in an “existence for something or for someone” (Frankl), by giving oneself to a task or by orienting oneself towards other people. Self-transcendence is concerned with a thing in itself or with people for their own sake and never as an object that can satisfy one’s own needs.
It is astonishing that no school of psychotherapy before Frankl had arrived at the idea that what is essential for a human being could be something outside of his or her own self. All other motivational concepts in psychology ultimately revolve around the self. Depth psychology aims at maximum pleasure through satisfaction of drives, behavioural therapy at reward and “strokes” (receiving social boosts), and humanistic psychology at self-realisation. From the point of view of logotherapy, these schools provide a completely egocentric concept of the human being – and this in a narcissistic age such as our own! – that has no positive effect, and that in its onesidedness does not do justice to a creature that is essentially spiritual.
Particularly dangerous, however, is the current of reductionism, which, generalising the homeostatic principle, tries to interpret every meaning-oriented human action according to the pleasure principle. This is truly nihilism in psychological garb.
“The basic possibility of denying meaning encounters us in the actual reality of what is called nihilism. For the essence of nihilism does not exist, as one might suppose, in denying being; it does not really deny being – or rather, the being of being, but the meaning of being. Nihilism by no means asserts that there is nothing in reality; on the contrary, it asserts that reality is nothing but something or other that some concrete form of nihilism traces it back to, or derives it from.”14
According to the reductionist pattern, the love of parents for their children is “nothing but” self-love: the parents satisfy their parental drives though their children. The friendship between two people of the same gender is “nothing but” a successful sublimation of homosexual inclinations. Aid workers in the third world use their work to satisfy their desire to travel, the acts of environmentalists satisfy a secret urge for recognition, and so on. It is inevitable that such models of interpretation, which – denying meaning – only recognise motives involving pleasure gain or displeasure avoidance, massively devalue all spiritual ideals. In the end, there are only moments of pleasure and agonising moments of displeasure, which, given unbelievably exaggerated importance, are supposed to control the whole of human life.
If we ask how the concept of the human being can be subjected to this sort of diminution, or reduction – which is a long way from being overcome in current psychology – we must repeat our statement: by the projection of noetic phenomena onto the subnoetic plane, or in other words, by the projection of human phenomena onto the subhuman plane. Reductionism is “projectionism”, and even subhumanism.
The human being is spiritually involved in the world (and even in a transcendent world) and oriented towards logos. When incorrectly reduced to the next lower level, the human being is seen at the psychological-sociological level as a self-contained system of psychological functions and reactions; the self-transcendence of the human being is no longer visible. At a purely psychic level, pleasure and displeasure, drives and drive satisfaction are the motors which drive a living being, even within such a complex hierarchy of needs as Maslow’s hierarchy, which has self-realisation at the summit. But even the idea of self-realisation does not get beyond the concept of the ego, and remains trapped in homeostatic ideas – which is why, as already indicated, logotherapy distinguishes itself from humanistic psychology and rather advocates humane psychotherapy.
Only from a reductionist perspective can the satisfaction of one’s own needs be raised to the highest good; but at the same time the human being is lowered – quite deliberately – to the level of a “naked ape”. The denial of the human being’s existential orientation toward meaning amounts to a degradation, because it is a dehumanisation.
An Intermediary Case Study
The following case study should demonstrate that in practice it is sometimes a question of preventing the development of psychic disorders, and that the concept of the human being applied to those who are under threat is extremely important. To begin with, a few words about this category of psychic disorders, which were formerly referred to as “neuroses”.
Neuroses are caused by multiple factors. Genetic predispositions combine with significant educational or environmental influences, small mistakes have decisive consequences, and unfortunate coincidences also play a role. Above all, the person concerned surrenders without a fight to inner obstacles. Two characteristics may generally be observed: a strong susceptibility to feelings of insecurity and a “hanging on” to certain thoughts.
1) On susceptibility to feelings of insecurity
The spiritual dimension of the “neurotic” (today called an “anxiety sufferer”) is unblocked and unrestricted, and the intellect is also unaffected. But the patient does not, so to speak, trust his or her own spirit. What is missing is not so much health as the security of being healthy. There is doubt about everything, especially about the self, and insecurity penetrating into the deepest existential layers of being. As a result, there is no trust in the capacities of the self (“I can’t do that”) but at the same time trust in a tendency to do everything badly (“I only do stupid things”). Although the irrationality of these feelings, which are unnecessarily negative, is fully recognised, there is always a temptation to take them seriously. The patient is always running away from something that is always catching up. This annoys the patient – to the point of self-hatred, which has an additionally weakening effect. An inescapable vicious circle of lack of trust and resulting misfortune is created. Insecurity, anxiety, low selfesteem and increased irritability become spiritual traps.
The neurotic, having become insecure for some psychophysical reason, has a particular need for the support of the spiritual.15)
2) On “hanging on” to thoughts
The “neurotic” (today called an “anxiety sufferer”) cannot get rid of doubting and complaining thoughts. It is immeasurably difficult for the sufferer to draw a line under things. His or her thoughts dwell endlessly on small inconveniences which have been or could be experienced, and make an “elephant out of every mosquito”. In logotherapy we speak of “hyperreflexion”, which exaggerates and aggravates every minor life crisis.
This “hanging on” to thoughts is highly likely to have a neurophysiological factor. Sensitive measurements of electrical impulses in the cerebral cortex when isolated groups of cells are stimulated show different progressions in different people. In some people the activation response to stimuli is slower than in others. If groups of cells are activated in rapid succession, they easily get into a state of permanent activation. This could be a clue as to why anxiety sufferers are more sensitive, tense and excitable than their fellow human beings: their vegetative system often reacts more excitably than in others. Thus, whenever a person has a strong predisposition to hyperreflection, the way is prepared for a neurotic disorder. Nevertheless, powerful psychotherapeutic weapons should not immediately be brought into play. As soon as an insecure person sees him or herself as needing therapy, he or she slips a level deeper into a presupposed inability to master life. What needs to be made clear to a person in danger of neurosis is not his or her illness, but his or her remaining health! Any overdose of psychotherapy both intensifies the insecurity (“I need help, I cannot do it alone”) and reinforces the circling around problems in thought – thus problem-oriented discussions play completely into the hands of the illness! At this stage it is better to encourage the endangered person to trust in themselves and the world, and to let go of fruitless thoughts.
Now to the promised case study:
A young pregnant woman was referred to me by her GP to me to learn relaxation exercises. During the period when she was coming to me regularly for training,
