and artistic inspiration.) Dealing with oneself is equivalent to giving oneself a belated self-education for achieving inner control and inner growth.
A minimum level of inner control is a prerequisite for alleviating numerous psychic disorders such as addiction and delinquency, and this can only be achieved by a movement of the spirit which gains distance from the self and works on the self from this distance in a healing and corrective fashion. Similarly, a minimum level of inner growth is a prerequisite for maintaining good health in all situations of life that require a capacity for achievement, love, and suffering, and can only be achieved by a movement of the spirit that transcends the self by listening to a call of meaning.
As illustrated in the figure, self-knowledge simply reveals the inner movements of the unity “human”, while dealing with oneself begins external movements that lead across the threshold of the self. What does this mean in practice for psychotherapy? Well, it stakes out the poles between which the idea of logotherapy catches fire.
“A humane, a humanised, a rehumanised psychotherapy presupposes that we have self-transcendence in our sights and master the art of self-distancing.”21
On the “self-distancing” pole
In logotherapy, the therapist senses self-healing powers, such as courage, defiance, humour or gratitude, possessed by the patient and focuses on strengthening them. The therapist works in alliance with the patient’s intact spiritual abilities and uses them to combat the patient’s psychic weaknesses. It is interesting to note that after millennia of research, modern medicine has arrived at similar conclusions and is increasingly trying to activate the immune systems of sick people against disease. Perhaps logotherapy can cut short the analogous research process in psychotherapy, since from the beginning it has methodically worked out the little stimuli that are indispensable for the mobilisation of spiritual self-healing powers.
On the “self-transcendence” pole
In logotherapy, the therapist helps the patient to stand above things – and, if necessary, above him or herself. This is only possible if the patient turns away from things – and necessarily away from him or herself – towards a meaning to be fulfilled in the world. It is amazing what – normally hidden – reserves of power exist in a human being and suddenly open their floodgates when such a meaning comes to light. And it is no less amazing how many unimportant problems are solved when they are not sustained by receiving attention.
Thus, in a patient-therapist relationship in logotherapy, the external world is always included as a third frame of reference. This means that after establishing an atmosphere of personal trust (a) the patient’s attention is drawn to values in the sphere of his or her life (b). As soon as the condition of the patient allows, the therapist follows his or her thoughts (c), which pre-empts any transfer problem from the outset and substantially facilitates the patient’s subsequent withdrawal from therapy.
Dealing with oneself – which therefore consists not only in healing oneself, but also in forgetting oneself in a positive way – often produces a kind of self-discovery as a by-product; as paradoxical as it sounds, self-discovery never springs from self-knowledge. Selfdiscovery can only be achieved indirectly through a discovery of meaning. If one looks for oneself, tries to catch a glimpse of one’s image in all the artful mirrors of psychology, one loses oneself. But if one goes out and devotes oneself to a meaningful task, one finds oneself.
1 Viktor E. Frankl, Der Wille zum Sinn, Hogrefe Verlag, Bern, 7th ed., 2016, 17.
2 Viktor E. Frankl, The Will to Meaning, Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy, Meridian/Penguin Group, New York, 1988, 16.
3 Viktor E. Frankl, Der Wille zum Sinn, Hogrefe Verlag, Bern, 7th ed., 2016, 23f.
4 Das Leiden am sinnlosen Leben, Psychotherapie für heute, Kreuz Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2013, 33f.
5 Viktor E. Frankl, Logotherapie und Existenzanalyse, Beltz Verlag, Weinheim und Basel, 2010, 3rd ed., 59f.
6 Viktor E. Frankl, Logotherapie und Existenzanalyse, Beltz Verlag, Weinheim und Basel, 2010, 3rd ed., 65f.
7 Viktor E. Frankl, Der Wille zum Sinn, Hogrefe Verlag, Bern, 7th ed., 2016, 92f.
8 Viktor E. Frankl, Der leidende Mensch, Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, 2005, 3rd ed., 141.
9 Viktor E. Frankl, Der leidende Mensch, Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, 2005, 3rd ed., 197.
10 Das Leiden am sinnlosen Leben, Kreuz Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2013, 30.
11 Viktor E. Frankl, Der Wille zum Sinn, Hogrefe Verlag, Bern, 7th ed., 2016, 88.
12 Viktor E. Frankl, Ärztliche Seelsorge, dtv, München, 2007, 7th ed., 58.
13 Viktor E. Frankl, Gesammelte Werke Band 3, Die Psychotherapie in der Praxis, Böhlau Verlag, Wien, Köln, Weimar, 2008, 34f.
14 Viktor E. Frankl, Der leidende Mensch, Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, 2005, 3rd ed., 163.
15 See Viktor E. Frankl, Gesammelte Werke Band 3, Die Psychotherapie in der Praxis, Böhlau Verlag, Wien, Köln, Weimar, 2008, 30.
16 Albert Goerres, Kennt die Psychologie den Menschen? Piper, München 1978, 33.
17 The words "character" [German: “Charakter”] and “personality” [German: Persönlichkeit] are used by Frankl in a special way that almost reverses their normal meanings. “Character” refers to the aspects of personality which can be attributed to genes, to upbringing, to natural disposition. “Personality”, on the other hand, is what a person has made of these elements, it is the completely unique quality of personhood that has been shaped by that person’s own choices.
18 Viktor E. Frankl, Der leidende Mensch, Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, 2005, 3rd ed., 204.
19 Viktor E. Frankl, … trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen, Kösel Verlag, München, 2018, 130f.
20 Viktor E. Frankl, Der leidende Mensch,Verlag Hans Huber, Bern, 2005, 3rd ed., 144.
21 Viktor E. Frankl, Gesammelte Werke Band 3, Die Psychotherapie in der Praxis, Böhlau Verlag, Wien, Köln, Weimar, 2008, 54.
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