CHAPTER 4: VIKTOR E. FRANKL AND LOGOTHERAPY 4.1. Introduction The discussion of steps in the practice in the art of living must begin with the question on the answer to which all practice depends: What is the goal of living? What is life’s meaning for man? (Fromm, 1993, p. 1). According to King and Nicol (1999), individuals in contemporary society are now, “[m]ore than ever… experiencing a lack of meaning in their lives and an attendant sense of spiritual desolation” (p. 234). Accordingly, Frankl (see 1978, 1984, 2000) repeatedly argued that modern society is plagued by a new neurosis – one that, instead of affecting the psyche, damages the human spirit. As was indicated in Chapter 1, the primary objective of this chapter is to provide a discussion of Viktor Frankl’s approach to overcoming this ‘spiritual desolation’ by means of logotherapy. To this end, four secondary objectives are to be achieved here. 1) A biographical overview of Viktor Frankl is to be provided, so as to impart insight into some of the contextual factors surrounding the development of logotherapy. 2) Logotherapy is to be conceptualised, where after its principles and foundations are to be discussed. Here, particular reference will be made to the three triads that form the basis of logotherapy (see Figure 4.1). 3) In addition, Frankl’s hypothesised consequences when such meaning is not found – that is, existential frustration, the existential vacuum, and noögenic neurosis – are to be discussed. 4) An overview is to be provided of some of the contexts in which logotherapy is applied, as well as of a number of logotherapeutic techniques. As is apparent from the previous paragraph, the purpose of this chapter is purely to facilitate a clear understanding of the theoretical basis of logotherapy, as well as of its practical applications. Such an understanding is imperative for the purposes of Chapter 5, where a comprehensive explanation is provided regarding the potential applicability of logotherapy as an OD intervention. For this reason, then, no attempts will be made in the current chapter to either identify and elaborate on any possible connections between logotherapy and OD, or to discuss the potential implications of Frankl’s theory for OD theory and practice. As was previously mentioned, such discussions are found in Chapter 5. 131 4.2. Frankl: Biographical notes Viktor Emil Frankl was born on 26 March 1905 – the day on which Beethoven died – in Vienna to middle-class Jewish parents, Gabriel Frankl and Elsa Lion (Havenga Coetzer, 1997; Hoffman, 1995; Frankl, 2000b). The Frankls lived diagonally across the street from where Alfred Adler, a former student and associate of Freud and the Father of Individual Psychology (or Adlerian Psychoanalysis), resided for a while (Frankl, 2000b). At the age of three Frankl decided that he wanted to become a medical doctor, but he became drawn to philosophy in his teens. His eventual decision to pursue psychiatry then allowed him to combine both these interests (Havenga Coetzer, 1997). Being in Vienna, Frankl was soon exposed to psychoanalysis, and began corresponding with Freud while still in secondary school. At the age of 19 he published a paper in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis upon personal invitation of Freud himself (Frankl, 1978). However, Frankl (1984) became disenchanted with Freud’s attempts to reduce human behaviour to frustrated or hidden sexual impulses and was attracted to the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler (Hoffman, 1995). Subsequently, his second academic paper was published in 1925 in the International Journal of Individual Psychology (Frankl, 2000b). This not withstanding, his relationship with Adler deteriorated in 1927, after Frankl publicly announced that Individual Psychology should, amongst other things, overcome its ‘psychologism’. Not only was he expelled from the Society of Individual Psychology, but Adler never spoke to him again. In this way, Frankl suffered a similar fate as Adler had just a few years before, when he was expelled from Freud’s society (Frankl, 2000b). Following his expulsion, Frankl’s focus shifted from theory to practice. He subsequently became involved in a number of endeavours, including youth counselling. By 1929 many of his ideas had taken form, and within a few years Frankl developed his own movement – logotherapy. This aptly became known as the ‘Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy’ (after Freud and Adler’s movements) (Fabry, 1997, Wong, 2000a). The birth of logotherapy was largely influenced by Frankl’s observation that the large-scale (psychological) depression during the 1930s was related to the high incidence of unemployment (Hoffman, 1995). In 1933 he termed this depression ‘unemployment neurosis’, claiming that it is caused by the perception that being unemployed translates into being useless, and, “hence … life being meaningless” (Frankl, 1978, pp. 25-26). 132 In March 1938, Germany invaded Austria. Although he received an American immigrant visa in 1942, Frankl decided not to go to the US as he feared for the safety of his elderly parents (Frankl, 1984; Havenga Coetzer, 1997). Soon after, they were captured by the Nazis and Frankl spent the next three years in four camps – Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, Kaufering III, and Türkheim – as Jewish prisoner number 119 104 (Frankl, 2000b). His father, mother, brother and first wife died in such camps (Allport, in Frankl, 1984). Frankl’s experiences in these camps had a major influence on his view of human nature (Das, 1998; Southwick, Gilmartin, McDonough & Morrissey, 2006). Although many of his ideas were formulated before his capture – he entered Auschwitz with a complete manuscript hidden in his overcoat, but this was confiscated by the Nazis – the cruel and dehumanising conditions of these camps provided him with the opportunity to test many of his theories, and eventually, with “the ultimate validation for logotherapy” (Hoffman, 1995, p. 19). It was here where he realised the utmost importance of meaning in people’s lives, as he found that having “something to live for was what enabled prisoners to hold on to the will to live in circumstances that made death seem like a solution” (Shantall, 1989, p. 424). For Frankl (1984), this ‘something to live for’ was the re-creation of the confiscated manuscript; a manuscript which later became his The Doctor and the Soul (1986). The Nazi death camps became like Frankl’s laboratory, and his main tenet – the potential meaningfulness of life under all circumstances – was “tested and reaffirmed in the shadow of the gas chambers” (Havenga Coetzer, 1997, p. 13). Upon liberation Frankl returned to Vienna, and was appointed as the head of the neurology department at the Vienna Polyclinic in 1946 (Havenga Coetzer, 1997). He reported his experiences in the Nazi camps in his From Death Camp to Existentialism, which later became Man’s Search for Meaning (Washburn, 1998). This book is Frankl’s best-known work – it has sold more than nine million copies in 23 languages since its original publication, has run through 80 editions, and has been indicated as one of the ten most influential books in America by a Library of Congress survey (Havenga Coetzer, 1997; Washburn, 1998). In addition, Frankl published a vast number of other writings, which include more than 30 books, some of which were translated into more than 20 languages, amongst which are Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Afrikaans. 133 Up to 26 logotherapy institutes and societies have been established worldwide, including in Berkeley, California; San Diego and Vienna. In SA, the Viktor Frankl Foundation was established in 1986 (Shantall, 1989), and The Viktor Frankl Foundation of South Africa Journal has been in existence for approximately 15 years. The membership roll of this foundation includes, among others, Raymond Ackerman, Chairman and founder of Pick ‘n Pay Stores, Ltd, who has been a member “almost since the VFF’s inception” (Havenga Coetzer, in Ackerman, 2001, p. 67). By 2000, Frankl and logotherapy had been the subjects of approximately 145 books, 154 dissertations and more than 1 400 scientific articles (Frankl, 2000b). Many of these articles appear in the International Forum for Logotherapy. In this regard, research indicates that from 1991 to 2001, the articles published in this journal included, amongst others, 63 related to research; 43 on application; 34 on methods, techniques and experimental data; 19 related to educational implications; 26 on clinical cases and personal histories; 14 on relationships to other therapies, and 11 on the relationship of logotherapy to other cultural fields. The authors of these articles include professionals from the US, Canada, Europe and Africa (Giovinco, 2001). Some of the honours that were bestowed upon Frankl include: 29 honorary doctoral degrees from universities around the globe, including SA; the West German Grand Medal of Honour with Star, and the American Psychiatric Association’s Oscar Pfizer Award. Although he travelled extensively, Frankl lived in Vienna with his second wife Eleonore from 1947 until he passed away on September 2, 1997 at the age of 92 (Greening, 1998; Havenga Coetzer, 1997). 4.3. Conceptualising logotherapy Logotherapy is often categorised as a distinct branch of humanistic or existential psychology (see, for example, Gerdes, 1988; Louw & Edwards, 1993; Wong, 2000a). However, Frankl (1978) had directed a number of criticisms against both humanistic and existential psychology, “or at least what is called existentialism… [and] so-called humanism” (p. 11; emphasis in original). This suggests that Frankl did not approve of restricting logotherapy to such labels. Rather, he believed it should be treated as an autonomous school of psychology – ‘the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy’ (see Frankl, 1984; Southwick et al., 2006). 134 The term ‘logotherapy’ is based on the Greek word ‘logos’, denoting meaning (Frankl, 1984). A literal translation of logotherapy, Frankl (1978) contended, would be ‘therapy through meaning’. This greatly contradicts more traditional conceptualisations of psychotherapy, where the individual would be provided with meaning through therapy.