Man's Search for Meaning

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl

 

This small volume is divided into two main parts. The first tells of Frankl’s experiences in German concentration camps during WWII. The second is called Logotherapy in a Nutshell, and provides a summary of his existential approach to psychotherapy. Both are under 100 pages, but are packed full of narrative and insight.

As the years increase since WWII and the horror of that history fades, it seems even more important to ensure these accounts remain shared and available. Frankl spent over three years in Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps. As with all such stories, there is horror and mundanity, as well as cruelty and kindness. Years of toil, hunger, and sickness surrounded by constant death. Yet, also moments of love, support and care. His account focuses more on how he and others responded to imprisonment, how people coped or not, and how people’s characters were evident. It’s not so much an orderly account, but rather a series of impressions and reflections. He concludes: 

“But for one of the liberated prisoners, the day comes when, looking back on his camp experiences, he can no longer understand how he endured it all. As the day of his liberation eventually came, when everything seemed to him like a beautiful dream, so also the day comes when all his camp experiences seem to him nothing but a nightmare. The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more – except his God.”

Frankl was already an experienced psychiatrist when he was sent to the camps. Unsurprisingly, his observations greatly impacted his thinking about humanity and where people find meaning. This led to a whole school of psychotherapy (logotherapy) that explored a person’s search for meaning as a central motivational force. He posited that people need a purposeful goal, something that provides a reason to continue, and enables one to endure suffering. As Nietzsche said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

The question of overall meaning is important for many - what am I here? What is the purpose of life? Yet Frankly pushes this further, noting that people need more than that, they need specific meaning at a given moment:

“One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfilment… Thus, everyone's task is as unique as a specific opportunity to implement it.

He suggests that we can discover meaning in three different ways:

• creating a work or deed 
• experiencing something (such as goodness, truth & beauty) or encountering someone (by loving them) 
• the attitude we have towards unavoidable suffering
  

Much of Frankl’s approach resonates with me: 

“When a patient stands upon the firm ground of religious belief, there can be no objection to making use of the therapeutic effect of his religious convictions and therefore drawing upon his spiritual resources.”

This little book has numerous observations that may be more interesting to those working in the therapeutic space. Yet, there is also a wider appeal, as Frankl explores humanity and a reality that’s rarely examined today. 

“A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self determining. What he becomes – within the limits of endowment and environment – he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behave like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualised depends on decisions but not on conditions.

Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”

A moving and insightful read.

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Dr Julie Smith (Updated Edition, Penguin 2022)

I’d heard numerous recommendations about this book from people in the counselling space, so was keen to read it. I can see why it has been well-received. Apparently, Dr Smith, a UK psychologist, became well-known during the pandemic for producing mini videos about mental health and self-help. This book sprung from that; she wanted to provide various psychological tools in a format that people can access for themselves: 

“The tools in this book are mostly taught in therapy, but they are not therapy skills. They are life skills. Tools that can help every single one of us to navigate through difficult times and to flourish.” (p3)

In essence, it’s a toolkit, ordered by category, to help people have the “tools in place to build resilience and the ability to tolerate distressing emotions safely. There is such power in understanding the many ways you can influence how you feel and nurture good mental health”. (p4)

As such, it’s not really designed to be read cover to cover (although I found that quite valuable). It’s designed to pick up and open to the area you want to focus on. Eight major areas are covered

1. Dark places. Understanding low mood and how to address it. 

Mood is “not all in your head. It’s also in your body state, your relationships, your past and present, your living conditions and lifestyle. It’s in everything you do and don’t do, in your diet and your thoughts, your movements and memories.” (p14)

“Thoughts are not facts. They are a mix of opinions, judgments, stories, memories, theories, interpretations, and predictions about the future.” (p38)

She encourages giving attention to the basics: exercise, sleep, nutrition, routine, human connection.

2. Motivation. How to activate changes, big and small.
3. Emotional pain. How to understand emotions, what to do with them and how to support someone.
4. Grief - entwined with some grief theory to aid with understanding what you are experiencing.
5. Self-doubt - how to deal with criticism and disapproval, and how to build confidence
6. Fear - focusing in on anxiety, what makes it worse and ways to address it.
7. Stress - why some stress is good, and how to make it work for you.
8. A meaningful life - having a values-driven life, rather than wanting to be happy.

The final section includes 2 action plans: a panic attack guide and an anxiety action plan. Both of these are useful tools, although many might benefit from doing such work with a counsellor or psychologist. A lot of it is sourced from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), compassionate-focused therapy (CFT) and mindfulness approaches. All of these have strong evidence bases for their effectiveness and are widely used in therapy.  

For those who want to put the work in themselves, there is a lot that is valuable here. It’s also a book I’ll use in a professional capacity and a good one to have on the shelf. Good, solid suggestions for growing a healthy mind and body.