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Module 10
Therapeutic Approaches in Social Work Interventions:
Logotherapy
Component 1A
Role Name Affiliation
Principal Investigator Dr. Geeta Balakrishnan College of Social Work,
Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai
Paper Coordinator Prof. Xavier Kanickairaj National Institute of Social
Work and Social Sciences,
Bhubaneswar
Content Writer Prof. Kirubakaran Loyola College, Chennai
Content Reviewer Dr. Yamini Suvarna College of Social Work,
Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai
Language Editor Ms. Marianne Claudia Rayer Research scholar, Pondicherry
University, Pondicherry
Component 1B
Description of Module
Subject Name Social Work Education
Paper Name Working With Individuals And Families
Module Name Therapeutic Approaches in Social Case Work Intervention:
Logotherapy
Module ID SW/SCW/10
Pre Requisites An understanding of the principles and methods of working with
individuals and families
Objectives 1. Understanding the Development of Logotherapy as a form of
psychotherapy
2. Learning about the life history of the founder – Viktor Frankl
3. Understanding the concepts in Logotherapy such as the
spiritual dimension, power of the human spirit and meaning in
life
4. Gaining knowledge on the basic tenets of Logotherapy
5. Learning about the techniques and application of Logotherapy
Key words Meaning, Freedom of Will, Existential Frustration, Noogenic
Neuroses, Paradoxical Intention, De- Reflection, Socratic Dialogue
Quadrant 1
1. Introduction
Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy includes two approaches namely humanistic and existential.
Practically these approaches are identified with each other. Humanistic psychotherapy is an approach that
tries to do justice to the whole person and it includes mind, body and spirit. The totality of the human
person is taken into account and not just how we think or how we behave. We can say that it embraces a
wide range of therapeutic methods that recognize self-healing capacities of the client. In the therapy
relationship, the therapist and the client are seen as equals. It views human beings as basically good and
positive, with the freedom to choose all of their actions and behaviours in their lives. What seems to be
motivating people’s behaviour is ‘self-actualization’ or the desire to become something more of oneself in
the future. Every individual is fully responsible for the choices he makes to further (or diminish) his/her
existence. Responsibility is the key ingredient of this approach and everyone is responsible for the choices
he/she makes in his/her life and for the emotions, thoughts and behaviours he/she chooses to have.
Whatever were a client’s past experiences and the present ones, what matters ultimately is how he / she
reacts to those experiences and how he / she feels. It considers individualism very sacred and seeks to
work with the individual’s strengths and weaknesses as they apply to his/her particular problem.
Existential psychotherapy aims at enabling clients to find constructive ways of coming to terms with the
challenges of everyday living. The focus definitely is on the client’s concrete, individual experience of
anxiety and distress leading to an exploration of his/her personal beliefs and value system, in order to
clarify and understand these in relation to the specific physical, psychological and socio-cultural context.
The experience and influences of the past, present and future are given equal emphasis. The questioning
of assumptions and facing up to the possibilities and limitations of living are important parts of this
interactive, dynamic and direct approach. Existential therapy is a philosophical approach that influences a
therapist’s therapeutic practice and it is not a separate school of therapy. This approach rejects the
deterministic view of human nature propagated by orthodox psychoanalysis and radical behaviourism.
Logotherapy is a distinct branch of humanistic/existential school of psychotherapy, because of its focus
on the human spirit and “the meaning of human existence as well as man’s search for such a meaning.
What sets Frankl apart from Rollo May and Irvin Yalom is his unconditional affirmation of life’s
meaning. The main objective of logotherapy was to facilitate clients’ quest for meaning and empower
them to live meaningfully, responsibly, regardless of their life circumstances.
2. Objectives
This module aims to enable the students to learn and understand:
6. The Development of Logotherapy as a form of psychotherapy
7. Life history of the founder – Viktor Frankl
8. Concepts in Logotherapy such as the spiritual dimension, power of the human spirit and meaning
in life just to name a few
9. Basic tenets of Logotherapy
10. Techniques and application of Logotherapy
3. Background
Frankl was using an existential approach even before he was a prisoner in the concentration camps. His
experience in the camps only confirmed his therapeutic approach. His main contribution is the book
Man’s search for Meaning in which he outlined the essentials of logotherapy. He is of the opinion that
love is the highest goal to which all of us can aspire. His experience in the concentration camps confirmed
his belief that we have choices in every situation. Even in the worst of situations, one can preserve a
vestige of spiritual freedom and independence of mind. One of his basic beliefs is that the essence of
being human lies in searching for meaning and purpose.
It was Victor Frankl’s logotherapy that made popular the existential psychotherapy in Europe. The
proponents of the humanistic-existential therapy are mainly Viktor Frankl and Rollo May. In fact there is
no single founder of the existential approach because it has its roots in diverse movements.
Although logotherapy and existential analysis tend to be used interchangeably or together as a single
label, it may be helpful to recognize the following difference between these two terms:
Logotherapy refers to Dr. Frankl’s spiritually oriented approach to psychotherapy. It is in fact “a
psychotherapy in spiritual terms.”
Existential analysis, on the other hand, refers to the analytical therapeutic process involved in addressing
the patient’s spiritual, existential needs. Inasmuch as logotherapy makes him aware of the hidden logos of
his existence, it is an analytical process.
Dr. Viktor Frankl of Vienna developed logotherapy and existential analysis in the 1930s, because of his
dissatisfaction with both Freud and Adler. Logotherapy is also known as the “Third Viennese School of
Psychotherapy”.
Dr. Frankl accepts Sigmund Freud’s concept of unconsciousness, but considers the will to meaning as
more fundamental than the will to pleasure. Existential analysis is designed to bring to consciousness the
“hidden” meaning or spiritual dimension of the client.
Frankl received training in individual psychology from Adler. Some of the basic concepts of logotherapy,
such as meaning, freedom and responsibility, bear the imprint of Adler. A major difference between
logotherapy and psychoanalysis is that both Freud and Adler focus on the past, while Logotherapy
focuses rather on the future, that is to say, on the meanings to be fulfilled in the future.
Logotherapy was put to a severe test in a very personal way between 1942 and 1945, when Dr. Frankl
was committed to Nazi concentration camps. His experience and observation supported the main thesis of
logotherapy: Frankl says that what he learned in three years spent in Auschwitz and Dachau is that those
most apt to survive the camps were those oriented toward the future, toward a meaning to be fulfilled by
them in the future. There are no other psychotherapists whose life and work are as inseparable as Dr.
Frankl’s. He is Logotherapy, and vice versa.
4. Life History of Viktor Frankl (1905 - 1997)
Viktor Frankl was born in Vienna on March 26, 1905. His father, Gabriel Frankl, was a strong,
disciplined man from Moravia who worked his way from government stenographer to become the
director of the Ministry of Social Service. His mother, Elsa Frankl, was more tenderhearted, a pious
woman from Prague. The middle of three children, young Viktor was precocious and intensely curious.
In high school, Viktor was actively involved in the local Young Socialist Workers organization. His
interest in people turned him towards the study of psychology. In 1925, a year after graduating and on his
way towards his medical degree, he met Freud in person. Alfred Adler’s theory was more to Frankl’s
liking. In 1930, he earned his doctorate in medicine, and was promoted to assistant. In 1940, Frankl was
made head of the neurological department of Rothschild Hospital, the only hospital for Jews in Vienna
during the Nazi regime. It was during this period that he began his manuscript The Doctor and the Soul.
Frankl married in 1942, but in September of that year, he, his wife, his father, mother, and brother, were
all arrested and brought to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt in Bohemia. His father died there of
starvation. His mother and brother were killed at Auschwitz in 1944. His wife died at Bergen-Belsen in
1945. When he was moved to Auschwitz, his manuscript for The Doctor and the Soul was discovered and
destroyed. His desire to complete his work, and his hopes that he would be reunited with his wife and
family someday, kept him from losing hope in what seemed otherwise a hopeless situation. After two
more moves to two more camps, Frankl was affected by typhoid fever. He kept himself awake by
reconstructing his manuscript on stolen slips of paper.
In April of 1945, Frankl’s camp was liberated, and he returned to Vienna, only to discover the deaths of
his loved ones. Although nearly broken and very much alone in the world, he was given the position of
director of the Vienna Neurological Policlinic, a position he would hold for 25 years. He finally
reconstructed his book and published it, earning him a teaching appointment at the University of Vienna
Medical School. In only 9 days, he dictated another book, which would become Man’s Search for
Meaning. During this period, he met a young operating room assistant named Eleonore Schwindt - “Elly”
– and fell in love with her at first sight. They married in 1947, and had a daughter, Gabriele, in December
of that year.
In 1948, Frankl received his PhD in philosophy. His dissertation, The Unconscious God, was an
examination of the relation of psychology and religion. That same year, he was made associate professor
of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna. In 1950, he founded and became the president of
the Austrian Medical Society for Psychotherapy. Frankl continued to teach at the University of Vienna
until 1990, when he was 85. Viktor Emil Frankl died on September 2, 1997, of heart failure.
5. Spiritual Dimension
It is not possible to practice logotherapy without understanding the human spirit or the spiritual dimension
of human existence. According to Frankl’s dimensional ontology, human beings exist in three
dimensions, somatic, mental and spiritual. Spirituality is the uniquely human dimension. However, these
different dimensions must be understood in their totality, because a person is a unity in complexity.
6. Defiant Power of the Human Spirit
One of the prepositions of logo therapy is that the human spirit is our healthy core. The human spirit may
be blocked by biological or psychological sickness, but it will remain intact. The human spirit does not
get sick, even when the psycho-biological organism is injured.
Part of the human spirit is the unconscious. When it is blocked or repressed, one experiences existential
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