Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

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According to Frankl, prisoners are unable to understand what freedom means, or to emotionally respond to it. Part of them believes that it is an illusion or a dream that will be taken away from them as they already entered the camp. In the second stage, in which there is a danger of deformation. As the intense pressure on the mind is released, mental health can be endangered too. He stressed this was the crucial moments that really tested the prisoners psychological mind in order for them to stay survive on the camp or not. Later, upon returning home, the prisoners had to struggle with two fundamental experiences which could also damage their mental health: bitterness and disillusionment, a feeling that their suffering does not end yet, or there is no such happiness left after leaving the camp.

After discussing the liberation of the concentration camp prisoners, Frankl begins the second section of this book. Here he outlines a theory of Logotherapy as a psychological technique for helping people. In this section, Frankl discusses the basics of this approach to therapy and supports it by referring to some work with patients and again his own experiences in the concentration camps. Through an examination of logotherapy, Frankl contrasts its approach with traditional psychoanalysis and emphasizes it is the only form of therapy that can help people with their search for meaning. The meaning of life can be discovered in three ways. First, one can perform a deed. Second, one can experience something or encounter someone. Or thirdly, one can demonstrate a certain attitude toward suffering.

Overall, I highly recommend Man’s Search for Meaning, if only for the inspiration it has brought to readers around the world, because I believe, nothing much worth to share compared to the best experiences and how we overcome the harsh moments by ourselves.