rites, "Even if each and every case of suicide had not been undertaken out of a feeling of meaninglessness, it may well be that an individual's impulse to take his life would have been overcome if he had been aware of some meaning and purpose worth living for."
In Frankl's view, the doctor is responsible for encouraging patients who face even the greatest physical and medical challenges to find ways to triumph over their difficulties. He contends that triumph is always possible. He argues, "A human life marked from the beginning by the individual's defiance of a biological handicap can be seen as one great record-breaking race." Frankl believes, "Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn personal tragedy into triumph."
Frankl's views have influenced many who have at some point considered taking their own lives, including adolescents who have read his books. William Blair Gould writes, "Some students who had thought o
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