He then spends the rest of his book discussing his study of what is known as logotherapy which is a branch of psychotherapy to help traumatized victims, including those who experienced the same horrors as he did and have been changed greatly because of it.
-Logotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on man's search for meaning. According to Logotherapy, this striving to find a meaning in one's life is the primary motivational force in man.
-The Will to Meaning: Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives.
-Existential Frustration: Man's will to find meaning can be a frustration and hard path, which legotherapy gives a name called "existential frustration". Existential can be defined three ways:(1)existence itself, the human mode of being, (2)the meaning of existence, (3) the striving to find a concrete meaning in personal existence. This type of frustration can result in "neuroses". Logotherapy has described the term "noogenic neuroses" in contrast to the traditional sense sense of the word. Noological is a logotherapeutic term which denotes anything pertaining to the specifically human dimension. Noogenic neuroses do not emerge from conflicts between drives and instincts but rather from existential problems, such as the frustration of the will to meaning which plays a large role.
-The Existential Vacumn: Derives from the two-fold loss which man has had to undergo since he became a human being: The loss of basic animal instincts and the rapid diminishing of the traditions which have molded his own behavior. This vacumn manifests itself in the feeling of boredom
The Meaning of Life: Everyone has his own specific vocation in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therfore, he cannot be replaced, and his life cannot be repeated. Everyone's task is unique as is his specific opportunity to approach it.
The Essence of Existence: The true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world by creating a work or doing a deed, experience something or encountering something, or by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
The Meaning of Love: Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him.
The Meaning of Suffering: Although suffering is not necessary to find meaning in one's life, meaning is possible in spite of suffering, because it is unavoidable. We can find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed.
Experiences in a Concentration Camp
-Frankl starts off the book by going back to the beginning of his captivity where he discusses the different symptoms and stages a prisoner can experience during his or her own horrific captivity. The prisoner begins to feel a "delusion of reprieve" which is a term used in psychiatry where a man who is essentially condemned, receives an illusion that he may be saved before his execution at the very last moment.
- He then discusses the phases which a captive might face according to psychology. The first phase being "shock" where a person literally can't come to terms with reality. A prisoner of Auschwitz, who was experiencing the first phase of shock, didn't even fear death which was why the thought of suicide was entertained by nearly everyone, if only for a brief time. Because of the hopelessness of the situation at hand, and the constant threat of death hovering over them every day, suicide was a very common thought. Even the Gas Chambers essentially lost their fear after the first couple of days becuase it saved them from taking their own life.
- The second phase that occurred during a prisoner's captivity included a feeling of "apathy" for everything and even everyone around them. It was used a a necessary defense mechanism because reality seemed to wash away and every single person had set all of there emotions and instincts on the idea of survival. There one task was preserving one's own life and that of another fellow.
-The third phase was the grim sense of humor which each prisoner experienced and acted on as a weapon of the soul to water down the horrors which they were facing during this time. Accoring to Frankl "It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise to any situation, even if only for a few seconds.
- The prisoner craved for privacy which was rare during those times and craved to be alone with himself and his own thoughts. He yearned for solitude.
-The majority of the prisoners suffered from an "inferiority complex" which has sprouted from being treated like complete nobodies and nonentities.
-After liberation many prisoners had experienced a feeling of "moral deformity" but overall the crowning experience was that after all that he has suffered, which he cannot understand how he endured, he feels there is nothing else to fear in his life except his God.
