Viktor Frankl and the Development of Logotherapy

Freud was born into a wealthy Jewish family. He was the eldest of six children, and was know to be the family favorite, nicknamed the “golden child.” At the age of four, Freud was forced to move from the Czech Republic to Vienna (Sigmund Freud Biography). There, Freud and his family lived in a crowded Jewish ghetto. As Freud grew older, he drifted further from the notion of an “average” child. Rather than playing, Freud preferred studying and learning during his free time. He soon grew interested in the way the mind works and how dreams are formulated. As a result, he kept a detailed dream diary, and in the morning, when Freud got up, he wrote down his dreams while they were still fresh in his mind (Chiriac). Later, in 1873, he started studying to get his medical degree. He studied the sexual organs of eels, which drove Freud to become a research scientist. Sigmund Freud then started to work at Vienna’s General Hospital where he became engrossed in the study of human

Viktor
 Frankl
 and
Sigmund
 Freud, are two
of the most significant
 psychological
 philosophers
 of
 our time. They, have
 formed
 powerful
 perceptions
 concerning
 the
 role
 of
 culture, humanity, and
 the
 healing
 method. Even though
 Frankl
 and
 Freud
jointly
 experienced
 misery
 within
 their
 own
 existences
 and
 equally
 observed
 dramatic
 socio‐political
 alterations
 within
 the
 premature
 twentieth
 century, they eventually came to adopt completely different psychological concepts.

Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia known today as Pribor in the Czech Republic. He grew up in a not so traditional family setting with his parents, two stepbrothers, and nephew. He was the eldest of the seven children his mother bore. When he was four, his family moved to Vienna. Many Jewish families came to Vienna, as did the Freuds in 1860, where the standard of living was higher and educational and professional opportunities were better than in the provinces. Freud went to the local elementary school, and then attended the Sperl Gymnasium in Leopoldstadt, from 1866 to 1873, which was a secondary school in Europe to help students prepare for college. He studied Greek, Latin, mathematics, history, and the natural sciences, and was a superior student. When he was seventeen, Freud qualified for acceptance to the University of Vienna. There he studied medicine and became a physician. Freud proved to be an amazing physiological researcher. Early in his career, he was one of the first investigators of the new anesthetic drug cocaine. Unfortunately, one of his colleagues decided to take full credit for all of their findings leaving Freud feeling betrayed and bitter. Freud

Viktor Frankl was born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna, the same day Beethoven died to Elsa and Gabriel Frankl. He was interested in psychology from an early age and in 1921 gave a public lecture “On the Meaning of Life”. He graduated with a doctorate in 1930 (V Frankl Institut). While in training he had great difficulty being apart from his parents and stated in his autobiography that “I was so emotionally attached to my parental home that I suffered terrible homesickness during the first weeks and months, even years, when I had to stay overnight in the various hospitals where I was working” (Frankl, 2000). In 1940, during the war, he became a director of the Neurological Department of Rothschild Hospital where he made

Sigmund Freud was born on the sixth of May in 1856 in what is now Pribor in the Czech Republic, or at the time, Freiberg, a rural town in Moravia. The firstborn son of a merchant, Freud’s parents made an effort to foster his intellectual capacities despite being faced with financial difficulties. From an early age Freud had many interests and talents, but his career choices were limited away from his passion of medical research due to his family’s Jewish background, even though he was non-practicing, and his limited funds.

The author writes about his loss of innocence after having a horror experience during the holocaust. The entire population of Jewish at his town were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp after the Nazis attacked his hometown. In the camp the author began to lose his innocence when his family was separated. The author states that “In a fraction of second I could see my mother, my sisters, move to the right. I saw them walking farther and farther away” (29). Wiesel did not know if he would see his mother and sisters again. Instead he held his father’s hand because he knew that was all he had after the loss of more than half of his family.

Prior to World War II, Viktor Frankl was a somewhat successful therapist. Once the war began however, he was sent off to an Auschwitz concentration camp. Everyone in concentration camps had one wish, to stay alive (Frankl 15). Whether they tried to get on the good side of the warden, or attempt an escape, everyone had a different way to survive. Many prisoners died while at camps, but some of them who were hopeful and courageous made it out. Inspired by these prisoners, Frankl created logotherapy to help other find meaning in their own lives.

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.

Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia in 1856. Freud was a distinguished child. He attended medical school in Vienna; from there he became actively embraced in research under the direction of a physiology. He was engrossed in neurophysiology and hoped for a position in that field but unfortunately there were not enough positions available. From there, he spent some of his years as a resident in neurology and director of a children’s ward in Berlin. Later on, he returned to Vienna and married his fiancée, Martha Bernays. He continued his practice of neuropsychiatry in Vienna with Joseph Breuer as his assistant. Freud achieved fame by his books and lectures; which brought him “both fame and ostracism from mainstream of the medical

Despite the poverty, Freud proves to be an excellent student who graduated with honors. He had intended on studying law, but instead decided on joining the medical faculty at the University of Vienna. There he studied under the Darwinist Professor Karl Claus. At the age of 24 Freud received his doctorate in medicine. He spent four months at the Salpêtrière clinic in Paris, France, studying under the neurologist Jean Martin Charcot. It was under Charcot's tutelage that Freud became interested in hysteria and its psychological origins. After studying with Charcot, Freud returned to Vienna and established a private neurology practice. He began treating hysterical patients by the use of hypnosis, a technique he learned under Charcot. Along with Joseph Breuer he became successful in hypnosis and together they published a book entitled Studies on Hysteria. Soon after this Freud began self analysis, the act of studying one’s own self, called psycho self-analysis, mainly through his dreams. He authored the book The Interpretation of Dreams, which became a worldwide phenomenon and classic in psychoanalytical studies.

Man’s Search for Meaning is a sentimental memoir about the struggles of a psychologist during the holocaust as a victim, and how he eventually developed logotherapy, a form of therapy, from his observations. The first portion of the memoir affected me the most because his first time doing even the basic activities like bathing were filled with fear and terror. Frankl’s use of imagery to describe his fear and the events that occurred lets the readers sympathize with the victims. The facts he stated throughout the memoir really helped me understand the gravity of the situation he was in. This memoir has taught me that the challenges and other difficulties in life can help you later in life. Another lesson this memoir has taught me is that challenges

Frankl’s work though widely appreciated has also garnered some criticism from various philosophers . The first one comes from Ken Niemann who argues that the name “Logotherapy” is anthetical to Frankl’s core beliefs (http://www.recoverytoday.net/articles/342-on-the-philosophy-of-recovery-reason-meaning-and-logotherapy). According to Niemann, the word Logos was first found in the writings of Heraclitus, a greek philospher, who claimed the logos can be used to describe the fabric of universe which rests of order , design and meaning. T

Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, Viktor Frankl started showing interest in psychology at a young age. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, specializing in neurology and psychiatry, with a deep focus on suicide and depression. When he first started to study these areas, Frankl’s influences came from two of the most well known psychologist’s Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Later, however, Frankl diverged from their teachings to study his own theories. When World War II began, Viktor Frankl was the director of therapy in a mental hospital in Vienna, and was also an organizer for youth guidance centers throughout the city. Like many others, Frankl and his family, as well as the families of other doctors,

March 26, 1905 marked the birth of Viktor Frankl in Vienna. He was a son to Gabriel Frankl and Elsa Frankl from Marovia. He was the second born in a family of three and wanted to become a physician when he grew up. He was turned to study psychology by his liking for people. He met Freud in 1925 on his way to graduating and published an article “Psychotherapy and Weltanschauung”, which was followed by the use of the term “logo therapy” in a public lecture the following year. This led to his refining of his particular brand of Viennese psychology. He earned his doctorate in medicine in 1930 and was promoted to an assistant position in the Psychiatric University Clinic.

In September of 1942, Viktor Frankl was arrested in Vienna and taken to one of the many Nazi death camps. Frankl was working on a manuscript which was confiscated from him in a move to Auschwitz. In this manuscript entitled, The Doctor and the Soul, Frankl had began his work on a theory he would later call logotherapy. The term logotherapy is derived from the Greek word logos, which means meaning. According to logotherapy, the striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man (Frankl 121). Frankl’s theory and therapy generated and grew through his experiences in the concentration camps.