Logotherapy Training and Existential Analysis now available in Ireland
Logotherapy is an internationally acknowledged and empirically based, meaning-centered approach to psychotherapy. ‘Logos’ is here translated as ‘meaning’. Logotherapy was developed by the Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist Dr. Viktor E. Frankl (1905-1997). It is a type of existential analysis that focuses on the will to meaning. Author of the international bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning, and Holocaust survivor, Frankl contends that the striving to find meaning and purpose in one’s life is the primary and most powerful motivational force in man. Logotherapy/existential analysis helps individuals to transcend the self and to use the triumphant power of the human spirit in order to face suffering, loss, tragedy, pain, inner emptiness, and perceived meaninglessness. Frankl’s vision and perspective includes a message of hope for mankind, fostering an attitude of ‘tragic optimism’ in the midst of life’s vicissitudes and vagaries. He views the human person as being in three dimensions: body, mind and spirit, and according to Frankl, the spirit can never be sick.
According to Frankl, there are three ways we may find meaning in life: 1) Creativity (giving something to the world through self-expression); 2) Experiencing (receiving something from the world through nature or culture or the environment); 3) Attitude (changing our mental attitude toward a condition especially if confronted with unavoidable suffering). Frankl distinguishes between two different meanings: firstly, you have the meaning of the moment – these are the innumerable demands life imposes on us at every minute of our lives and which call for answers and choices, and secondly, ultimate meaning – this may only be glimpsed; it may be God or the search for the true, the good or the beautiful. Life requires something of us and we must respond to life’s questions. We do this by discerning the meaning of the moment and making responsible decisions; at the levels of the drives we are driven but at the level of the spirit we decide. Our guidance comes from the intuitive and creative, though fallible, voice of conscience within us. According to Frankl, life does not owe us happiness; it offers us meaning. Happiness is a by-product, a side-effect, of our search for meaning. The lack of meaning in life results in the ‘existential vaccum’ which is a state of boredom and apathy, of ennui and inertia; if this state persists it may progress into an existential frustration and result in a ‘noogenic neurosis’. We try to fill the void with drugs, drink, food, violence but ultimately remain unfulfilled and lost. Life is dynamic and we are confronted with what Frankl calls the ‘tragic triad’ of suffering, guilt and death. Often we are required to change our attitude in order to find meaning. To Freud’s ‘cheerful pessimism’ Frankl offers a vision of ‘tragic optimism’ – one that doesn’t deny the tragic dimensions of human existence but which looks to healing and forgiveness, to health and meaning and life so that tragedy may be converted into triumph. The medicine chest of logotherapy looks to our noetic (spiritual) core for health and healing. There the triumphant power of the human spirit is activated and brought to bear on life’s vagaries and vicissitudes. It is through self-transcendence – going out to others in love – that the meaning of our existence is revealed. The logotherapist’s main tool, apart from techniques such as dereflection and paradoxical intention (I would like to address how these clinical techniques work in another article), is Socratic dialogue where the logotherapist and the client together explore areas of meaning while realising that meaning cannot be given – it must be discovered. Frankl’s logotherapy is a philosophy of life and can be employed with beneficial effect in every profession and walk of life. It is used, not only by therapists, but by teachers, nurses, doctors, ministers and business managers. Whatever about our past, our future is shaped by the choices we make today. By Stephen J. Costelloe Stephen founded the Irish Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis in 2010. Its aim is to acquaint the public with the philosophical and therapeutic concepts of Viktor Frankl, MD., Ph.D., and to provide courses, counselling and consulting, as well as a formal training programme in logotherapy and existential analysis, which is the first of its kind in Ireland. See the holisto courses page for more information on courses or www.logotherapyireland.com |
