Adventures with Frankl and Logotherapy Wong
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Who is Frankl? What is EA and logotherapy 2
Chapter 3 The basic tenets of logotherapy 3
Chapter 4 What are the three values for the meaning in life 5
Chapter 5 Domains of meaning in life 7
Chapter 6 The hidden power of self transcendence 8
Chapter 7 Logotherapy techniques 9
Chapter 8 Meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing 10
Chapter 9 From Logotherapy to Integrative Meaning Therapy: A Blueprint for Better Mental Health 12
Chapter 1 Introduction
Finding meaning of life from books or the crucible of despair
Achievers’ paradox, the more you aim for achievement for
personal glory the less you will get
it. (as it is hollow to seek achievement
for glory purposes, as opposed to seeking to do things you really care about
and achievement being a byproduct of it)
This is such a familiar Frankl move. There are things which
are by-products but can’t be aimed for in themselves, happiness, sleep,
achievement, erections
Difference between self enhancing obsession and self
transcending obsession. Former produces some of the more heinous events in the
world, and the latter the most beautiful.
4 pillars of true grit (passion, persistence, courage and
faith)
Chapter 2 Who is Frankl? What is EA and logotherapy
We are meaning seeking ethical beings, with responsibility.
Whilst we have base needs, see Maslow, on top of this we
need meaning to fulfil our lives, we need to eat and stay warm, but if all we
do is fulfil our physical needs our lives feel empty. So we search for
meaningful activities to make our life worth living, the purpose if you like
for why we live. So a football team, we follow, looking after our children. Unlike animals we are free to choose our
purpose. We can even choose purposes that we could never achieve, although that
would seem strange and unsatisfying from a distance.
Frankl teaches the value of wresting meaning from suffering
and making it a human triumph
Self transcendence
1.
Love your true self by transcending your
limitations
2.
Love others by transcending your differences
3.
Love life by transcending what the world offers
the ego, money, power, fame
The prisoner who loses faith in the future is doomed. The future, giving that thing(s) that we are
striving for, those things that give us meaning?
Logotherapy= therapy through finding meaning
Existential analysis: showing clients that they are free,
responsible and have a will to meaning
Difference between Frankl and N. American existentialist is
Frankl sees life as intrinsically meaningful.
The noetic, the human spirit is seen as our healthy core, it
can be blocked by the somatic, or psychic illness but it remains unaffected, it
is healthy.
According to Fabr, the noetic contains: will to meaning,
purpose in life, creativity, conscience, freewill, sense of humour, commitment
to tasks, ideals, imagination, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness (!!
All the good stuff then??)
Jung: as far as we can determine the sole purpose of human
existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.
Chapter 3 The basic tenets of logotherapy
Meaning as creative, experiential or attitudinal.
You find meaning not from within but from what society\life
demands from you.
3 tenets of logotherapy
1.
Freedom of will (freedom to do things)
2.
Will to meaning
3.
Meaning of life: there is meaning in life
You need to move from a horizontal desire for self
enhancement to a vertical self transcendence.
What humans need is not a comfortable life but rather
striving for worthy life goals.
Meaning in life
1.
Significance
2.
Purpose
3.
Coherence and comprehensiveness
Meaning in life, like happiness, isn’t a destination but a
process of seeking it.
Finding meaning in life, not looking inside, but rather
noticing it is I who asks what is the meaning of my life, and notice that I am
responsible for it
It is also noticing what gifts I have, and what I can
contribute to society.
You need to find the meaning in suffering as it is inevitable
You need to know your attributes and how they can contribute
to society\life
You need to be aware of what life asks of you
3 aspects of meaning
1.
Situational
2.
Meaning of life as a whole
3.
Ultimate meaning of human existence
Types of meaning
1.
Meaningful moments MM (Peak moments)
a.
Touches you deep inside, and lasts
b.
Deeply processed: connects with you in a number
of ways (values, experiences?)
c.
It is enlightening , solves a problem
d.
It is transforming, opens up a new way of being
Desire for meaning
A boredom, an emptiness, an existential vacuum.
We tend to respond less and less to something that is
repeated.
Frankl argues this can only be filled by faith, hope and
love
Faith: a transcendent value
Hope: Agency
Love: Communion with others
Dark side
Courage: to face difficulty
Accept: what cannot be changed
Transform: suffering into strength through meaning.
The difficult with chronic pain\distress is that a client
can focus in on it, and it can absorb their whole lives. My life would be so
much better if it wasn’t for x. Then there life reduces its vitality as there’s
this one answer to their lives which is to not be x.
Terrible triad
Suffering
Sleeplessness
Sadness
I feel distress, I obsess over this, it causes sleeplessness
which in turn fuels the distress.
Yalom: 4 existential concerns, death, meaning in life,
freedom, isolation
Insanity: a perfect reaction to an insane world: Laing
Chapter 4 What are the three values for the meaning
in life
You need to find meaning in 7 domains
1.
Lifelong learning
2.
Relationships
3.
Community
4.
Spiritual
5.
Leisure
6.
Work
7.
Suffering
The three basic values, creative, experiential and
attitudinal are all interrelated.
Picasso, the meaning of life is to find your gift, the
purpose of life is to give it away.
• Pablo Picasso: “The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it
away.”
• Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose
yourself in the service of
others.”
• Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Everybody can be great because
everybody can serve.”
• Mother Teresa: “Give your hands to serve, and your hearts
to love.”
• Earl Nightingale: “Our rewards in life will always be in
direct ratio to our service.”
• Leo Tolstoy: “Joy can only be real if people look upon
their life as a service and have a
definite object in life outside themselves and their
personal happiness.”
Self actualisation as a side effect of self transcendence
Meaning isn’t arbitrary and is based on 3 spiritual values:
Creative meaning\value
Experience meaning\value
Attitudinal meaning\value
Creative value
The more you transcend yourself the more you actualise
yourself. Give yourself to something bigger than you. Make the best use of your
talents in the service of something bigger than yourself, a cause, a
person. Follow your heart or the well
trodden path?
To find your calling is something you would give up
everything for. When you find a great pearl, you would sell everything for.
Good work is of benefit to the individual, the organization
and society.
This depends more on attitude than aptitude.
Good attitude:
1.
Doing whatever you do with your heart and soul
a.
For themselves, others, and the group they
belong to
2.
They enjoy their work, even on tough days!
3.
They find their creative juices flowing in times
of desperation
Desperation can lead to heroic results, or reckless ones.
Experiential value\meaning
Gratitude: I guess is experiencing the good stuff, as it is
there.
Attitudinal value\meaning
Can we see the dark underbelly of society, amongst all the
success, and consumption, can we be aware of the levels of pain, in the
luxurious houses.
Chapter 5 Domains of meaning in life
Don’t have all your eggs in one basket
7 Domains of life
1.
Work
2.
Play
3.
Relationships
4.
Life long learning
5.
Community
6.
Suffering
7.
Spirituality
We have four aspects
1.
Body
2.
Mind
3.
Spirit
4.
Social
We need to look after all of them
Bi directional aspect of search for meaning
1.
Satisfies our soul
2.
Gives meaning to our suffering
Can you extract meaning from religion. Nietzsche would say
yes, create your own meaning
Play
as freedom, choice and intrinsic motivation.
As non serious
Imaginative
Non purposeful
Suffering
You learn through this, as it requires strength to face it,
adaptions to be with it. You learn to appreciate more moments of non suffering,
highlights your values.
When you are betrayed you will learn the power of forgiveness
When you are disabled, you will learn the power of
flexibility
When your suffering is unbearable you will learn courage
Leisure
As time from obligations
As a chosen activity
Chapter 6 The hidden power of self transcendence
Sinking into the soil of suffering and rising with an
abundant tree.
Self-transcendence =meaning
Commit to a task that is more important than you!
All self psychology is doomed as it assumes you can have\do
anything you want. But there are limits and there is suffering.
Do not ask what you can get from life but what you can give.
Turn suffering into flourishing
1.
It is protective for future suffering
2.
It is diagnostic, shows us the cause of our
suffering
3.
It is curative
4.
It is transformative
5.
It is generative
Jung: no tree can reach to heaven unless it has gone down
into hell
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Chapter 7 Logotherapy techniques
When a person cant find meaning they distract themselves
with pleasure. When they cant find pleasure they either blame someone and get
angry, or blame themselves and get depressed.
Tragic triangle
1.
Pain
2.
Guilt
3.
Death
Maning in response to the tragic triangle
Guilt=> rebirth\reform
Death=>make life precious
Pain=>opportunity for human achievement
There is a breaking point. Mental illness is the last line
of human defence before suicide.
Defiant power of the human spirit to self determination.
What does life demand from you?
What realistic goal can you achieve that would mean that
your life matters?
What was the most meaningful moment in your life?
Is there anything you value more than your own life?
Dereflection
Works with both hyper intention, and hyper reflection
Hyper intention=trying too hard
Hyper reflection=over analysing, over blaming
Instead of worrying about sleep, read an enjoyable book
Attitude modification
Rather than focus on what is wrong, focus on what you can
do, or what is right with he world.
Appealing technique
Appealing to the defiant nature of the human spirit, their
dignity, freedom and responsibility.
Chapter 8 Meaning
is the key to mental health and human flourishing
A ship is not made to stay in the harbour, it is made for
adventures on the high seas.
If there was no peril there would be no excitement, if there
was no suffering there would be no challenge.
Would you prefer to live in a world where there were just
farm yard animals, or one where there were monsters who could tear your arms
off sometimes and kill you.
Love your suffering it is only your aversion to it that
hursts: Hesse
Suffering
Teaches me to overcome it: strength
Shows me what is important to me
Teaches me empathy and compassion to others who suffer
Teaches me to enjoy the times when I am not suffering
Teaches me courage and perseverance
Learning to find meaning in suffering is the answer to the
meaning of life.
The tree
Roots: reach downwards into suffering and to transform it
into meaning
Branches: reach up to self transcendence to give meaning
Ten steps to healing
1.
Have the existential courage to be true to
yourself
2.
Assume responsibility for your life, and stop
complaining\blaming
3.
Self acceptance\compassion
4.
Love our neighbours
5.
Make meaning: meaning makes beauty and makes bad
things endurable
6.
Self transcendence: absence of selfish ambition,
when you suffer go and help someone else
7.
Self transcendence and dialectics. Rising above
suffering with meaning: tragic optimism in the face of binary pain: love and
hate. You cannot have light without dark, the triad of suffering (addiction,
depression and aggression) and the triad of meaning (creative, attitudinal and
experiential. The tension of opposition gives creativity yin and yang
8.
Resilience through meaning, a defiant attitude
9.
Tragic optimism: faith, hope and tragic optimism
10. Dynamic
balance between opposites and harmony between competing values.
3 second rule
Between stimulus and response is our freedom
a. What is happening? – The orienting reflex or mindful
meditation.
b. What is the meaning of this situation? – Meaning mindset.
c. What is the responsible thing to do? – Personal and
social responsibility.
Chapter 9 From Logotherapy to Integrative Meaning
Therapy: A Blueprint for Better Mental
Health
1.
Look at present with acceptance, creativity and
joy
2.
Look around with appreciation and compassion
3.
Look up, to the amazingness of life
4.
Look forward with hope, and commitment to
achieve goals
5.
Look inside with compassion and determination to
be a better person
6.
Look back with forgiveness, gratitude and
learning new perspectives
7.
Look down with humility and a helpful attitude.
Change agents
1.
Feel the emotional relief of no longer feeling
the same
2.
Take personal responsibility for your pain
3.
Understand what you bring to the world and what
the world demands of you
4.
Find purpose
In the face of inescapable suffering, you can ask yourself
how can you make the world a better place.
1.
Turn suffering into achievement and
accomplishment
2.
From guilt change yourself to the better
3.
From transitoriness, take the incentive to take
responsible action
Christmas, true meaning, is the birth of a baby in the
darkness: hope in despair.
One eye on your values, one eye on what is happening now.
Paradoxical truths
Find happiness through embracing suffering
Find a life worth living by finding something that’s greater
than your life and worth dying for
Have the joy of gratitude without using it as a tool to
happiness