Is Logotherapy Effective?

The lack of meaning and purpose in an individual’s life has been thought to be a significant contributor to their potential to commit suicide (Frankl, 2014, 2020). We have reliable reasons to think, not only based on our common sense, that whenever individuals are given a framework of meaning to interpret their experiences and attitudes, they benefit in significant ways. 

Ameli & Dattilio (2013) argue that logotherapy if used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy to treat depression, the treatment would yield higher rates of well-being and resiliency, decreasing the depression relapse rates. They also argue in the same paper that by implementing logotherapeutic assessments such as the “Values Awareness Technique” (VAT) and the “Purpose In Life Test” (PIL), they would be able to better assess suicidal risk for the client. The assessments would also allow the clients to develop a purpose for their therapy and more clearly define their end goals (Ameli & Dattilio, 2013, p. 390).

Logotherapy, while it functions well when paired with other clinical interventions, it also does well as a stand-alone practice. In a sample of forty-nine psychiatric patients, after completing a self-report survey containing the themes of suicide ideation, purpose in life, satisfaction with life, neuroticism, depression, and social hopelessness, Heisel and Flett (2004) found that purpose in life and life satisfaction accounted for rates of suicidal ideation to a greater degree than negative psychological factors, supporting the claim that there is both theoretical and clinical importance in focusing on existential themes within therapy (Heisel & Flett, 2004, p. 134).

Given the nature of the origins of logotherapy and its focus on human universals, the practice seems to work well in patients who find themselves in adverse and unchangeable circumstances. One study, focusing on individuals who were paralyzed and living in constant pain, found that the application of logotherapy alone was able to increase self-reported rates of meaning and purpose in life as shown by the “Purpose In Life Test” (PIL) in among 93.75% of participants (Julom & de Guzmán 2013, p.364). Noting that, out of Frankl’s conception of man being a tripartite being, the most critical component to their therapy’s success was addressing the individual’s spiritual dimension. They found that emphasis on this spiritual component of their being was particularly critical in their treatment as it allowed the patients to transcend their inevitable suffering (Julom & de Guzmán 2013, p. 369).

Not only is the practice of logotherapy beneficial for those who are in a critical position lacking the traditional avenues for grasping meaning in life, but if used in conjunction with Positive Psychotherapy, logotherapy could be used in treating an otherwise healthy population (Wong, 2014) as positive psychotherapy seeks to bolster positive attributes which are defined by Wong (2014) as positive emotion, engagement, relationship, accomplishment, and meaning. 

Logotherapy has the potential to be used for more than creating a society free of mental disturbances as its application is not dependent on any neurotic behavior in particular but rather on underlying human universals, which all individuals share whether they have a disorder or not. As such, the logotherapeutic practice has the potential to serve not only as a means of treating the ill but also as a powerful protective and preventative tool.