question that life asks us about the meaning of our lives, since we are responsible for our existence. Secondly, that the ultimate meaning is beyond our understanding and must remain so. This is something we have to have faith in as we pursue it.

V. Frankl’s experience in the concentration camps allows him to confirm that The human being has the ability to find a meaning, a meaning to any circumstance in life, even in those most absurd and painful moments.

Man’s Search for Meaning

In his work, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” V. Frankl writes about his experiences in the concentration camps. (Türkhein, Kaufering, Theresienstad and Auschwitz). He describes the mistreatment of prisoners, but also writes about the beauty of the human spirit. Ultimately, the book is about how to transcend horror and find meaning in even the most terrible circumstances.

V. Frankl died on September 2, 1997, at the age of 92, leaving a great legacy to humanity. Through his life and work he reminds us that We can all create a meaning that rescues us in difficult times and that anything we do, however minimal it may be so that this thread does not break, will have great value.

logotherapy

As we said, logotherapy is recognized as the third Viennese school of psychotherapy and was founded by V. Frankl. It became known to the world in the 40s. Logotherapy is a method of overcoming human conflicts that generate suffering.
It allows us to find meaning in difficult and painful situations.. In this way, they become opportunities for growth for the people who experience them. This method, focused on the experiences of values, allows us to find meaning in all the events of life, thus giving us the possibility of living a full life.

In logotherapy, logos refers to “sense”, to “meaning”: something that human beings always seek in the face of the circumstances of destiny. Thus, Logotherapy means therapy through “sense” or “meaning.”

The 3 basic principles of logotherapy

The three basic principles or pillars of logotherapy are the following:

Freedom of will.Will of meaning.Meaning of life.

Freedom of will

Freedom of will is deployed through a specifically human capacity known as “self-distancing.” This human capacity is understood as the possibility of seeing oneself, accepting oneself, regulating oneself and visualizing oneself. According to the teachings of V. Frankl, this gives us freedom from three sources of influence:

Instincts.Heredity.Environment.

Man possesses them, but they do not determine him. We are not predetermined or finalized. We are free in these three aspects. The human being is free from what conditions him and can exercise his freedom. Whenever the human being frees himself from something, it is for something. Here is the concept of responsibility. Man is free to be responsible and he is responsible because he is free.

From this existential analysis it is proposed that man is responsible for the realization of meaning and values. Man is called to realize the meaning of his life and the values ​​that give meaning to it. For this call, he is the only one responsible.

Will for meaning

The will to meaning is closely related to the self-transcendence that characterizes the human being.. Man always points beyond himself, towards a meaning that he must first discover and whose plenitude he must achieve. The will to pleasure and the will to power, of Freud and Adler respectively, lead man to immanence. These concepts oppose self-transcendence and would frustrate our existence.

For logotherapy, Pleasure and power are consequences of achieving an end and not the end itself. This is why people who pursue pleasure and power reach a state of frustration, in which they in turn feel immersed in a great existential void.

The will to meaning does not seek to achieve power or pleasure, not even happiness.. His approach is to find an argument, a reason to be happy supported by the premise that man is free and responsible. In this way, the human being is free from determinism. On the other hand, the person orients his life and his behavior, as well as his thoughts and motivations towards an objective that gives them a reason to validate his behavior.

Sense of life

The two principles that we have mentioned previously tell us about a person willing to take a position in the face of life’s circumstances, with total freedom, based on a meaning that calls them together. This is the profile of the man in search of meaning: the same one who, by discovering a value and realizing it, constitutes himself.

Life contains and preserves a meaning. That sense is peculiar and original with respect to each one of us. So, Our duty, as conscious and responsible beings, is to discover the meaning of our lives.

This will be achieved through three fundamental ways that refer to three categories of values. Sometimes it directs us to the realization of creation values. Other times it will impact us with an experience, like when we witness a sunset or someone gives us a caress. Other times it will confront us with the limitations of life itself (death, suffering…).

The presence of death is a theme that Frankl also highlighted in the meaning of life. He ensures that he brings us face to face with the responsibility we have to make life the meaning of existence. In this way, we live in an intense and meaningful way that leads us to great satisfaction. Facing life in this way will help us face the mystery of death with courage and wisdom..

Types of neuroses according to Frankl

From this study on the will to live and regulate oneself also comes a study of neurosis, a psychoanalytic term widely used to describe the consequences of psychological pain. Frankl described several types of this ailment:

Noogenic: logotherapy is specific for noogenic neurosis, which arises as a consequence of the feeling of emptiness and lack of existential meaning. Collective: which affects numerous people from the same culture, such as fatalism or fanaticism. Sunday: the which corresponds to the feeling of emptiness during free time, typical of people who dedicate their lives to work and nothing else. Psychogenic, reactive, somatogenic and psychosomatic: depending on the origin of the alteration.

Logotherapy methods

First of all, it is important to note that The methodology used in logotherapy will depend on the characteristics of each client and their problems.. That said, the techniques of logotherapy have been outlined as follows.

The paradoxical intention

Frankl defines paradoxical intention as a “process by which the patient is encouraged to do, or wish to happen, that which he or she fears”.

The function of this technique is to put into motion the human capacity for self-distancing, so that the client can objectify the symptoms and distance themselves from them. The ideal is for him to understand that he does not identify with his feelings or behaviors (which dominate him), but you can take a stand against them and even confront them.

Dereflection

This method reduces “hyperreflection”, which is characterized by keeping the mind focused on a problem, which is often superfluous. For Frankl, dereflection ultimately means ignoring oneself. Furthermore, this method seeks to redirect this attention to a more appropriate and functional aspect.

Socratic dialogue

Socratic dialogues consist of challenge the client’s interpretations of different events through logical questioning. This technique was adopted by cognitively oriented psychotherapists, such as Aaron Beck, and constitutes one of the fundamental pillars of cognitive restructuring.

Final reflection

Anyway, life will always retain a hidden meaning until the end and a pressing and permanent call for this to be discovered and carried out. These are the three fundamental principles of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy. As we have seen, it is a humanistic-existential vision of the human being that can be difficult to understand if we are not familiar with existentialism. However, the truth is that it is worth the effort when we think about everything that can contribute to our vital framework.

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