A Comprehensive Guide About Logotherapy

Another form of psychotherapy, Logotherapy helps people to find meaning in their lives and live purposefully.

Like many other forms of psychotherapy such as behavioral therapy, psychoanalytic therapy, cognitive therapy, and so on, but less known as the formers, Logotherapy aims to help individuals who are disconnected from themselves to find meaning in life, even amidst misery.

It sounds pretty challenging “to find purpose” in the middle of the chaos, right? Well, that’s actually one of the best moments to do so.

What is Logotherapy?

According to the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Viktor Frankl, who developed Logotherapy after surviving a couple of concentration nazi camps (including Auschwitz), it’s possible.

In 1942, Frankl was deported to a concentration camp during WWII and fought for his life daily. He survived the most horrific conditions, and when the war was over, the prisoners of these camps were freed. Frankl was one of them.

Viktor Frankl wrote a book called 'Man’s Search For Meaning' detailing his experience and theories. He believed that humans are motivated by a desire to find meaning in life.

Frankl argued that even amid misery and chaos, the “will to meaning” keeps one going and that the motivation for living comes from finding that meaning.

A Man Searching For Meaning

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Viktor Frankl

He found meaning in his suffering through his experience of surviving the most brutal conditions a human being can be exposed to. He believed when we can’t change a situation; we must change ourselves.

Who is Logotherapy for?

Logotherapy helps individuals suffering from a variety of mental health issues, such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Phobias
• Grief
• PTSD
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Schizophrenia
• Pain

How Does It Work?

Logotherapy is composed of three techniques: dereflection, paradoxical intention, and socratic dialogue. To know more details about each method, click here. If you’re interested in this form of psychotherapy, contact a professional and ask them for more information about it.