Mental health issues make up for a significant portion of deaths and disabilities each year. Suicide is currently among the top five causes of death in people under the age of fifty-five (NIMH » Suicide, 2020). Suicidality within any given individual can be linked with a multiplicity of potential factors such as physical illness, mental illness, hopelessness, and substance abuse (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2020). Among the multiplicity of potential variables that may serve to lead an individual to suicide, there are just as many preventative and protective factors.
The existential psychologists have noted that, among the various factors targeted for suicide prevention, perceived meaning in life provides a reasonable basis for predicting treatment outcomes (Debats, 1996, p. 504). Those who ascribed meaning to their lives and experiences had predictably lower rates of psychological distress than their counterparts who thought their lives were meaningless (Debats, 1996, p. 510).
Logotherapy emphasizes the individual in their entirety and attempts to excite the will to meaning, removing any impediments or frustrations placed on the will (Frankl, 2014, pp. 13). Since logotherapy is used in deliberately targeting the will to meaning as to amplify and disinhibit the will (Frankl, 2014, pp. 45–48) and we know that the rate of meaning in an individuals life is an influential predictive factor in managing psychological distress and therapeutic outcomes, logotherapy could then be held to be a reliable clinical practice maintaining both relevance and real-world effectiveness (Schulenberg et al., 2008, p. 448).
Logotherapy is based primarily on the philosophical school of existentialism and thus concerns itself with human universals, lending itself, by the very nature of its composition, to a timeless relevance and effectiveness. The universal nature of the approach allows logotherapy to encompass and account for the varieties of human experience, allowing the methods to be co-opted into any treatment plan. Logotherapy tends to work incredibly well in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the most extensive therapeutic disciplines (Ameli & Dattilio, 2013).
Most importantly, the emphasis on providing all individuals with an excited and active will to meaning seems to be applicable for any individual regardless of their circumstances. Logotherapy has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of people from different groups and backgrounds (Debats, 1996; Rahgozar & Giménez-Llort, 2020) and has been effective in treating those who suffer from depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. These findings are likely due to the fact that the practice itself grew and became effective under the specter of the concentration camp (Frankl, 2020), arguably, the most adverse settings an individual could endure.
The practice having been effective for those who had the least of all, it seems likewise to work for those who find themselves in less severe circumstances. Logotherapy’s tortured upbringing and insistence on the will to meaning provide us ample reasons to think that logotherapy will continue to maintain clinical relevance and real-world effectiveness long into the future so long as human universals exist.
References
Ameli, M., & Dattilio, F. M. (2013). Enhancing cognitive behavior therapy with logotherapy: Techniques for clinical practice. Psychotherapy, 50(3), 387–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033394
Crumbaugh, J. C. (1971). Frankl’s logotherapy: A new orientation in counseling. Journal of Religion & Health, 10(4), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01532587
Debats, D. L. (1996). Meaning in life: Clinical relevance and predictive power. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35(4), 503–516. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01207.x
Frankl, V. E. (2014). The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy (Expanded ed.). Plume.
Frankl, V. E. (2020). Man’s Search for Meaning (15th Printing ed.). Pocket Books.
Heisel, M. J., & Flett, G. L. (2004). Purpose in Life, Satisfaction with Life, and Suicide Ideation in a Clinical Sample. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(2), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:joba.0000013660.22413.e0
Koole, S. L. (2010). Existential Psychology. The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0329
Lewis, M. H. (2011). Defiant power: An overview of Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy and existential analysis. Defiant Power Solutions. http://www.defiantpower.com/
NIMH » Suicide. (2020, September 9). National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml
Rahgozar, S., & Giménez-Llort, L. (2020). Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy to Improve Mental Health of Immigrant Populations in the Third Millennium. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11(451), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00451
Schulenberg, S. E., Hutzell, R. R., Nassif, C., & Rogina, J. M. (2008). Logotherapy for clinical practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 45(4), 447–463. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014331
Steger, M. F., Oishi, S., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Meaning in life across the life span: Levels and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthood. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760802303127
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020, March 9). Risk Factors for Suicide. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/riskprotectivefactors.html
Wong, P. T. P. (2014). Viktor Frankl’s Meaning-Seeking Model and Positive Psychology. Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology, 149–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0308-5_10
Julom, A. M., & de Guzmán, R. (2013). The effectiveness of logotherapy program in alleviating the sense of meaninglessness of paralyzed in-patients. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 13(3), 357–371.
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It always boggled my mind that Frankl did not become a Christ-follower, as his work was so profound and uplifting. Thanx for a great posting. c.a.
Yeah, he never shut the door on the religious dimension. Particularly because his approach to psychotherapy included spiritual appetites from the get go.
I echo the commentor above. I find his writings and work to be both inspirational and useful. Thank you for giving it this platform. I have a former student and good friend that just chose to end her tortured existence yesterday. She’d lived all her life with severe mental illnesses That got in the way of seeing what a great artist and musician she truly was. I didn’t know until speaking to her mom yesterday that I might’ve been the only human she was communicating with anymore. We have got to keep working together to find a better way