Logotherapy, healing the emptiness, and finding meaning.

Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Viktor Frankl developed logotherapy after surviving Nazi concentration camps in the 1940s. His experience and theories are detailed in his book, "Man’s Search for Meaning." Frankl believed that humans are motivated by something called a "will to meaning," which is the desire to find meaning in life. He argued that life can have meaning even in the most miserable of circumstances and that the motivation for living comes from finding that meaning.

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way." -VIKTOR FRANKL

This opinion was based on his experiences in the concentration camps and his intent to find meaning through his suffering. In this way, Frankl believed that when we can no longer change a situation, we are forced to change ourselves.

Frankl believed that it was possible to turn suffering into achievement and accomplishment. He viewed guilt as an opportunity to change oneself for the better and life transitions as the chance to take responsible action. In this way, logotherapy is aimed at helping you to make better use of your "spiritual" resources to withstand adversity. Three techniques intended to help with this process include dereflection, paradoxical intention, and Socratic dialogue.1

Dereflection is aimed at helping you focus away from yourself and toward other people allowing you to become "whole" and to spend less time feeling preoccupied with a problem or worry.  This technique is meant to combat "hyper-reflection," or extreme focus on an anxiety-provoking situation or object. Hyper-reflection is often common in people with anxiety issues.

Paradoxical intention is a technique that invites you to wish for the thing that you fear most. This was originally suggested for use in the case of anxiety, panic, or phobias, in which humor and ridicule can be used when fear is paralyzing. For example, if you have a fear of looking foolish, you might be encouraged to try to look foolish on purpose. Paradoxically, your fear would be removed when you set an intention to behave as foolishly as possible.

Socratic dialogue is a tool used to help you through the process of self-discovery by noticing and interpreting your own words. During the Socratic dialogue, your therapist listens closely to the way you describe things and points out your word patterns, helping you to see the meaning in them. This process is believed to help you realize your own answers - often, these are already present within you and are just waiting to be discovered.

It’s easy to see how some of the techniques of logotherapy overlap with newer forms of treatment such as CBT, and IFS... In this way, logotherapy may be a good complementary approach for these behavior and thought-based treatments.

Having a meaning or purpose in life (or engaging in a search for meaning) appears to be connected to your overall health, happiness, and life satisfaction. It also acts as a positive influence on your resilience.

While logotherapy isn’t inherently religious, it is focused on spiritual and philosophical concepts, and it is concerned with helping people who feel lost or dissatisfied on a spiritual level. Through dedication and a bit of stubbornness, you can find long-lasting inner wealth. It all starts with the first step toward the therapist.