Logotherapy Viewed Through Critical Lens

Logotherapy Viewed Through Critical Lens

Logotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that was formulated by the Austrian psychotherapist Victor Frankl in the 1940s. The approach was explained in his book Man's Search for Meaning (Frankl, 1985). As the name of the book suggests this form of therapy is based on the meaning or purpose of one’s life. According to logotherapy, the primary motivation for a man is to find meaning in his life. In this piece logotherapy will be viewed critically and arguments will be presented against its principles. These arguments may also provide an answer to why logotherapy is not extensively used by psychotherapist despite the fact that the book was sold in millions.

Logotherapy is bound to the philosophical idea of existentialism. This relation was conceived by Frankl in the concentration camps of the German Nazi where he was a prisoner. In the beginning of the book the search for meaning, Frankl talks about how amidst the toil in the concentration camps the prisoners loose hope and will to live (Frankl, 1985). He says this from the observations that he made at the camp. If he had gone through the torture himself, then it is possible that his observations could be biased and clouded. Viewing it scientifically, the experimenter himself was taking part in the study, making observations about himself, and extending these emotions to other prisoners as well. Therefore, the observations that this practice stems have probabilities of being skewed and not objective because the experimenter doesn’t have an outsider’s view.

According to Frankl, he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how (Frankl, 1985). A man who knows the meaning and purpose of his life will be able to bear any sort of experience or stress in his life. This can be refuted by conclusions that have been made by the concept of resilience, and the genetic and environmental factors that determine it (Gillespie, Phifer, Bradley, Ressler, 2009). It has been found that all the people don’t have the same amount or capacity to be resilient to a certain stress. There are environmental and biological factors that determine how much one is resilient to a certain stressor and the way they respond to it. Thus, it seems baseless to claim that a person with a purpose in life will not find it hard to cope with the stressors that are present in their life. Moreover, it is not necessary that any person is ever able to find their purpose or meaning of life, there are no genetic determinants to it.

Frankl bases the idea of how finding meaning to life is an important thing for people. He makes this claim on the basis of surveys that were conducted amongst a subset of population in European countries (Frankl, 1946). To make such a claim and to extend it to the whole of humanity is problematic. First, the survey was just conducted in European countries just after World War ll and this could have affected the views of the people. These countries were better equipped to deal with the war and its people had better lives to reflect upon. For example, if the survey was conducted in Japan then the results would be entirely different. This view of life was from the perspective of people who had an advantage of being in that country. Second, the survey had statements to be checked in. So, the statement - to find a meaning to life - was already written in it and was not a response that came instinctively from the respondents. Thus, it could be that the participants filled in a more socially desirable answer. Moreover, even today it would be impractical to make a claim about the whole humanity just from the data that was obtained from a certain subset of it.

Another flaw in the practice of logotherapy is the assumption that the patient will have a certain firm religious belief. This is explicitly mentioned in the chapter Super-meaning of Frankl's book (Frankl, 1985). In the present time when people believe only in claims that are made through scientific studies and conclusions, logotherapy seems to be a practice that would remain behind the walls of a religious institution. This might also be a reason why the practice lost traction despite the book being a popular one.  

These seem to be the arguments against and reason why logotherapy is considered to be flawed by psychotherapists. The book makes the topic self-explanatory and doesn’t explain why it is important that a therapist administers it on the patient. After reading the book, the reader might as well find a meaning to life, with the help of someone if required. This makes the practice less sophisticated and reduces it from a school of thought to just a book that can be understood by laymen.

References

Gillespie, C. F., Phifer, J., Bradley, B., & Ressler, K. J. (2009). Risk and resilience: genetic and environmental influences on development of the stress response. Depression and anxiety, 26(11), 984-992

Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man's search for meaning. Simon and Schuster.