Logotherapy
Logotherapy, a psychological concept, was developed by Viktor Frankl and focuses on the individual's quest to find some sort of meaning in their life. The history behind logotherapy is fascinating and Paper Masters gives students an idea how to focus a research paper on logotherapy. Whether it is looking at the life of Viktor Frankl or the theory itself, Paper Masters can custom write a logotherapy research paper.
There are several basic principles inherent in the concept of logotherapy:
- Life always has a meaning, no matter how bleak the situation might appear;
- The primary motivation for man is to discover said meaning;
- The meaning that the individual derives from a given situation or experience can be highly individualized, demonstrating the freedom that they have to craft their own understanding about the world around them.
Logotherapy also refers many times to the human spirit, but this is not with any sort of correlation to religion or spirituality; instead, the human spirit refers to the motivating factor that exists within each and every human mind.
Other Benefits of Logotherapy
Logotherapy also identifies a variety of obstacles that can present themselves with regards to man's quest for meaning. Frankl identified affluence, hedonism, and materialism as some of the most common obstacles that man can encounter; each impacts the individual's ability to fully understand the world around them. Affluence deprives one of the insight necessary to see the true human experience; materialism turns one's focus from the intangible to the tangible. Hedonism can be physically, emotionally, and mentally distracting, taking one away from the motivations of the spirit and directing one toward the human motivations of the physical world. The quest for meaning is the guiding principle of life, and avoiding these obstacles is the only way to achieve such understanding.
Viktor Frankl and Logotheraphy
His warm writing style and objective voice help to mitigate any discomfort that his subject matter may cause, yet his intimate and dispassionate descriptions give a clear idea of how prisoners responded to the psychological and physical pressures that they endured. He notes that an intensification of inner life took place as prisoners remained longer in the concentration camp, which was evidenced by a deepening of gratitude for Nature's beauty, because it gave solace to the men in their misery, and Frankl encouraged himself and his friends to practice making up jokes in order to counteract the dehumanizing camp environment during the Holocaust. As in Logotherapy, dwelling on the past was not encouraged. Although memories of previously ordinary things, such as opening the door to his apartment or switching on electric lights, preoccupied Frankl, he felt that dwelling in the past was dangerous to his mental health, and turned his attention instead to conversing mentally with his wife, whose death at Auschwitz was unknown to him. During his internal talks with her, he experienced their deep love for one another, and realized in a transcendent moment that love is the greatest goal of humanity. He also perceived a universal voice telling him that life does have an ultimate purpose, and those profound experiences became part of the philosophical basis of Logotherapy. Frankl several times notes the essence of Logotherapy is expressed by Nietzsche as "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how", and Frankl asserts that finding the why of each life is the first goal of psychotherapy.
Frankl's examples of prison life's psychological effects are vivid and well-explained, making the work a valuable instructive tool, and the addition of a brief guide to Logotherapy at the back of his biography is very useful for comprehending his innovative, meaning-centered, future-oriented therapy. His warmth and lack of pretension are evident throughout Man's Search for Meaning and it is a thoughtful, interesting work of practical therapeutic value.