THE REMARKABLE Dr. VIKTOR.E.FRANKL
THE FOUNDER OF LOGOTHERAPY
Many know him as the
founder of the third Vienna school of Psychotherapy-‘Logotherapy’- first being
that of Sigmund Freud and second that of Alfred Adler.
Logotherapy is a kind
of existential analysis based on having a purpose or meaning in life. Frankl
developed this new philosophy of therapy based on his own and others’ terrible
experiences as Jewish prisoners in Hitler’s concentration camps. The therapy
also supports Nietzsche’s theory that ‘He who has a why
can endure any how’.
Born in 1905 in Vienna,
middle among three children, Frankl evinced a lot of interest in Psychology and
did his medical studies in this field. He met the iconic Freud and had a lot of
interaction with him, though he liked Adler’s theory better. He worked in
various capacities in Vienna in the years before Hitler, and even was in charge
of a psychiatric ward for suicidal women.
In 1940, when Dr Frankl
was the head of the neurological department in Rothschild, a Jewish hospital, he
displayed his immense love for humanity when he deliberately made many false
diagnoses of mentally ill patients to prevent their being subjected to cruel Euthanasia,
as per the prevailing rules. This, among other experiences, prompted him to
start writing a great book called ‘The Doctor and the Soul’ in manuscript form.
Everything changed in
1942, within a few years of Hitler invading Austria. His peaceful life was
shattered to smithereens when he, along with his young wife, parents and
siblings were apprehended and sent to a concentration camp. Over a period of time,
the eminent Doctor lost almost everyone of his family in the various
concentration camps, like Theresienstadt, Bergen-Belsen and of course
Auschwitz.
Everyone except sister
Stella, who managed to escape to Australia somehow.
His carefully concealed
manuscript-his beloved brainchild- was also snatched from him and destroyed.
It was during this
period of mind boggling trauma that the roots of his now-famous logotherapy
slowly formed.
Heartbroken about the
separation of his loved ones (he knew full details about their fate only in
1945, only after his own freedom.) and loss of his manuscript, he was filled
with a resolve to reunite with his people and to create the manuscript again,
word by word, from memory.
The twin passionate ‘purposes’
of creating his masterpiece again and the hope of meeting his loved ones again
kept him alive even in the worst subhuman conditions. He not only succeeded in
re-writing the book destroyed by the Nazis but also created his Magnum Opus
work, ‘Man’s search for Meaning’ which became a great bestseller, with over 9
million copies sold.
Dr. Frankl moved on in
life to become a very successful therapist, establishing his own school of
therapy called ‘Logotherapy’ basing on his personal experiences. He became well
known outside Austria too and lived till 1997, earning many awards during his
distinguished career.
He wrote 32 books in
all, translated into 27 languages.
Based
on various online biographies.
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