Victor Frankl's Logotherapy

Logotherapy focuses on the unique situations a certain individual is facing, as each person responds to psychotherapeutic treatment differently. In fact, logotherapy itself is not a traditional form of psychotherapy. Logotherapy extends far beyond what traditional psychotherapy is able to treat (Costello 7). Rather than looking into the psyche of an individual, logotherapy looks deeper: It peers into the patient’s soul. In the book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl describes logotherapy as a “meaning-centered psychotherapy” (98). By this, Frankl means that rather than emphasizing the patient’s inner desires and thoughts, logotherapy seeks to help the individual find purpose in life. Schulenberg, et al. state that there are three basic

Alongside Adler’s individual psychology and Freud’s psychoanalysis, Frankl’s logotherapy is considered “The Third School of Psychotherapy” (Frankl 98). Frankl believed finding meaning in life is paramount to psychological health. His ideas are supported by many psychological theorists, including Auhagen, Sappington, Bryant, Oden, and numerous other researchers (Melton and Schulenberg 38). Additionally, in modern psychology, “positive mental health” and spirituality are becoming increasingly important in patient treatment. Some of the main focuses of logotherapy include having a religious faith and other components of positive mentality, resulting in many psychologists advocating for the use of logotherapy in today’s clinics (Schulenberg et al. 448). Recent studies show logotherapy brings relief to individuals with general mental illness by equipping patients with tools to find meaning within their fight against mental instability. In a study of individuals with advanced mental illness, researchers from the Clinical Disaster Research Center at the University of Mississippi found that those treated with meaning centered therapy experienced a greater sense of empowerment and improvement of symptoms (Schulenberg et al. 456). While logotherapy is typically viewed as a treatment method within psychological clinics, its methods have proven highly effective in other