Victor Frankl's Logotherapy Theory and its Relevance to Understanding Human Personality

Analyze Frank’s Theory
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Analyze Frank’s Theory
The book titled ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl is quite intriguing. By the end of the book, one has to answer questions they never entertained before. One starts to ask themselves what their purpose in life or whether what they are currently pursuing is part of what they should be doing on earth. The book makes one question the approach to life often propagated by society and the main voices that people get to listen to every day. The book was originally published in 1946 and was originally written in German. However, it has since been translated to English which helped it gain the popularity it attained. The book’s setting is the Nazi concentration camps of the Second World War, and Frankl offers vivid details that make one cringe at the inhumane levels that humanity had reached.
Throughout the book, Frankl tries to speak meaning to suffering and how at times, difficult situations can lead people to find meaning and purpose. First of all, it is crucial to note that Frankl had had his fair share of suffering, having lost his parents, brother, and pregnant wife. Such losses are destabilizing even for the strongest of us, and considering the conditions of the camps, one would say that Frankl showcased that the strongest are not usually the physically endowed. However, it is suffering that brings Frankl to the realization that there could be something deeper than suffering that helps to connect us to. He argues that people can find meaning through suffering and thus have a renewed and revitalized approach to life. Frankl makes the point above through his theory which is known as logotherapy. In the book, logotherapy is said to deal with “the meaning of human existence as well as on man’s search for such a meaning” (121). Through the above theory, Frankl sort to preach that life is about people finding and discovering their purpose for leaving. He distanced himself from Freud’s assertion that pleasure is what drives people to lead the lives they do. He indicated that “man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of instinctual drives” (121). Thus, logotherapy is centered on the principle of will to meaning, that is, man’s quest to discover himself and find meaning.
In the book, there are various instances that Frankl uses to ...