He wrote the body of the book, “Experiences in a Concentration Camp,” in a little over a week, in 1946, after liberation from WWII imprisonment.
Subsequent editions were supplemented by an introduction to logotherapy and a postscript on tragic optimism, or on how to remain optimistic in the face of pain, guilt, and death.
“It has inspired religious and philosophical thinkers, mental-health professionals, teachers, students, and general readers from all walks of life.”
My wife had ordered after attending a recent symposium.
Really glad I (finally) read this book that was among the ten most influential books when a survey in 1991 asked readers to name a “book that made a difference in your life.”
Loved this section where he (Victor Frankl-VF) dialogues with an American doctor (AD):
AD: “Can you tell me in one sentence what is meant by logotherapy?”
VF: “Yes, but in the first place, can you tell me in one sentence what you think the essence of psychoanalysis is?”
AD: “During psychoanalysis, the patient must lie down on a couch and tell you things which sometimes are very disagreeable to tell.”
VF: “Now, in logotherapy the patient may remain sitting erect but he must hear things which sometimes are very disagreeable to hear.”
His book continues:
Of course, that was meant facetiously…However, there is something in it, inasmuch as logotherapy, in comparison with psychoanalysis, is a method less retrospective and less introspective. Logotherapy focuses rather on the future, that is to say, on the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient in the future. At the same time, logotherapy defocuses all the vicious-circle formations and feedback mechanisms which play such a great role in the development of neuroses. Thus, the typical self-centeredness of the neurotic is broken up instead of being continually fostered and reinforced.
Logotherapy is neither teaching nor preaching. To put it figuratively, the role played by a logotherapist is that of an eye specialist rather than that of a painter. A painter tries to convey to us a picture of the world as he sees it; an ophthalmologist tries to enable us to see the world as it really is.
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. When we are no longer able to change a situation…we are challenged to change ourselves.
Let me cite a clear-cut example: Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before…I refrained from telling him anything but instead confronted him with the question, “What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?”
“Oh,” he said, “for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!” Whereupon I replied, “You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering-to be sure, at a price that now you have to survive and mourn her.”
He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left me office, In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
But let me make it perfectly clear that in no way is suffering necessary to find meaning. I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering-provided, certainly, that the suffering is unavoidable.
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