The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy

Description

Recognising that the need for meaning in life is the primary facet in an individual's life as a result of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps led Viktor Frankl to develop his theory of logotherapy. Dr Frankl's revolutionary theory is outlined in The Doctor and the Soul, now republished for the first time in two decades. Man's search for meaning is the most human phenomenon of all and the frustration of that need causes neurosis, anxiety and despair. It becomes the psychiatrist's role to help a patient find meaning in their life. Doctor and the Soul looks at the meaning of individual lives, it is the psychotherapeutic technique that answers the patient's question: 'Why do I go on living?' Logotherapy finds the possibility of concrete meaning in any life situation and offers a patient recovery by strengthening trust in the unconditional meaningfulness of life and the dignity of the individual.

Dr Viktor Frankl was the leading figure of the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy. He was born in Vienna in 1905, and on being freed from Dachau concentration camp, found that his family had been almost entirely wiped out in the Holocaust. He went on to hold professorships at universities around the world, including Harvard University and the University of Vienna.

Viktor Frankl's writings are an inspiration... We learn most from those who suffer most. -- Psychologies His most important book... gives an existential and spiritual dimension to the work of psychotherapy. -- Positive Health Viktor Frankl survived three years in the concentration camps of Dachau and Auschwitz. On the basis of his experiences there, he went on to found a new school of psychotherapy, Logotherapy. -- Jonathan Sacks * The Times *