"Man's Search For Meaning" By Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) was an Austrian born neurologist and psychotherapist who created his own form of therapy called Logotherapy. Logotherapy was and is known as the third school of psychotherapy in Vienna, and is an important discovery, but it is one that continues to be overshadowed by the ideas of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Logotherapy and Frankl take part in a movement called Existential Analysis that strives to give meaning to all forms of experience. Logotherapy may be Frankl's most important contribution to the mental health field, but his writing about his experience as a holocaust survivor may be his most memorable. Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning" written in 1959 provides a detailed and deeply human analysis and depiction of Frankl's experience in the Nazi death camps of the second world war. While this may be the case, one of the main premises of the book is that it is not a diary, or an attempt to explain or describe all of the holocaust experiences from the point of view of those who were, branded, tattooed, murdered and forced into labor. Frankl does not write this book for sympathy, empathy or any kind of grasping for a shared experience that would in turn alienate those on the other side, the ranks of the Nazi camps guards and the notorious SS.
Instead the author is using his and the experiences of others to provide, as the subtitle of the book reads, "An Introduction to Logotherapy". The first portion of the book is dedicated to the holocaust experience and its horrors; this experience sets up and hints along the way towards the practical, potential and powerful applications of Logotherapy. The second portion provides an outline for Logotherapy and a breakdown of some of the experiences Frankl had during WWII as examples of how to apply this form of existential analysis.
The accounts of holocaust survivals, trials and tribulations speak for themselves and are hard to summarize without doing them injustice. There is something beautiful in the way Frankl joins what many would call unimaginable pain and suffering with his deeply motivated striving towards the betterment of humanity. His quest to find meaning in the darkest of hours gives rise to an incredible mode of therapy that is applicable for any situation either dire or seemingly superficial. Logotherapy's main goal is in being able to motivate people by finding meaning in their situations, troubles, losses or gains. This may seem incredibly simple minded, and in some respects it is; but it is the way in which Frankl survived, by creating meaning in his life during the most incredibly fruitless situations.
The following is a passage in which Frankl describes how he helped an elderly man who came to him for therapy after his wife passed away: "He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now, how could I help him? What should I tell him? Well, 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 suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering- to be sure, at the price that now you have to survive and mourn her.' He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left my office. In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice." Simple minded perhaps, but effective and deeply human. Viktor Frankl displays an insight into the enduring qualities of the human spirit that many authors could only wish to taste.
Frankls provides a deeply motivating true story that cuts through the unnecessary to the heart of what it means to be a human being. I recommend this book to anyone and especially to those with an interest in psychology, psychiatry, history and existentialism.

"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked." -Viktor Frankl