Mental Health Nursing

open access articles on mental health nursing

Logotherapy

"He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." - Nietzsche

Introduction

Viktor E. Frankl

"Perhaps the most significant thinking since Freud and Adler."

American Journal of Psychiatry

Major Concepts

Frankl's approach is based on three philosophical and psychological concepts:

Freedom of Will

Will to Meaning

Meaning in Life

Therapeutic Techniques in Logotherapy

  1. Paradoxical Intention: indicated in compulsive disorders and anxiety in which the clint is guide to overcome their obsessions or anxieties by self-distancing and humorous exaggeration, thus breaking the vicious circle of symptom and symptom amplification.

  2. Dereflexion: indicated in sexual disorders and sleeplessness in which sensations of anxiousness or sadness will be increased and amplified by self-observation, making them more noticeable. It is the purpose of dereflexion to break this neuroticizing circle by drawing the client's attention away from the symptom or the naturally flowing process.

  3. Socratic dialogue: certain attitudes and expectations may be obstacles to meaning fulfillment which alienate the person from meaningful potentialities. Through this technique, the individual is guided to perceive their unrealistic and counterproductive attitudes and to develop a new outlook that may be a better basis for a fulfilled life.

How logotherapy works?

Logotherapy:

Techniques in Logotheray

  1. The human being is an entity consisting of body, mind, and spirit.
  2. Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable.
  3. People have a will to meaning.
  4. People have freedom under all circumstances to activate the will to find meaning.
  5. Life has a demand quality to which people must respond if decisions are to be meaningful.
  6. The individual is unique.

References

Frankl, Viktor (1959). Man's Search for Meaning. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press.

This page was last updated on: 13/12/2020