Logotherapy

 
Developed by Viktor Frankl, the theory is founded on the belief that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose

Logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one's life.  

Frankl's theories were heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps.

 

Origins of Logotherapy

Victor Frankl was born in Vienna in 1905. He trained as a psychiatrist and neurologist, working from the framework of existential therapy. 

During World War II, Frankl spent about three years in various Nazi concentration camps, an experience that greatly influenced his work and the development of logotherapy.  

Frankl observed that those who were able to survive suffering in the concentration camps, typically found some meaning in it, such as a task that they needed to fulfill, (i.e., to testify against the Nazis).

For Frankl personally, his desire to rewrite a manuscript, that had been confiscated upon arrival at Auschwitz, was a motivating factor. 

After the camps were liberated, Frankl resumed his work as a neurologist and psychiatrist. 

In 1946, he published 'Man’s Search for Meaning', outlining his experiences in the concentration camps as well as the basic tenets and techniques of logotherapy.

Components of Franklian Philosophy

There are three main components that are at the heart of the Franklian philosophy:

1. Each person has a healthy core.
 
2. The primary focus is to enlighten a person to their own internal resources and to provide them with the tools to use their inner core.
 
3. Life offers you purpose and meaning; it does not owe you a sense of fulfillment or happiness.

Finding Meaning with Logotherapy

Logotherapy is based on the premise that humans are driven to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life. According to Frankl, life’s meaning can be discovered in three different ways:

1. By creating a work or accomplishing some task
2. By experiencing something fully or loving somebody
3. By the attitude that one adopts toward unavoidable suffering

Frankl believed that suffering is a part of life, and that man’s ultimate freedom is his ability to choose how to respond to any set of given circumstances, even the most painful ones. 

Additionally, people can find meaning in their lives by identifying the unique roles that only they can fulfill. 

For example, when a man consulted with Frankl due to severe depression following the death of his wife, Frankl asked him to consider what would have happened if he had died first and his wife had been forced to mourn his death. The man was able to recognize that his own suffering spared his wife from having that experience, which served as a curative factor and helped relieve his depression.

Logotherapy Techniques

The three main techniques of logotherapy are:

1. Dereflection: Dereflection is used when a person is overly self-absorbed on an issue or attainment of a goal. By redirecting the attention, or dereflecting the attention away from the self, the person can become whole by thinking about others rather than themselves.

2. Paradoxical intention: Paradoxical intention involves asking for the thing we fear the most. For people who experience anxiety or phobias, fear can paralyze them. But by using humor and ridicule, they can wish for the thing they fear the most, thus removing the fear from their intention and relieving the anxious symptoms associated with it.

3. Socratic dialogue: Socratic dialogue is a technique in which the logotherapist uses the own person's words as a method of self-discovery. By listening intently to what the person says, the therapist can point out specific patterns of words, or word solutions to the client, and let the client see new meaning in them. This process allows a person to realize that the answer lies within and is just waiting to be discovered.

Conditions Treated with Logotherapy

Logotherapy is founded on a belief that many illnesses or mental health issues are actually due to existential angst. Through his work, Frankl found that people struggled with feelings of meaninglessness, a situation which he referred to as the existential vacuum. 

Logotherapy can be used to treat a wide range of issues that are existential in nature.  
More specifically, 

 logotherapy has been found effective in the treatment of:

1. - substance abuse, 
 
2. - posttraumatic stress, 
 
3. - depression, and anxiety. 
 
 
 
Criticism of Logotherapy

One of the primary criticisms of logotherapy comes from Rollo May, who is considered to be the founder of the existential movement in the United States. 

May argued that logotherapy is authoritarian, in that it suggests that there are clear solutions to all problems and that Frankl provides people who utilize this therapy with meaning if they are unable to find their own. 

Frankl was aware of May’s criticism and refuted the idea that logotherapy takes responsibility away from the individual; He maintained that logotherapy actually educates the person in therapy about his or her own responsibility.






References:

1. Biography. (n.d). Victor Frankl Institut. Retrieved from http://www.viktorfrankl.org/e/chronology.html
2. Bulka, R.P. (1978). Is logotherapy authoritarian? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 18(4), 45-54.
3. Delavari, H., Nasirian, M., & Baezegar bafrooei, K. (2014). Logo therapy effect on anxiety and depression in mothers of children with cancer. Iranian Journal of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, 4(2), 42-48.
4. Frankl, V.E. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
5. Smith, A.J. (2013). Logotherapy to treat substance abuse as a result of military-related PTSD. Journal of Military and Government Counseling, 1(1), 61-74.

Last updated: 07-02-2015

Logotherapy Articles

• Logotherapy: How a Few Questions Can Aid the Grief Process

  

 

 Source: http://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/logotherapy

 

 

 

 

A sense of purpose in life

Why a Sense of Purpose in Life Is Important For Health

Conclusion:

A sense of purpose in life also gives you this considerable advantage:

"People with a sense of purpose in life have a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease."

The conclusions come from over 136,000 people who took part in 10 different studies.

Participants in the studies were mostly from the US and Japan.


The US studies asked people:

• how useful they felt to others,
• about their sense of purpose, and
• the meaning they got out of life.

The Japanese studies asked people about ‘ikigai’ or whether their life was worth living.

The participants, whose average age was 67, were tracked for around 7 years.

During that time almost 20,000 died. 
But, amongst those with a strong sense of purpose or high ‘ikigai’, the risk of death was one-fifth lower.

Despite the link between sense of purpose and health being so intuitive, scientists are not sure of the mechanism.

Sense of purpose is likely to improve health by strengthening the body against stress.

It is also likely to be linked to healthier behaviours.

Dr. Alan Rozanski, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Of note, having a strong sense of life purpose has long been postulated to be an important dimension of life, providing people with a sense of vitality, motivation and resilience.

Nevertheless, the medical implications of living with a high or low sense of life purpose have only recently caught the attention of investigators.

The current findings are important because they may open up new potential interventions for helping people to promote their health and sense of well-being.”

This research on links between sense of purpose in life and longevity is getting stronger all the time:

• “A 2009 study of 1,238 elderly people found that those with a sense of purpose lived longer.
• A 2010 study of 900 older adults found that those with a greater sense of purpose were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
• Survey data often links a sense of purpose in life with increased happiness.

"No matter what your age, then, it’s worth thinking about what gives your life meaning.”

Read More:

Find out what kinds of things people say give their lives meaning.

Here’s an exercise for increasing meaningfulness

And a study finding that feeling you belong increases the sense of meaning.

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Cohen et al., 2015).


Link: http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/12/here-is-why-a-sense-of-purpose-in-life-is-important-for-health

Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson squaring off with robot called "Boilerplate" at a 1910 training camp

 

A photo of heavyweight champion Jack Johnson squaring off with robot called "Boilerplate" at a 1910 training camp #boxing #history

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.   

 - Mary Anne Radmacher

(Artwork by: PSHoudini)
www.the-thought-spot.com

The secret to a loving and lasting marriage

The secret to a loving and lasting marriage, Gibran offers:

Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

  The Prophet

Om Mani Padme Hum - Original temple mantra version

Om Mani Padme Hum - Original temple Buddhist mantra version







"Mantras
may be interpreted by practitioners in many ways, or even as mere
sequences of sound whose effects lie beyond strict meaning.

The
middle part of the mantra, maṇipadme, is often interpreted as "jewel in
the lotus," Sanskrit maṇí "jewel, gem, cintamani" and the locative of
padma "lotus", but according to Donald Lopez it is much more likely that
maṇipadme is in fact a vocative, not a locative, addressing a
bodhisattva called maṇipadma, "Jewel-Lotus"- an alternate epithet of the
bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. It is preceded by the oṃ syllable and
followed by the hūṃ syllable, both interjections without linguistic
meaning."

Link: https://youtu.be/VFIQguh2yYI