By what authority does the logotherapist delve into the subject of values?
The problem is dissolved when we understand that logotherapy is concerned only with the client’s value-awareness and not the therapist’s value-imposition.
Once he has established the justification for value-clarification, Frankl goes on to ask whether logotherapy is something which can be learned and taught.
Logotherapy is something of an art. The therapist has to bring intuition and sensitivity into the process, and this is not something rational. The client as well goes through a process that is not rational and has no fixed rules or steps.
Although a physical or psychological problem is brought as the issue, the time to discuss its meaning might be at the very beginning of the therapy process.
At other times, the appropriate time to apply logotherapy is at the end. The surgeon who has completed his job of surgery is not yet finished until he has clarified his patient’s attitude toward his illness or disability. What good is there in amputating a leg to save a life if the patient will go home after surgery and commit suicide? The right word at the right time, a communication that strikes to the heart of the matter, can make all the difference in the world.
A powerful example of the right word that Frankl said to one post-operative patient was: “Life would be a very poor thing indeed if the loss of a leg actually involved depriving it of all meaning. Such a loss could at most make the life of an ant purposeless since it would no longer be able to achieve the goal set for it by the ant community – namely, running around on all six legs and being useful. For a human being it must be different.”
In conclusion, logotherapy operates along the “great divide” between medicine and religion. It must therefore expect wary glances from both sides. Yet, this no-man’s-land is a land of promise! (pp. 280-284)
From the above example, how would you describe the peculiar characteristics of a therapy that lies in the “great divide” between medicine and religion? What does the practitioner of logotherapy essentially do differently from practitioners who do not use logotherapy? Can logotherapy be learned?