Introduction
Viktor Frankl was a renowned Austrian psychiatrist and the founder of logotherapy. The primary concept of this theory is to focus on motivational factors and explore the meaning of life. At the end of the 1930s, Austrian citizens experienced the impact of the Nazi annexation. In his attempt to help traumatized patients, Frankl collaborated with various individuals. But, like many native Austrians, he was sent to one of the concentration camps, where his family, including his mother, father, brother, and pregnant wife, died (Sirinarang & Wijitsopon, 2021). That experience had a profound impact on his personal growth and career development.
Book Synopsis
In 1959, Frankl published “Man’s Search for Meaning,” a collection of memoirs about his imprisonment in Nazi camps during World War II. His purpose was to help people identify their life purposes and address positive feelings to survive the cruelty and violence of the Nazi approach. The Holocaust was one of the most dramatic and challenging periods in human history. Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” demonstrates that human suffering should not break people, but rather make them stronger in their quest to find the meaning of life.
The chosen book was initially published in German, but since 1955, multiple translations have been made to share the thoughts of an innovative psychiatrist with the world. The book is divided into two major sections: the first part analyzes the concentration camp experience, and the second part introduces logotherapy to define the meaning of life. In Part One, Frankl categorized human experiences into arrival, separation, and nakedness. The prisoners “really had nothing” except their “bare bodies” or their “naked experience” (Frankl, 1992, p. 28).
In a short period, many people saw suicide as the only way out because of “the hopelessness of the situation,” “the constant danger of death,” and observations of suffering (Frankl, 1992, p. 31). The primary lesson from Part One is that people must never forget the importance of finding meaning in life, whether through work, love, or suffering. Part Two defines the psychotherapeutic approach for doctors to give their patients life meaning as “unique and specific” (Frankl, 1992, p. 104). The essence is to prove that all people are free from external impacts.
Personal Reaction
After reading the book, I was surprised by the conditions under which camp prisoners lived and died. However, I was impressed by the approaches Frankl chose to help people, regardless of his personal losses and suffering. I have learned that even suffering could be associated with certain benefits. Frankl proved that people should never forget to “find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation when facing a fate that cannot be changed” (1992, p. 116). My reaction to the book is mostly positive because this story introduces the way to identify personal strengths, neglect weaknesses, and survive.
It is not enough to read the book, underline some major aspects, and refer to it from time to time. The process of creating logotherapy is not complex, but many details cannot be neglected. Many researchers and psychologists agree that “Man’s Search for Meaning” serves as a guide to finding greater meaning in human life, despite the miseries and suffering (Haq, 2020). It does not take much time to break a person and create the most terrifying and inhuman conditions. The goal of any psychiatrist or psychologist is to solve the problem, and such steps as dealing with shock, apathy, and disenchantment play an important role. Instead of gathering negativity and being consumed by despair, every individual has the power to resist the environment and survive.
Conclusion
“Man’s Search for Meaning” is a unique opportunity to understand that the level of hopelessness is never the same. When everything seems bad and devastating, a person should be ready to fight and resist because there is a meaning in life that should never be neglected. This book is of interest to many readers, and its application in psychology is evident. I will never forget Frankl’s legacy of defining meaning in every moment of human life.
References
Frankl, V. E. (1992). Man’s search for meaning. (I. Lasch & G. W. Allport, Trans., 4th ed.). Beacon Press.
Haq, A. U. (2020). Memory, loss, and survival: A study of trauma in man’s search for meaning. Literaria, 10(1-2), 7-16.
Sirinarang, B., & Wijitsopon, R. (2021). A cognitive stylistic approach to mind style in the Memoir Man’s Search for Meaning. Journal of Studies in the English Language, 16(1), 21-52.