Frankl: The Three Theories Of Psychology

Viktor Frankl suffered through many atrocities that were so unthinkable; that many have a hard time believing that they happened. The fact of the matter is it did happen and an incredible amount of people were lost. It is understandable not to be influenced by Marxism on Frankl’s part. He had experienced Marxism first hand. He lost all of his freedom in the camps. He was told what to do and how to do thing every day of his internment at the camps. The recounting of his story is a great piece of work that should be read more than once. It is very clear why he can believe in existentialism and psychoanalysis after what he had been through. Existentialism being defined roughly as; living in some form and taking responsibility of ones …show more content…
I can see why Frankl did not use any of the influence of Marxism in his professional life. To be treated the way he was in the camps and still believe in Marxism would be hard to fathom. Marxism seems to be the most harsh and unfair of the three theories. It is arguable that Marxism is not a psychology theory, that it is more of a political view. A view that consists of Politics, Economics, Social Principals and policies that is what comprises Marxism. Existentialism is more of a philosophy; a belief that a person’s existence matters; the ability to take responsibility of one’s own actions. It is my opinion that everyone has the right to matter, that no one should have the ability to take that away. Frankl found this to be unbelieved while in the camps. Not one of the prisoners was valued as a person. They were treated worse than farmers treat livestock. Lastly there is Psychoanalysis referred to more often as talking therapy. Of all the listed three I believe that this one is the most important one to use first. So many of us tend to ignore or close off our emotions. We do this until we reach a point that it comes out in another way. We could see it in headaches, ulcers, or even in worse cases paralysis. At this point it would have been called “Hysteria”, back in Freud’s day. Many undiagnosed ailments were considered this, it was primarily found in women. These symptoms continue until we can get the emotions or stress out and dealt with. Through talking therapy with a skilled therapist, a person can learn to stop the cycle of closing off and to be able to open up. For a person to learn be able to let the pressure and stress out by talking with someone. To reevaluate the problems and possibly see they are not as bad as we thought. Frankl found his release of pressures through having imaginary conversations with his wife (p. 38).