Definition
Logotherapy treats the human search for meaning as the primary motive — not pleasure or power — and trains response-ability under constraint.
Origin
Viktor Frankl developed logotherapy from concentration-camp observation and clinical practice: when suffering has no meaning, it breaks the person; when meaning is found (work, love, courage in hardship), the same pain can be borne. The school is empirical psychotherapy, not optimism.
Long-form anchor: Man’s Search for Meaning.
Mechanism
- Paradoxical intention / assumed suffering — move toward the feared or uncomfortable move with meaning attached (gym pain that serves, bounded exposure).
- Attitude choice — even when circumstance is imposed, the stance toward it can be chosen.
- Meaning as stabiliser — not denial of pain; assignment of why this rep matters today.
Logotherapy’s clinical tradition is strong on meaning under constraint; controlled outcome literature on specific techniques is thinner than the existential framework — use as orientation for stance and purpose, not as a guaranteed intervention protocol.
Applications
Use when discomfort is chosen (micro-exposure, bounded effort) versus avoidance stories (I am useless so I skip). After a hard rep, one line: what meaning did this serve?
Sources
Cite
- Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press
- Frankl, V. E. (1969). The will to meaning: Foundations and applications of logotherapy. World Publishing
Related doctrine
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