Frankl's Logotherapy Analysis

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Frankl was a prisoner in a concentration camps and survived. His accounts of the time in the concentration camp, are grim and depressing. He writes of many physiological views and reasoning for prisoner’s choices and mental state. He puts their phycological phases into three phases. Phase one being shock, phase two being apathy and phase three being depersonalization. We will visit each of these phases in this essay and then compare the logotherapy of Frankl to Sartre, Freud, and Marx as I feel you need to understand what Frankl and the prisoners went through to understand his philosophy. Frankl was a prisoner in a concentration camp and had firsthand knowledge of what occurred and the various phases he viewed and experienced.

In phase one
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This phase is where the prisoner detaches from reality and one’s self. This is a feeling of non-believe, you are no longer in the concentration camp yet you can’t adjust to your surroundings and freedom. Bitterness and disillusionment were common in this phase, they wanted to crawl into a hole and never deal with other humans again. This phase took time for people to grasp and work through, in time the experience became a nightmare of sorts and didn’t feed as much into their daily lives and …show more content…
His concept was based on one’s primary motivation to live is to find one’s meaning. Why would one not commit suicide, he would ask patience and there they would find their meaning. He believed life had meaning even under the worst circumstances such as being a prisoner in a concentration camp. Our main motivation in life is to find the meaning of our life. We are free to find meaning in everything we do, good or bad. The spirit of logotherapy is uniquely human. The meaning of life is through work, experiences, and attitude. Everything can be taken from man except their attitude! Freedom of will to shape one’s own life within the space one is given. Will to meaning, you are free to create and strive for a purpose, on your way to the meaning of your life you will make many choices and create ways to achieve your goals. Meaning is life, what is your meaning? Is it your children, your spouse, your work that drives the meaning in your life? We all have things that drive us and create our purpose for living. It is not the same for everyone, if you were about to die what would be the one thing that you regret not doing thus far in life? The one thing you would want to complete before you die? There may be many things on your to do list, but would they be a cause for determination if you were in a concentration camp and things looked grim? Could you focus on the positive in the depths of darkness? It is amazing what you can do when faced with something

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