Existential therapy focuses on the positive approach of looking at an individual as whole, incorporating multiple factors and tendencies to applaud human capacities and acknowledgement. Fridrich Nietzsche is a philosopher who is known as the founder of existential theory by theorizing that any individual can overcome any event or concern through internal wisdom and self powerment. In fact, I believe existential therapy is closely related and are similar to multiple approaches, such as the humanistic approach by looking at the concept of individuals having moral, internal ethical values which drives their behavior in a positive aspect. Due to this, existential therapy focuses on the good within individuals bringing out positive attributions …show more content…
The four vacuum effects in which an individual can create depressive thoughts, moods, or emotions stems from a lack of creativity, no service to others, no friendship, and no self-growth. However, existential theorists emphasize the concept of taking these four vacuum effects and implying their core opposite to achieve full happiness and …show more content…
By acknowledging depressive contributions to acquiring domaining factors within human growth, individual’s can seek their own fulfillment in life through multiple phases. Overall existential therapy primary focuses on the revolvement consuming from individual self-power and the belief in hope. The mindset rest upon the figuration of turning a negative event into a triumph, glory, or hope through one’s own lens. In fact, author and psychologist Viktor E. Frankl expresses key factors of existential beliefs within his novel entitled A Man’s Search for Meaning by portraying and detailing his heart wrenching, yet enlightening and fulfilling story, of his teaching and mindset of belief of hope. Man’s Search for Meaning captivated my interest within the concept of self-love, and hopefulness while in a dehumanized , self loathed, hatred environment, which ultimately ruminates, my self awareness and acknowledgments within the existential belief theory and the power capacity of the human brain. Viktor E. Frankl details readers in his own horrific predicament during World War II, expressing the harsh treatment and imprisonment of Jews in Auschwitz concentration camps. While at camp Frankl expressed multiple stages in which individuals faced within these difficult times while also accompanying for psychological
This book was written as a record of a person’s involvements in a concentration camp during World War II, and the psychology of the prisoners who were there with him to experience the rough and hard times every day. Viktor Frankl's was a man who was a part of this experience, along with his wife, father, mother and brother who all died in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. All endured extreme hunger, cold and cruelty, first in Auschwitz then Dachau; Frankl himself was under endless threat of going to the gas chambers. He lost every belonging on his first day in the camps, and was forced to give up a scientific manuscript he considered his life's work. Viktor starts his story with his entrance into Auschwitz. He explains how as he was entering the death camp: he and his companions held onto slight remains of hope that they would be rescued at the last possible moment. He relates this to a convicted man believing he will be saved before he is executed. He defines this feeling as the, "delusion of reprieve” and remembers getting off the train after arriving to Auschwitz, the people were separated into two lines, one for men and one for women. During this process everything on them was taken from them. They eventually got to a man who would point them in a direction of left or right. One way was the direction to the crematories, the other to a cleansing station.
As World War II occurred, the Jewish population suffered a tremendous loss and was treated with injustice and cruelty by the Nazi’s seen through examples in the book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Victor Frankl records his experiences and observations during his time as prisoner at Auschwitz during the war. Before imprisonment, he spent his leisure time as an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna, Austria and was able to implement his analytical thought processes to life in the concentration camp. As a psychological analyst, Frankl portrays through the everyday life of the imprisoned of how they discover their own sense of meaning in life and what they aspire to live for, while being mistreated, wrongly punished, and served with little to no food from day to day. He emphasizes three psychological phases that are characterized by shock, apathy, and the inability to retain to normal life after their release from camp. These themes recur throughout the entirety of the book, which the inmates experience when they are first imprisoned, as they adapt as prisoners, and when they are freed from imprisonment. He also emphasizes the need for hope, to provide for a purpose to keep fighting for their lives, even if they were stripped naked and treated lower than the human race. Moreover, the Capos and the SS guards, who were apart of the secret society of Hitler, tormented many of the unjustly convicted. Although many suffered through violent deaths from gas chambers, frostbites, starvation, etc., many more suffered internally from losing faith in oneself to keep on living.
Existential therapy is a brief therapy. However, it does not have a set time limit for how long the sessions will last or the duration of the therapy. The goal for existential therapy is to guide the client to strive toward authenticity in life, therefore when that goal is met and Michael can put striving for an authentic life into action will the therapy end. A strong therapeutic alliance is necessary in Existential therapy, client and therapist are being-in-the-world together, it the therapist’s aim is to understand the existential position of the client to peer into their phenomenological world. Client’s phenomenological world would be their subjective experience of the world and how they view, understand
In his memoir, Man’s search for Meaning, author Viktor E. Frankl, a neurologist, physiologist, and a holocaust survivor, argues that humans are motivated to find their meaning in life. Frankl develops this argument that humans are motivated to find their meaning in life by using his personal experiences during the holocaust and what he felt and saw as him and the other victims endured torture in the concentration camp. Ultimately, Frankl makes brief connections between the emotional states of the victims throughout their days and he makes connections to other homicides throughout history. Frankl’s purpose is to detail the daily labor and mentally taxing abuse he faced during the holocaust in order to make the readers feel sympathy and respect
In Logotherapy it has been widely used as a subcategory of existential psychiatry. They want to see the patients as other people in their daily lives and then begin to develop relationships with them. This therapy is used from the loss of purpose in no genic neurosis. There is “I Thou relationship” which is a dialogue between the client and the therapist. The client is not treated as just a case file but there is more engagement and will receive a higher level of respect and concern. In existentialism is the theory that an individual is a free and responsible agent and develop through free will. “In psychotherapy there is phenomenology which is the attempt to describe in a way that a man understands himself and interprets one’s own existence” (Frankl, 1967). There is an importance of treating humans as humans and mothing more or nothing less. For example, if that individual was a prisoner you would look them as a peer. They will better understand you as you get a better understanding of them. “Daseinsanalysis it is a basic form of psychoanalysis as an area of openness to everything they encounter” (Frankl, 1967). Humans should be able to show and express themselves just as they are and be respected and understood by
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl explores what happens to the human mind when placed in the cruel conditions of a concentration camp. In his book, Frankl explains that the prisoners who lost hope and meaning quickly withered and died. He quotes Friedrich Nietzsche when he says, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” (Frankl 97). As an example, Elie Wiesel survived living in a concentration camp because he had a ‘why’. Through Wiesel’s story, it is evident that his father was one of the only reasons he survived. Wiesel needed to take care of his father and help him survive. His father gave him a purpose.
Existential therapy is concerned with one’s being; the world in which they live, the implication of time, and the mindfulness of being whole. The basic dimensions of the human condition, according to the existential approach, include (1) the capacity for self-awareness; (2) freedom and responsibility; (3) creating one’s identity and establishing meaningful relationships with other; (4) the search for meaning, purpose, values, and goals; (5) anxiety as a condition of living; and (6) awareness of death and nonbeing. All give significance to living and explore the degree to which a client is doing the things they value.
A excruciating pain, like the loss of a family member or close friend, may cause a person to lose faith for better times in life. This particular source of pain was seen all too much during the Holocaust. Between eleven and seventeen million people lost their lives in concentration and work camps all across Europe including Frankl’s own family. For the ones that this tragedy directly affected, their past occasionally became their present and future: “To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is free to take a stand towards the conditions” (Frankl 130). Frankl explains that while people have the ability to change their outlook on their surroundings, it’s often difficult to escape the aftermath of horrific events from the past. Humans cannot control when, where, and how they were raised. All these factors play a crucial part in the development of one’s personality and behaviors. Your view on life can either help you progress or halt your success in finding your meaning. A person who is lost in their past will not glimpse into the possibilities of what the future hold for them. Instead they will only be in a continuous state of nihilism and lack the motivation to have any type of future at
Viktor Frankl knows that without meaning, people will rely on something like power, materialism, and hatred to define who they are as a human being. The kid to grew up with a dream to be a doctor, lived that dream with more knowledge that he thought he would have. He was a man who survived the Holocaust, but he was never a Christian or anything like that. He was someone who relied on his own beliefs and on self enlightenment. Like people who are buddhists. He did not rely on something greater that him. But somehow he found a way to be happy. When he was in the holocaust he realized that the people who knew who they were survived longer. The people who had no idea about who they were lived a shorter amount of time. Then he discovered Logotherapy.
Existential Therapy was chosen to assist Bonnie with her Issues. Existential therapy is a more effective approach because it deals with concrete issues. The theory focuses on the attitudes of individuals and important life themes. This type of therapy help individuals cope with everyday issues by understanding oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, and finding meaning in life. Existential therapy would be a great approach to address Bonnie’s depression, and anxiety symptoms, which stems from low self-esteem. The existential approach will help Bonnie with her depression by recognizing that she is depressed and accepting her feelings. Once, the depression is recognized than therapy will assist Bonnie with her anxiety by confronting unexpected events. Lastly, existential therapy will help Bonne with her self-esteem by finding meaning in life and becoming more self-aware.
Summary: Man’s searching for meaning is a detailed description of the life of psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, when forced into german death camps during World War 2. Through various experiences within the brutality that he faced, Frankl explains phenomena for survival and love. In order to survive, Victor found that it was essential for people to find meaning and control even in the worst situations. As Victor saw those lose this hope and control, he saw the suffering consume people towards death. Another phenomenon expressed by Frankl in the first part of the novel is the 3 stages of adjustment. The first stage that all prisoners face is initial shock. In this phase prisoners lose their former identity and self image, they are left without clothes, belongings or even family members, they were just left with their bare body. After this initial stage of shock prisoners faced an “emotional death,” in which this horror and shock came to an end, it was instead replaced
Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning often brings to mind the resilience of the human spirit. As he recounts his daily activities inside one of the Germany’s concentration camps the belief that God has given us the capabilities to handle whatever is thrown at us. Of course, not everyone survived; to say that life in a concentration camp is manageable would be an insult to the victims who survived the heinous abomination. While Frankl walks down memory lane he reminds us that when pushed to our limits one can push back and risk death, choose death and receive it, or as he did take it one day at a time. In the beginning when he recalls the ordeal of the selection, with the “tall man who looked slim and fit in his spotless uniform” and the power that was held in his forefinger. He essentially had the ability to determine whether one man would die or live that very day. He did that without the slightest feeling of guilt/ regret, it bothers me so badly to think that young children, women and men that were deemed unable to work and therefore sentenced off to die. How could so many pe...
March 26, 1905: Viktor Frankl is born in Vienna; he is the second of three children. Little did Gabriel and Elsa Frankl know, their son would go on to be a neurologist and psychiatrist, and the founder of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis at the University of Vienna. Logotherapy is a school of psychotherapy and focuses on the spiritual aspect of man. Existential Analysis comes into play by searching for the meaning of human existence. Frankl’s school and work is important since the lack of awareness of life’s meaning can cause emotional frustrations for everyone.
Existentialism is perhaps one of the world’s oldest philosophies. It dates back to nineteenth-century Danish and Greek philosophers. It is a simple idea, yet it has so many different ideals within it that it is almost impossible to define. There are many parts that make up one whole, basic idea. The many parts have been defined by famous existentialist artists and writers such as, Nietzsche, Chamfort, Sartre, and Kafka.
Victor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist of Jewish heritage. During World War II he was imprisoned in a concentration camp. Through his imprisonment at the infamous Auschwitz camp, and later Dachau camp, he experienced some truly harsh situations with the threat of death constantly hanging over his head. However, instead of being crushed by this weight on his shoulders he maintains a sense of optimism. He began to put into practice ideas he had theorized as a psychiatrist before his incarceration. His experiences are the basics for logotherapy a school of psychotherapy in which the prime driving force in human beings is a will to meaning.