VIKTOR FRANKL
1905 - 1997
Dr. C. George Boeree
Shippensburg University
In September of 1942, a young doctor, his new bride, his mother, father, and
brother, were arrested in Vienna and taken to a concentration camp in
Bohemia. It was events that occurred there and at three other camps that led
the young doctor - prisoner 119,104 - to realize the significance of
meaningfulness in life.
One of the earliest events to drive home the point was the loss of a manuscript -
his life's work - during his transfer to Auschwitz. He had sewn it into the lining
of his coat, but was forced to discard it at the last minute. He spent many later
nights trying to reconstruct it, first in his mind, then on slips of stolen paper.
Another significant moment came while on a predawn march to work on
laying railroad tracks: Another prisoner wondered outloud about the fate of
their wives. The young doctor began to think about his own wife, and realized
that she was present within him:
The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how
a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it
only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. (1963,
p. 59)
And throughout his ordeal, he could not help but see that, among those given a
chance for survival, it was those who held on to a vision of the future --
whether it be a significant task before them, or a return to their loved ones --
that were most likely to survive their suffering.
It would be, in fact, the meaningfulness that could be found in suffering itself
that would most impress him:
(T)here is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both
creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of
high moral behavior: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, and
existence restricted by external forces.... Without suffering and
death human life cannot be complete. (1963, p. 106)
That young doctor was, of course, Viktor Emil Frankl.
Biography
Viktor Frankl was born in Vienna on March 26, 1905. His father, Gabriel
Frankl, was a strong, disciplined man from Moravia who worked his way from
government stenographer to become the director of the Ministry of Social
Service. His mother, Elsa Frankl (née Lion), was more tenderhearted, a pious
woman from Prague.
The middle of three children, young Viktor was precocious and intensely
curious. Even at the tender age of four, he already knew that he wanted to be a
physician.
In high school, Viktor was actively involved in the local Young Socialist
Workers organization. His interest in people turned him towards the study of
psychology. He finished his high school years with a psychoanalytic essay on
the philosopher Schopenhauer, a publication in the International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, and the beginning of a rather intense correspondence with the
great Sigmund Freud.
In 1925, a year after graduating and on his way towards his medical degree, he
met Freud in person. Alfred Adler’s theory was more to Frankl’s liking, though,
and that year he published an article - “Psychotherapy and Weltanschauung” -
in Adler’s International Journal of Individual Psychology. The next year, Frankl
used the term logotherapy in a public lecture for the first time, and began to
refine his particular brand of Viennese psychology.
In 1928 and 1929, Frankl organized cost-free counseling centers for teenagers
in Vienna and six other cities, and began working at the Psychiatric University
Clinic. In 1930, he earned his doctorate in medicine, and was promoted to
assistant. In the next few years, Frankl continued his training in neurology.
In 1933, He was put in charge of the ward for suicidal women at the Psychiatric
Hospital, with many thousands of patients each year. In 1937, Frankl opened
his own practice in neurology and psychiatry. One year later, Hitler’s troops
invade Austria. He obtained a visa to the U.S. in 1939, but, concerned for his
elderly parents, he let it expire.
In 1940, Frankl was made head of the neurological department of Rothschild
Hospital, the only hospital for Jews in Vienna during the Nazi regime. He made
many false diagnoses of his patients in order to circumvent the new policies
requiring euthanasia of the mentally ill. It was during this period that he
began his manuscript, Ärztliche Seelsorge - in English, The Doctor and the
Soul.
Frankl married in 1942, but in September of that year, he, his wife, his father,
mother, and brother, were all arrested and brought to the concentration camp
at Theresienstadt in Bohemia. His father died there of starvation. His mother
and brother were killed at Auschwitz in 1944. His wife died at Bergen-Belsen in
1945. Only his sister Stella would survive, having managed to emigrate to
Australia a short while earlier.
When he was moved to Auschwitz, his manuscript for The Doctor and the Soul
was discovered and destroyed. His desire to complete his work, and his hopes
that he would be reunited with his wife and family someday, kept him from
losing hope in what seemed otherwise a hopeless situation.
After two more moves to two more camps, Frankl finally succumbed to typhoid
fever. He kept himself awake by reconstructing his manuscript on stolen slips
of paper. In April of 1945, Frankl’s camp was liberated, and he returned to
Vienna, only to discover the deaths of his loved ones. Although nearly broken
and very much alone in the world, he was given the position of director of the
Vienna Neurological Policlinic -- a position he would hold for 25 years.
He finally reconstructed his book and published it, earning him a teaching
appointment at the University of Vienna Medical School. In only 9 days, he
dictated another book, which would become Man’s Search for Meaning.
Before he died, it sold over nine million copies, five million in the U.S. alone!
During this period, he met a young operating room assistant named Eleonore
Schwindt - “Elly” - and fell in love at first sight. Although half his age, he
credited her with giving him the courage to reestablish himself in the world.
They married in 1947, and had a daughter, Gabriele, in December of that year.
In 1948, Frankl received his Ph.D. in
philosophy. His dissertation - The
Unconscious God - was an examination of
the relation of psychology and religion. That
same year, he was made associate professor
of neurology and psychiatry at the University
of Vienna. In 1950, he founded and became
president of the Austrian Medical Society for
Psychotherapy.
After being promoted to full professor, he
became increasingly well known in circles
outside Vienna. His guest professorships,
honorary doctorates, and awards are too
many to list here but include the Oskar
Pfister Prize by the American Society of
Psychiatry and a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Frankl continued to teach at the University of Vienna until 1990, when he was
85. It should be noted that he was a vigorous mountain climber and earned his
airplane pilot’s license when he was 67!
In 1992, friends and family members established the Viktor Frankl Institute in
his honor. In 1995, he finished his autobiography, and in 1997, he published his
final work, Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning, based on his doctoral
dissertation. He has 32 books to his name, and they have been translated into
27 languages.
Viktor Emil Frankl died on September 2, 1997, of heart failure. He is survived
by his wife Eleonore, his daughter Dr. Gabriele Frankl-Vesely, his grandchildren
Katharina and Alexander, and his great-granddaughter Anna Viktoria. His
impact on psychology and psychiatry will be felt for centuries to come.
Theory
Viktor Frankl’s theory and therapy grew out of his experiences in Nazi death
camps. Watching who did and did not survive (given an opportunity to
survive!), he concluded that the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had it right:
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how. " (Friedrich
Nietzsche, quoted in 1963, p. 121) He saw that people who had hopes of being
reunited with loved ones, or who had projects they felt a need to complete, or
who had great faith, tended to have better chances than those who had lost all
hope.
He called his form of therapy logotherapy, from the Greek word logos, which
can mean study, word, spirit, God, or meaning. It is this last sense Frankl
focusses on, although the other meanings are never far off. Comparing himself
with those other great Viennese psychiatrists, Freud and Adler, he suggested
that Freud essentially postulated a will to pleasure as the root of all human
motivation, and Adler a will to power. Logotherapy postulates a will to
meaning.
Frankl also uses the Greek word noös, which means mind or spirit. In
traditional psychology, he suggests, we focus on “psychodynamics,” which sees
people as trying to reduce psychological tension. Instead, or in addition, Frankl
says we should pay attention to noödynamics, wherein tension is necessary for
health, at least when it comes to meaning. People desire the tension involved
in striving for some worthy goal!
Perhaps the original issue with which Frankl was concerned, early in his career
as a physician, was the danger of reductionism. Then, as now, medical schools
emphasized the idea that all things come down to physiology. Psychology, too,
promoted reductionism: Mind could be best understood as a "side effect" of
brain mechanisms. The spiritual aspect of human life was (and is) hardly
considered worth mentioning at all! Frankl believed that entire generations of
doctors and scientists were being indoctrinated into what could only lead to a
certain cynicism in the study of human existence.
He set it as his goal to balance the physiological view with a spiritual
perspective, and saw this as a significant step towards developing more
effective treatment. As he said, "...the de-neuroticization of humanity requires
a re-humanization of psychotherapy." (1975, p. 104)
Conscience
One of Viktor Frankl's major concepts is conscience. He sees conscience as a
sort of unconscious spirituality, different from the instinctual unconscious that
Freud and others emphasize. The conscience is not just one factor among
many; it is the core of our being and the source of our personal integrity.
He puts it in no uncertain terms: "... (B)eing human is being responsible --
existentially responsible, responsible for one's own existence." (1975, p. 26)
Conscience is intuitive and highly personalized. It refers to a real person in a
real situation, and cannot be reduced to simple "universal laws." It must be
lived.
He refers to conscience as a "pre-reflective ontological self-understanding" or
"the wisdom of the heart," "more sensitive than reason can ever be sensible."
(1975, p. 39) It is conscience that "sniffs out" that which gives our lives
meaning.
Like Erich Fromm, Frankl notes that animals have instincts to guide them. In
traditional societies, we have done well-enough replacing instincts with our
social traditions. Today, we hardly even have that. Most attempt to find
guidance in conformity and conventionality, but it becomes increasingly
difficult to avoid facing the fact that we now have the freedom and the
responsibility to make our own choices in life, to find our own meaning.
But "...meaning must be found and cannot be given." (1975, p. 112) Meaning is
like laughter, he says: You cannot force someone to laugh, you must tell him a
joke! The same applies to faith, hope, and love -- they cannot be be brought
forth by an act of will, our own or someone else's.
"...(M)eaning is something to discover rather than to invent." (1975, p. 113) It
has a reality of its own, independent of our minds. Like an embedded figure or
a "magic eye" picture, it is there to be seen, not something created by our
imagination. We may not always be able to bring the image -- or the meaning --
forth, but it is there. It is, he says, "...primarily a perceptual phenomenon. "
(1975, p. 115)
Tradition and traditional values are quickly disappearing from many people's
lives. But, while that is difficult for us, it need not lead us into despair:
Meaning is not tied to society's values. Certainly, each society attempts to
summarize meaningfulness in its codes of conduct, but ultimately, meanings
are unique to each individual.
"...(M)an must be equipped with the capacity to listen to and obey the ten
thousand demands and commandments hidden in the ten thousand situations
with which life is confronting him." (1975, p. 120) And it is our job as
physicians, therapists, and educators to assist people in developing their
individual consciences and finding and fulfilling their unique meanings.
The existential vacuum
This striving after meaning can, of course, be frustrated, and this frustration
can lead to noögenic neurosis, what others might call spiritual or existential
neurosis. People today seem more than ever to be experiencing their lives as
empty, meaningless, purposeless, aimless, adrift, and so on, and seem to be
responding to these experiences with unusual behaviors that hurt themselves,
others, society, or all three.
One of his favorite metaphors is the existential vacuum. If meaning is what
we desire, then meaninglessness is a hole, an emptiness, in our lives. Whenever
you have a vacuum, of course, things rush in to fill it. Frankl suggests that one
of the most conspicuous signs of existential vacuum in our society is boredom.
He points out how often people, when they finally have the time to do what
they want, don’t seem to want to do anything! People go into a tailspin when
they retire; students get drunk every weekend; we submerge ourselves in
passive entertainment every evening. The "Sunday neurosis," he calls it.
So we attempt to fill our existential vacuums with “stuff” that, because it
provides some satisfaction, we hope will provide ultimate satisfaction as well:
We might try to fill our lives with pleasure, eating beyond all necessity, having
promiscuous sex, living “the high life;” or we might seek power, especially the
power represented by monetary success; or we might fill our lives with “busy-
ness,” conformity, conventionality; or we might fill the vacuum with anger and
hatred and spend our days attempting to destroy what we think is hurting us.
We might also fill our lives with certain neurotic “vicious cycles,” such as
obsession with germs and cleanliness, or fear-driven obsession with a phobic
object. The defining quality of these vicious cycles is that, whatever we do, it is
never enough.
These neurotic vicious cycles are founded on something Frankl refers to as
anticipatory anxiety: Someone may be so afraid of getting certain anxiety-
related symptoms that getting those symptoms becomes inevitable. The
anticipatory anxiety causes the very thing that is feared! Test anxiety is an
obvious example: If you are afraid of doing poorly on tests, the anxiety will
prevent you from doing well on the test, leading you to be afraid of tests, and so
on.
A similar idea is hyperintention. This is a matter of trying too hard, which
itself prevents you from succeeding at something. One of the most common
examples is insomnia: Many people, when they can’t sleep, continue to try to
fall asleep, using every method in the book. Of course, trying to sleep itself
prevents sleep, so the cycle continues. Another example is the way so many of
us today feel we must be exceptional lovers: Men feel they must “last” as long
as possible, and women feel obliged to not only have orgasms, but to have
multiple orgasms, and so on. Too much concern in this regard, of course, leads
to an inability to relax and enjoy oneself!
A third variation is hyperreflection. In this case it is a matter of “thinking too
hard.” Sometimes we expect something to happen, so it does, simply because
its occurrence is strongly tied to one’s beliefs or attitudes - the self-fulfilling
prophecy. Frankl mentions a woman who had had bad sexual experiences in
childhood but who had nevertheless developed a strong and healthy
personality. When she became familiar with psychological literature
suggesting that such experiences should leave one with an inability to enjoy
sexual relations, she began having such problems!
His understanding of the existential vacuum goes back to his experiences in the
Nazi death camps. As the day-to-day things that offer people a sense of
meaning - work, family, the small pleasures of life - were taken from a prisoner,
his future would seem to disappear. Man, says Frankl, "can only live by looking
to the future." (1963 , p. 115) "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future --
his future -- was doomed." (1963, p. 117)
While few people seeking psychological help today are suffering the extremes
of the concentration camp, Frankl feels that the problems caused by the
existential vacuum are not only common, but rapidly spreading throughout
society. He points out the ubiquitous complaint of a "feeling of futility," which
he also refers to as the abyss experience.
Even the political and economic extremes of today's world can be seen as the
reverberations of futility: We seem to be caught between the automaton
conformity of western consumer culture and totalitarianism in its communist,
fascist, and theocratic flavors. Hiding in mass society, or hiding in
authoritarianism - either direction caters to the person who wishes to deny the
emptiness of his or her life.
Frankl calls depression, addiction, and aggression the mass neurotic triad. He
refers to research that shows a strong relationship between meaninglessness
(as measured by "purpose in life" tests) and such behaviors as criminality and
involvement with drugs. He warns us that violence, drug use, and other
negative behaviors, demonstrated daily on television, in movies, even in music,
only convinces the meaning-hungry that their lives can improve by imitation of
their "heroes." Even sports, he suggests, only encourage aggression.
Psychopathology
Frankl gives us details as to the origin of a variety of psychopathologies. For
example, various anxiety neuroses are seen as founded on existential anxiety
- "the sting of conscience." (1973, p. 179) The individual, not understanding
that his anxiety is due to his sense of unfulfilled responsibility and a lack of
meaning, takes that anxiety and focuses it upon some problematic detail of
life. The hypochondriac, for example, focuses his anxiety on some horrible
disease; the phobic focuses on some object that has caused him concern in the
past; the agoraphobic sees her anxiety as coming from the world outside her
door; the patient with stage fright or speech anxiety focuses on the stage or the
podium. The anxiety neurotic thus makes sense of his or her discomfort with
life.
He notes, that "Sometimes, but not always, it (the neurosis) serves to tyrannize
a member of the family or is used to justify oneself to others or to the self..."
(1973, p. 181) but warns that this is, as others have noted as well, secondary to
the deeper issues.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder works in a similar fashion. The obsessive-
compulsive person is lacking the sense of completion that most people have.
Most of us are satisfied with near certainty about, for example, a simple task
like locking one's door at night; the obsessive-compulsive requires a perfect
certainty that is, ultimately, unattainable. Because perfection in all things is,
even for the obsessive-compusive, an impossibility, he or she focusses attention
on some domain in life that has caused difficulties in the past.
The therapist should attempt to help the patient to relax and not fight the
tendencies to repeat thoughts and actions. Further, the patient needs to come
to recognize his temperamental inclinations towards perfection as fate and
learn to accept at least a small degree of uncertainty. But ultimately, the
obsessive-compulsive, and the anxiety neurotic as well, must find meaning. "As
soon as life's fullness of meaning is rediscovered, the neurotic anxiety... no
longer has anything to fasten on." (1973, p. 182)
Like most existential psychologists, Frankl acknowledges the importance of
genetic and physiological factors on psychopathology. He sees depression, for
example, as founded in a "vital low," i.e. a diminishment of physical energy. On
the psychological level, he relates depression to the feelings of inadequacy we
feel when we are confronted by tasks that are beyond our capacities, physical
or mental.
On the spiritual level, Frankl views depression as "tension between what the
person is and what he ought to be." (1973, p. 202) The person's goals seem
unreachable to him, and he loses a sense of his own future. Over time, he
becomes disgusted at himself and projects that disgust onto others or even
humanity in general. The ever-present gap between what is and what should
be becomes a "gaping abyss." (1973, p. 202)
Schizophrenia is also understood by Frankl as rooted in a physiological
dysfunction, in this case one which leads to the person experiencing himself as
an object rather than a subject.
Most of us, when we have thoughts, recognize them as coming from within our
own minds. We "own" them, as modern jargon puts it. The schizophrenic, for
reasons still not understood, is forced to take a passive perspective on those
thoughts, and perceives them as voices. And he may watch himself and
distrust himself -- which he experiences passively, as being watched and
persecuted.
Frankl believes that this passivity is rooted in an exaggerated tendency to self-
observation. It is as if there were a separation of the self as viewer and the self
as viewed. The viewing self, devoid of content, seems barely real, while the
viewed self seems alien.
Although logotherapy was not designed to deal with severe psychoses, Frankl
nevertheless feels that it can help: By teaching the schizophrenic to ignore the
voices and stop the constant self-observation, while simultaneously leading
him or her towards meaningful activity, the therapist may be able to short-
circuit the vicious cycle.
Finding meaning
So how do we find meaning? Frankl discusses three broad approaches. The
first is through experiential values, that is, by experiencing something - or
someone - we value. This can include Maslow’s peak experiences and esthetic
experiences such as viewing great art or natural wonders.
The most important example of experiential values is the love we feel towards
another. Through our love, we can enable our beloved to develop meaning,
and by doing so, we develop meaning ourselves! Love, he says, "is the ultimate
and the highest goal to which man can aspire." (1963, pp. 58-59)
Frankl points out that, in modern society, many confuse sex with love. Without
love, he says, sex is nothing more than masturbation, and the other is nothing
more than a tool to be used, a means to an end. Sex can only be fully enjoyed
as the physical expression of love.
Love is the recognition of the uniqueness of the other as an individual, with an
intuitive understanding of their full potential as human beings. Frankl
believes this is only possible within monogamous relationships. As long as
partners are interchangeable, they remain objects.
A second means of discovering meaning is through creative values, by “doing
a deed,” as he puts it. This is the traditional existential idea of providing
oneself with meaning by becoming involved in one’s projects, or, better, in the
project of one’s own life. It includes the creativity involved in art, music,
writing, invention, and so on.
Frankl views creativity (as well as love) as a function of the spiritual
unconscious, that is, the conscience. The irrationality of artistic production is
the same as the intuition that allows us to recognize the good. He provides us
with an interesting example:
We know a case in which a violinist always tried to play as
consciously as possible. From putting his violin in place on his
shoulder to the most trifling technical detail, he wanted to do
everything consciously, to perform in full self-reflection. This led to
a complete artistic breakdown.... Treatment had to give back to the
patient his trust in the unconscious, by having him realize how much
more musical his unconscious was than his conscious. (1975, p. 38)
The third means of finding meaning is one few people besides Frankl talk
about: attitudinal values. Attitudinal values include such virtues as
compassion, bravery, a good sense of humor, and so on. But Frankl's most
famous example is achieving meaning by way of suffering.
He gives an example concerning one of his clients: A doctor whose wife had
died mourned her terribly. Frankl asked him, “if you had died first, what
would it have been like for her?” The doctor answered that it would have been
incredibly difficult for her. Frankl then pointed out that, by her dying first, she
had been spared that suffering, but that now he had to pay the price by
surviving and mourning her. In other words, grief is the price we pay for love.
For the doctor, this thought gave his wife's death and his own pain meaning,
which in turn allowed him to deal with it. His suffering becomes something
more: With meaning, suffering can be endured with dignity.
Frankl also notes that seriously ill people are not often given an opportunity to
suffer bravely, and thereby retain some dignity. Cheer up! we say. Be
optimistic! Often, they are made to feel ashamed of their pain and
unhappiness.
In Man's Search for Meaning, he says this: "...everything can be taken from a
man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude
in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." (1963, p. 104)
Transcendence
Ultimately, however, experiential, creative, and attitudinal values are merely
surface manifestations of something much more fundamental, which he calls
supra-meaning or transcendence. Here we see Frankl’s religious bent:
Suprameaning is the idea that there is, in fact, ultimate meaning in life,
meaning that is not dependent on others, on our projects, or even on our
dignity. It is a reference to God and spiritual meaning.
This sets Frankl’s existentialism apart from the existentialism of someone like
Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre and other atheistic existentialists suggest that life is
ultimately meaningless, and we must find the courage to face that
meaninglessness. Sartre says we must learn to endure ultimate
meaninglessness; Frankl instead says that we need to learn to endure our
inability to fully comprehend ultimate meaningfulness, for “Logos is deeper
than logic.”
Again, it was his experiences in the death camps that led him to these
conclusions: "In spite of all the enforced physical and mental primitiveness of
the life in a concentration camp, it was possible for spiritual life to deepen....
They were able to retreat from their terrible surroundings to a life of inner
riches and spiritual freedom." (1963, p. 56) This certainly does contrast with
Sigmund Freud's perspective, as expressed in The Future of an Illusion:
"Religion is the universal compulsive neurosis of mankind...." (quoted in 1975,
p. 69)
It should be understood that Frankl's ideas about religion and spirituality are
considerably broader than most. His God is not the God of the narrow mind,
not the God of one denomination or another. It is not even the God of
institutional religion. God is very much a God of the inner human being, a God
of the heart. Even the atheist or the agnostic, he points out, may accept the idea
of transcendence without making use of the word "God." Allow me to let
Frankl speak for himself:
This unconscious religiousness, revealed by our phenomenological
analysis, is to be understood as a latent relation to transcendence
inherent in man. If one prefers, he might conceive of this relation in
terms of a relationship between the immanent self and a
transcendent thou. However one wishes to formulate it, we are
confronted with what I should like to term "the transcendent
unconscious. This concept means no more or less than that man has
always stood in an intentional relation to transcendence, even if only
on an unconscious level. If one calls the intentional referent of such
an unconscious relation "God," it is apt to speak of an "unconscious
God." (1975, pp. 61-62)
It must also be understood that this "unconscious God" is not anything like the
archetypes Jung talks about. This God is clearly transcendent, and yet
profoundly personal. He is there, according to Frankl, within each of us, and it
is merely a matter of our acknowledging that presence that will bring us to
suprameaning. On the other hand, turning away from God is the ultimate
source of all the ills we have already discussed.: "...(O)nce the angel in us is
repressed, he turns into a demon." (1975, p. 70)
Therapy
Viktor Frankl is nearly as well known for certain clinical details of his
approach as for his overall theory. The first of these details is a technique
known as paradoxical intention, which is useful in breaking down the
neurotic vicious cycles brought on by anticipatory anxiety and hyperintention.
Paradoxical intention is a matter of wishing the very thing you are afraid of. A
young man who sweated profusely whenever he was in social situations was
told by Frankl to wish to sweat. “I only sweated out a quart before, but now I’m
going to pour at least ten quarts!” (1973, p. 223) was among his instructions. Of
course, when it came down to it, the young man couldn’t do it. The absurdity of
the task broke the vicious cycle.
The capacity human beings have of taking an objective stance towards their
own life, or stepping outside themselves, is the basis, Frankl tells us, for
humor. And, as he noted in the camps, "Humor was another of the soul's
weapons in the fight for self-preservation." (1963, p. 68)
Another example concerns sleep problems: If you suffer from insomnia,
according to Frankl, don’t spend the night tossing and turning and trying to
sleep. Get up! Try to stay up as long as you can! Over time, you’ll find yourself
gratefully crawling back into bed.
A second technique is called dereflection. Frankl believes that many problems
stem from an overemphasis on oneself. By shifting attention away from
oneself and onto others, problems often disappear. If, for example, you have
difficulties with sex, try to satisfy your partner without seeking your own
gratification. Concerns over erections and orgasms disappear -- and
satisfaction reappears! Or don’t try to satisfy anyone at all. Many sex
therapists suggest that a couple do nothing but “pet,” avoiding orgasms "at all
costs." These couples often find they can barely last the evening before what
they had previously had difficulties with simply happens!
Frankl insists that, in today's world, there is far too much emphasis on self
reflection. Since Freud, we have been encouraged to look into ourselves, to dig
out our deepest motivations. Frankl even refers to this tendency as our
"collective obsessive neurosis." (1975, p. 95) Focusing on ourselves this way
actually serves to turn us away from meaning!
For all the interest these techniques have aroused, Frankl insists that,
ultimately, the problems these people face are a matter of their need for
meaning. So, although these and other techniques are a fine beginning to
therapy, they are not by any means the goal.
Perhaps the most significant task for the therapist is to assist the client in
rediscovering the latent religiousness that Frankl believes exists in each of us.
This cannot be pushed, however: "Genuine religiousness must unfold in its own
time. Never can anyone be forced to it." (1975, p. 72) The therapist must allow
the patient to discover his or her own meanings.
"(H)uman existence -- at least as long as it has not been neurotically distorted --
is always directed to something, or someone, other than itself - be it a meaning
to fulfill or another human being to encounter lovingly." (1975, p. 78) Frankl
calls this self-transcendence, and contrasts it with self-actualization as Maslow
uses the term. Self-actualization, even pleasure and happiness, are side-effects
of self-transcendence and the discovery of meaning. He quotes Albert
Schweitzer: "The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who
have sought and found how to serve." (Quoted in 1975, p. 85)
In conclusion
Even if you (like me) are not of a religious inclination, it is difficult to ignore
Frankl's message: There exists, beyond instincts and "selfish genes," beyond
classical and operant conditioning, beyond the imperatives of biology and
culture, a special something, uniquely human, uniquely personal. For much of
psychology's history, we have, in the name of science, tried to eliminate the
"soul" from our professional vocabularies. But perhaps it is time to follow
Frankl's lead and reverse the years of reductionism.
Discussion
For all my admiration of Frankl and his theory, I also have some strong
reservations. Frankl attempts to re-insert religion into psychology, and does so
in a particularly subtle and seductive manner. It is difficult to argue with
someone who has been through what Frankl has been through, and seen what
he has seen. And yet, suffering is no automatic guarantee of truth! By
couching religion in the most tolerant and liberal language, he nevertheless is
asking us to base our understanding of human existence on faith, on a blind
acceptance of the existence of ultimate truth, without evidence other than the
"feelings" and intuitions and anecdotes of those who already believe. This is, in
fact, a dangerous precedent, and there is much "pop psychology" based on
these ideas. The same tendency applies to the quasi-religious theories of Carl
Jung and Abraham Maslow.
Frankl, like May and others, refers to himself as an existentialist. Many others
with religious tendencies do likewise. They have even elevated Kierkegaard to
the honorary position of founder of existentialism - a word Kierkegaard had
never heard. And yet faith, which asks one to surrender one's skepticism to a
God or other universal principle, is intrinsically at odds with the most basic
concepts of existentialism. Religion - even liberal religion - always posits
essences at the root of human existence. Existentialism does not.
References
Frankl, V. E. (1963). (I. Lasch, Trans.) Man's Search for Meaning: An
Introduction to Logotherapy. New York: Washington Square Press. (Earlier
title, 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism. Originally published in 1946
as Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager)
Frankl, V. E. (1967). Psychotherapy and Existentialism : Selected Papers on
Logotherapy. New York : Simon and Schuster.
Frankl, V. E. (1973). (R. and C. Winston, Trans.) The Doctor and the Soul:
From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy. New York: Vintage Books. (Originally
published in 1946 as Ärztliche Seelsorge.)
Frankl, V. E. (1975). The Unconscious God: Psychotherapy and Theology.
New York: Simon and Schuster. (Originally published in 1948 as Der
unbewusste Gott. Republished in 1997 as Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning.)
Frankl, V. E. (1996). Viktor Frankl -- Recollections: An Autobiography. (J.
and J. Fabray, Trans.) New York: Plenum Publishing. (Originally published in
1995 as Was nicht in meinen Büchern steht.)
Copyright 1998, 2002, 2006 C. George Boeree
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