Logotherapy and existential analysis

LOGOTHERAPY AND EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS

Logotherapy is described as a meaning-oriented method of counseling and treatment. The founder of this psychotherapeutic approach, Viktor Frankl, understood the will to meaning not as a supplement to the other two psychological motivational forces of "pleasure" (Sigmund Freud) and "power" (Alfred Adler), but as the primary motivational force per se.

The first scientifically based approach to the meaning of life can be found in the work of the Jewish doctor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1905-1997). During his time in several concentration camps, he developed an attitude to life in a kind of self-experiment that was intended to help him and others find meaning in life. Essential to his therapeutic approach is the idea that people are always able to relate to their physical and psychological levels. In other words, the person can always take a stance on the situation in which they currently find themselves. In addition to the body and the psyche, Frankl calls this third dimension of the human being the "noetic", the "spiritual" - i.e. the ability to form an attitude to what shows up in life. For example, we could say: "Despite pain or despite fear, I go this way."

It is important to incorporate this perspective and this fundamental attitude to life into the work with clients. Above all, it enables the feeling of a free experience, leads to authentic statements and a self-responsible approach to oneself.