This week, I thought I would share a review of "Man's Search for Meaning" by Holocaust survivor Victor E. Frankl. Austrian born Fralkl was laborer in 4 concentration camps including Auschwitz. He earned an MD and PhD from the University Vienna. After the war and his release, he went on to become a visiting professor and lecturer at Stanford and Harvard, at Southern Methodist University of Dallas as well as full professor in his own alma mater, University of Vienna.

He was a neurologist and psychiatrist who developed his own theory of psychological treatment that he called “logothearapy” ("logos" is Greek for "meaning") which contends that some neurosis can be affected by having the patient confront his own meaning in life and how his neurosis stands in the way of achieving that meaning.

In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl discusses his own encounter with a fellow psychologist regarding his theory. He asked his colleague if he could describe psychotherapy in one sentence and his colleague's response was, "In psychotherapy, the patient must lie down on a couch and tell things which are sometimes very disagreeable to tell". 

Frankl's response was "Well with logotherapy, the patient may remain sitting erect but he may hear things which are sometimes very disagreeable to hear".

While it may be difficult to see how a Holocaust survivor's story can be a great read, it was very insightful to see how his search for meaning in life, and his maintenance of a strong sense of freedom, even while in captivity, was the key to his survival. Frankl believed that while we can be held captive, we retain the freedom to choose how react to everything that happens inside those walls.

Equally as interesting, is Frankl's belief that man is driven by meaning, more than his search for happiness, which was Freud's primary theory. It definitely made me raise internal questions like: What am I really looking for out of life? How will I find true happiness?

If you are looking for material that might help you address some of your own challenges and how you might identify your own meaning in life, you own passion or life's work, I would highly recommend you pick or download a copy of this very inspirational and insightful story.

I wish you a very happy and free weekend to ponder "what makes you tick" :-)

Amanda