What is logotherapy?
Logotherapy comes from the Greek word for meaning: logos; hence logotherapy is healing through finding meaning and purpose. Life is always meaningful because something important is happening at every moment. Life broadcasts a message and a call to action, and our response matters.
Logotherapy was created by Dr. Viktor Emile Frankl (1905-1997), the Viennese psychiatrist, neurologist, Holocaust survivor, and author of the best-selling book Man’s Search for Meaning. Simply reading the book Man’s Search for Meaning has had a profound effect on millions of people.
Viktor Frankl said something revolutionary for his time. If we want to really thrive, we have to know what it means to be human and step into our authentic self. We are highly motivated by the ideals we care about and the people we love, and we have the capacity to decide for ourselves what we want to do and who we want to be. The choice is ours. We can give up our freedom and allow ourselves to be pushed into doing what’s bad for us, or we can choose higher values. With our freedom and our awareness comes responsibility, which is the ability to respond and make our unique mark on the world.
Logotherapy helps with a wide variety of issues, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, grief, illness, and conflicts in relationships, by teaching us to pay attention better, to listen better, and to access our inner voice.
Everything that happens to us happens for us. It is up to us to reflect on what is and is not in our control, and what is not so important versus what is truly important. When we ask ourselves the right questions, we find that the answers lie within us. Each individual is unique and irreplaceable. Every moment in life is a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to fully experience life.
“Logotherapy…focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on man’s search for such a meaning”
Man’s Search for Meaning, 2008, p. 104