Viktor Frankls Logotherapy Critical Perspectives in Psychiatry and

Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy Critical Perspectives in Psychiatry and Mental Health: A self-paced e. Learning Workshop © 2007, Alex Drossos. Prepared for the OISE/UT course, TPS 1820: The Healing Teacher

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Overview • • • About Viktor Frankl Childhood and Youth The Concentration Camps Post-World War II Man’s Search for Meaning Logotherapy

About Viktor Frankl • VIKTOR E. FRANKL, M. D. , PH. D. Neurologist and Psychiatrist • Founder of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis • Widowed (from Tilly Grosser); second marriage with Eleonore Schwindt; daughter Gabriele; 2 grandchildren, Katharina and Alexander; great-granddaughter Anna Viktoria • Born: March 26, 1905, Vienna • Died: September 2, 1997, Vienna

Childhood and Youth • For his high school final exam he wrote a paper on the psychology of philosophical thinking • His medical training concentrated on depression and suicide • From 1933 to 1937 he headed the "suicide pavilion" of the General Hospital in Vienna • Starting in 1938, he was prohibited from treating Aryan patients due to his Jewish

The Concentration Camps • In fall of 1942 he and his wife and parents were deported to the Theresienstadt camp; his father died there a year later • In 1944 he moved to Auschwitz where his mother died; then to Türkheim later the same year; his wife also died that year • While at the camps he worked as a general practitioner and then later to counsel new arrivals and those with suicidal dendencies • Frankl was liberated on April 27, 1945

Post-World War II • Moved back to Vienna after liberation • Headed the Vienna Poliklinik of Neurologics from 19461971 • Prof at U of Vienna in Psych and Neuro; visiting prof at Harvard • Published more than 32 books • Received 29 honorary

Man’s Search for Meaning • An account of his life in the concentration camps • Dictated it in only 9 days • Translated into more than 20 languages • Sold over 12 million copies worldwide

Logotherapy • Known as the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy (after Freud’s and Adler’s) • Logos, λόγος, is Greek for word, reason, principle; therapy, Θεραπεύω, means “I heal” • Based on three philosophical and psychological concepts: – Freedom of Will – Will to Meaning, and – Meaning in Life

Frankl’s Description of Logotherapy From the Viktor Frankl Institute website: http: //logotherapy. univie. ac. at