Product Description

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist recounts his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp that led to the development of his existentialist approach to psychotherapy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73025 in Books
• Published on: 1997-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity's life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Therefore, Frankl's logotherapy is much more compatible with western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated and very human book. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is", Frankl writes. "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." --Christine Buttery

Review
"This is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. It changed my life and became a part of all that I live and all that I teach. It truly is a must-read book. - Susan Jeffers, author of Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway and Embracing Uncertainty. A poignant testimony married to a profound confirmation. In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl declares that evil and ennui cannot finally extinguish us. This deeply sensitive book stands as one of the primary building blocks of human consciousness. It is a hymn to the phoenix rising in each of us who choose life before flight. - Brian Keenan, author of An Evil Cradling. Viktor Frankl, who turned his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz into the basis for a new school of psychotherapy, is one of the moral heroes of the 20th century. His insights into human freedom, dignity and the search for meaning are deeply humanising, and have the power to transform lives. His works are essential reading for those who seek to understand the human condition. - Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks. An enduring work of survival literature - New York Times. If you read but one book this year, Dr Frankl's book should be that one. - Los Angeles Times. Perhaps the most significant thinking since Freud and Adler. Unconditional faith in an unconditional meaning is Dr Frankl's message to the reader. - The American Journal of Psychiatry. Influential and eloquent - Jewish Chronicle"

Brian Keenan, author of An Evil Cradling
'A poignant testimony...a hymn to the phoenix rising in each of us who choose life before flight.'

Customer Reviews

"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how"
In my opinion, "Man's search for meaning" (1946) is a very interesting book, that will leave you with some practical knowledge easy to apply in your daily life. In a nutshell, and if you aren't feeling like reading a more or less long review, the main idea of this book is that "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how".

The above quoted phrase is from Nietzsche, but don't jump to conclusions: Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) certainly does not share his philosophical ideas. Frankl merely chose one of Nietzsche's phrases as a way to crystallize his own ideas: that is, that the most important force in a person's life is his will to meaning. In a way, this book shows how Frankl reached that conclusion.

The first part of "Man's search for meaning" deals with the author's experiences in a concentration camp, and the lessons he draw from that torturous experience. Frankl said that those that survived had one thing in common, a purpose, and that "everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way no matter the circumstance".

In the second part of this book, Frankl explains logotheraphy, the theory of psychotherapy he developed. According to the author, logotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on a person's search for such meaning, and the consequent purpose. Frankl says that "The meaning of life always changes, but... it never ceases to be", and that we really find ourselves when we find it, or at least our own personal version of it. Furthermore, he also says that "the meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected," and that logos, or "meaning", is not only merely something emerging from existence itself but rather something confronting said existence. The author also points out that logotherapy gives great importance to responsibility, due to the fact that "each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."

It is pertinent to highlight the fact that logotheraphy differs strongly from other two well-known schools of psychoteraphy, Freudian psychoanalysis (that centers on the will to pleasure), and Adlerian psychology (that focuses on the will to power). From my point of view, Frankl perspective makes for a much better explanation...

All in all, I highly recommend this book. I like the central place that Frankl gives to responsibility, and the idea that man "does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment". In my opinion, "Man's search for meaning" is interesting, but specially and most importantly, it makes sense...

The triumph of hope over experience
This book should probably be considered as three extended essays which are tied together by the common theme of Logotherapy. Logotherapy is the psychotherapeutic discipline which was produced by Viktor Frankl and which developed in the light of his experiences in concentration camps. This popular account could be considered as him 'setting out his stall' for what this approach has to offer. For those with an interest in psychotherapy generally or Logotherapy in particular, then this is going to be an important book.

The first half of the book describes his experiences in a concentration camp. He acknowledges his debt to Nietzsche, "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." This quotation crops up again and again in reviews of this book and it is central to understanding Frankl's perspective.

This is not a search for a single meaning, however. Frankl is more sophisticated than this. He sees the possibility of various meanings and purposes to life - which can change at different stages of life and can run concurrently too. The sense of meaning and purpose can redeem even the most abject suffering. For him, this is not idle speculation or vague theorising but is rooted in his own experience.

The second half of the book turns increasingly towards a description of Logotherapy. This is where I must express my reservations about this book. If your interest is in a first-hand description of life in a concentration camp, then I would recommend that you try Primo Levi's 'If This Is a Man' in preference to this book. If your interest is in the psychology of genocide then Robert Jay Lifton's 'The Nazi Doctors' is highly recommended.

A book which changed my life
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way". This, in essence, summarises the main thrust of this extraordinary book as well as Frankl's psychotherapy. I have spent the last year doing a counselling course and have read innumerable books and have been introduced to innumerable psychological theories, yet none have touched me so profoundly nor changed my perspective so radically as this slim book which Frankl wrote in 9 days and which has become an international bestseller. Unlike so many theoreticians, Frankl lived by what he preached. During his two and a half years spent in four different concentration camps, he came to realise that those who survive the terrors of life are not the physically strong or physically healthy, but those who have an internal strength, who are able to find a sense of meaning and purpose 'within' adversity. Frankl quotes Nietzsche to make this point, 'he who has a why to live for, can bear with almost any how'. Half the book is autobiograhpical, the other half outlines the basics of his theory, demonstrating once again that his life reflected his thinking and vice versa. In a world where despair and a sense of meaninglessness seem to torment us more each day, Frankl's words are more pertinent than ever.