What is Logotherapy?
Logotherapy is the third Viennese school of Psychotherapy, founded by Viktor Frankl (1905-1997).
Logotherapy addresses the deepest of human needs, to find meaning in life itself. It is not given, but it must be found by each person. The founding principles of Logotherapy are:
- Life always has meaning, at all times, even under the most difficult of circumstances.
- The greatest human desire is to find that meaning, which is unique to each individual.
- The human being always has a choice, to take a decision that leads to meaningful living.
Logotherapy is an adjunct to virtually all other psychotherapies, providing the foundation of living a meaningful life, so that presenting symptoms do not recur.
Viktor Frankl accepted the tenets of the Freud (the First Viennese school, psychoanalysis), that human beings do seek for pleasurable experiences and avoid painful ones (The will to pleasure) and that much information resided and was repressed into the subconscious. In fact his first published papers followed Freudian teachings.
Frankl was also a member the second Viennese school (Alfred Adler’s individual psychology) which focussed on the human desire to self-development and progressing to find a place as a member of society. (The will to power). This development could be inhibited by the inferiority complex.
The schools of Psychoanalysis and Individual Psychology laid the foundations for much of modern psychology.
Frankl was expelled from the Adlerian school because he challenged Adler’s ideas as incomplete, maintaining that the deepest human motivation was to come to terms with life itself, to live in a way that has meaning.
A logotherapist walks with, and sometimes challenges, clients as they determine meaningful directions in life. To find out more about becoming a logotherapist or to access counselling with a logotherapeutic approach, read through this website or fill out the Contact Us form below.