Logotherapy is a unique existentialistic therapy of meaning that was developed by psychiatrist, author and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. In experiencing the horrors of the holocaust Frankl discerned a difference between those who survived and those who did not. After three years in concentration camps in Auschwitz and Dachau, Frankl explained his observation as follows: ôOther things being equal, those apt to survive the camps were those oriented toward the future û toward a task, or a person, waiting for them in the future, toward a meaning to be fulfilled by them in the futureö (Viktor 2003, 1-2).
Largely stemming from work based on such experiences and observations, Frankl developed Logotherapy or ôtherapy through meaningö (Viktor 2003, 1). Logotherapy is considered an existential and stoic therapy. It is existential because it posits freedom of the will and the accompanying individual responsibility as central to happiness and fulfillment. In FranklÆs view human beings are driven by a will to meaning, that if frustrated results in the manifestation of spiritual neuroses. Therefore, the spiritual dimension of human nature is viewed as significant to wellbeing as much as the physical and/or psychological dimensions. Frankl believed that ultimate meaning exists and individuals are responsible for creating it through right action and conduct in each moment of life, ôEach moment offers a sequence of unrepeatable situations each of which offers a specific meaning to be recognizes and fulfilledö (Viktor 2003, 1). Logotherapy is viewed as stoic because it holds that regardless of our external environment only our attitude toward it at the moment matters. FranklÆs experiences during the Holocaust demonstrated that through courage and the will to meaning, even such atrocious situations lend meaning to life.
Logotherapy is meant to help individuals who are obsessive, compulsive, phobic, depressed or suffering from ...