Experiences In Man's Search For Meaning

Shock, apathy, and disillusionment were three psychological stages that the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps experienced. Ironically, it took an event of such tragedy and destruction to enable us to learn more about how the human mind responds to certain situations. Frankl’s methods for remaining positive can be used by every human being to give them a meaning in their lives regardless of what predicament or mental state they are in – it is in many ways like a phoenix risen from the

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl tells the honest story of his own experiences as an inmate in a concentration camp during World War II. In his book, Frankl answers the question “How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?” (Frankl, 2006, p. 3) He describes the physical, emotional, and psychological torment that he endured as well as the effect that the camp had on those around him. He breaks down the psychological experience as a prisoner into three stages: the initial shock upon admission into the camp, apathy, and the mental reactions of the prisoner after liberation. He highlights certain emotions experienced throughout the time in the camp such as delusions of reprieve, hope, curiosity, surprise, and even humor.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl reveals how one should look externally to suffering and actively look towards the future to find meaning in life. Doing so in the face of suffering causes one to maintain a tolerant outlook on life and derive a rich and meaningful life. In the concentration camps, seemingly everything can be taken away from you: family, possessions, dignity, etc., but the one thing that Frankl highlights that you still have control over is your attitude towards life. For the prisoners who did not see a purpose in their suffering, they lost all meaning in life and eventually died. In not having a purpose to keep fighting for life, these men simply gave up and succumbed to death: “with his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and became

During the Holocaust, many of the Nazis tried to take away the little hope left in people like Viktor Frankl. As if starving and over working the prisoners wasn’t enough, they were brutally beaten, hung in front of the other inmates and burned alive. But Frankl felt there was some sort of meaning to suffering. He says

The concentration camps that were run by the Nazis during World War II can easily be labeled as one of the most grotesque examples of cruelty in the entire world. The people that were sent to these concentration camps were treated as less than human by the power hungry leaders of the camp. As we have all learned in history classes throughout our lives, the conditions of these camps were blatantly abhorrent, and it is a surprise that people made it out of these camps alive. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl uses his experiences in a concentration camp as an example to his readers that life holds a potential meaning no matter what condition a person is in. In the two parts of his book he analyzes his experiences and the

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl recounts the exceptionally individual story of his experience as a detainee in an inhumane imprisonment amid the Holocaust. He displays this story as a paper in which he shares his contentions and examination as a specialist and therapist and also a previous detainee. This paper will audit Frankl's story and additionally his principle contentions, and will assess the nature of Frankl's written work and spotlight on any regions of shortcoming inside of the story.

One can find meaning and motive not through materialistic ways, but through mystical ways, such as faith, hope, and love. Frankl was able to search for meaning during his time at the concentration camp through work, love, and

The Holocaust is regarded as one of the worst events in human history. In fact, the vast majority of those who were sent to a concentration camp perished there. When prisoners view the despair all around them, they find it hard to see meaning behind all the suffering. Life is no longer worth living, so many prisoners see suicide as the only option to escape the pain. As a psychiatrist who was sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp notorious for its crematoriums, Viktor Frankl has a special perspective on the loss of the will to live that those imprisoned exhibit. In his own words, “Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths”(Frankl 94). Frankl discovers in himself not only the shock and apathy he displays, but also the strange hope that comes with imagining his freedom. The brutality of the Holocaust changes Frankl and brings out his true self while teaching him that he and others can survive the worst of terrors by setting a purpose in life, which only they can individually determine.

He goes on to describe three different psychological phases that prisoners of the death camps go through. He provides vivid illustrations of the three stages through his personal recollections and through those of the others he knew. Various challenges were displayed through the three stages: after admittance into the camps, life during imprisonment, and the period following liberation. After admittance many prisoners lost all hope, but there were some who held onto small slivers of it. “In psychiatry there is a certain condition known as “delusion of reprieve.” The condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last minute. We too, clung to shreds of hope and believed to the last moment that it would not be so bad “(Frankl 10). During imprisonment, Frankl shows how he remained hopeful. While telling his accounts, the tone is not one of vengefulness. One of the most touching recollection of his memories were the ones he had about his wife. Those fond memories gave him the will to live. The light that he needed in those dark times were the times he daydreamed and seen his wife. He dreamed of

Viktor Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning, is a collection of his experiences in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Dachau, and Mausthausen. His book speaks a story upon survival and the thought process to survive. Viktor Emil Frankl was born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna, Austria. He received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Vienna where he studied psychiatry and neurology, while focusing on the areas of suicide and depression. In 1492, Frankl and his family were arrested and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Over the span of three years, Frankl was transported between four different camps.

Man's Search for Meaning is written by Viktor E. Frankl. Frankl is a psychiatrist and wrote a memoir on his life in the Holocaust work camps. Frankl was in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his family and pregnant wife perished. Surviving the Holocaust was truly an incredible journey. Throughout the book the main theme was that humans cannot avoid suffering, but we can choose how we respond to it.

Psychologist Victor Frankl’s novel: Man's Search for Meaning delivers a powerful and humbling perspective on life that inspires introspection in the minds of all those that read it. The book achieves this by taking us on a journey with Frankl as he describes his personal experiences of the Holocaust. During his time spent in four different concentration camps Frankl gradually learns lessons in spiritual survival. Devoid of all pleasures and possessing nothing but his “naked existence” Frankl is forced to look inward and in the process discovers what he believes to be the primary motivating factor of all men (p. 15).

Through Frankl's view of suicide you can discover his view of human person. Suicide is wrong in all cases, and should not be even considered an option. He believes that all people can find some meaning in life which would prevent them from giving up all hope and ending their lives. Every human life has meaning, and therefore every human life has value. While in a concentration camp serving as a doctor to those who were ill with typhus or other diseases, he encountered two individuals who had given up hope on life. He asked them both to think of something worth living for. One answered that he had a son waiting for him at home, and the other said he was writing a book and wanted to finish it. Frankl helped them find meaning in their lives to hold on to some hope. Just as they did, anyone can find a meaning to live for, whether it be another person or a goal or achievement.

The text, Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is similar to the previous reading assignment, All Quiet on the Western Front in many aspects. Both are centralized around the gruesome horrors that come with human conflict, in addition, the texts also do a wonderful job at taking a look deep into the human psyche. In light of this, it is important to note that All quiet on the Western Front is considered a historical fiction novel, this is where the sources differ. Man’s Search for Meaning is a historical nonfiction text, therefore the information in the text can be relied on to be slightly more accurate. With this sentiment In mind, the text Man’s Search For Meaning was written in 1946, the book was in the form of a journal, and it chronicled the incarceration of Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. Frankl Spent over three years In the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. During this time Frankl Lost everything, His wife, His family, His friends. Frankl himself had been under constant threat of being violently executed. He lost every physical possession on his first day in the camps, and was then forced

'He who has a why to live for can bear any how.' The words of Nietzsche begin to explain Frankl's tone throughout his book. Dr. Frankl uses his experiences in different Nazi concentration camps to explain his discovery of logotherapy. This discovery takes us back to World War II and the extreme suffering that took place in the Nazi concentration camps and outlines a detailed analysis of the prisoners psyche. An experience we gain from the first-hand memoirs of Dr. Frankl.