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In the preface to the 1992 Edition of Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl recounts writing the book very quickly, eager to demonstrate that life can have meaning even in the most miserable circumstances. He notes that the book’s first part, an autobiographical account of camp life, provides evidential support for the second part, a summary of the principles of logotherapy. Frankl explains how he ended up in a concentration camp in the first place.  Although he could have emigrated to America, he remained with his father and mother in Vienna, in obedience to the biblical command to honor one’s parents.

Read about the background of Man’s Search for Meaning author Viktor E. Frankl.

Part One, Experiences in a Concentration Camp, divides the camp inmate’s experience into three phases, each characterized by its own set of psychological symptoms. The first phase in Frankl’s narrative began with a crowded train ride that ended at the camp—Auschwitz. Most of the new arrivals were immediately sent to the gas chambers. In the days that followed, the remaining few lived in filth and slept crowded together in mass bunk beds. They were beaten at the slightest provocation. Nearly everyone thought seriously about suicide. The psychological state characteristic of the first phase was shock. Soon, however, shock gave way to apathy. In this second phase, the suffering and death of others aroused little or no sympathy. Undernourishment had a wide range of psychological and social effects; inmates fantasized about food and lost interest in almost everything else. However, religious faith sustained prisoners who were not physically robust. The inmates also retained the ability to appreciate natural beauty, such as a sunset. But mostly, prisoners were simply relieved for any chance to rest without being harassed.

Read a helpful historical context essay: “Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.”

Frankl was struck by how capricious fate could be. On two occasions, he escaped death by what seemed to be pure chance, first when he stayed on a transport others urged him to avoid, and then when he missed a transport that would have ended with his being burned alive. Looking back, Frankl remembers the many occasions when prisoners acted out of selfishness and petty ambition, but also the few occasions when someone offered a fellow inmate comfort or shared a bit of food. The lesson for Frankl was, however, that fate may toy with people, and in whatever circumstances it may put them in, they can still choose to respond well, true to their values. Another lesson for Frankl was the importance of hope and a sense of purpose. When he drew on his psychotherapeutic training to offer other prisoners counsel, he urged them to believe that something meaningful still lay ahead for them.

Read about Main Idea #2: One is always free to choose how to respond to one’s circumstances.

With the end of the war came freedom, the third phase of the concentration camp inmate’s experience. Psychologically, this brought a mix of feelings. There was a pervasive sense of unreality—of being in a dream. As the freed prisoners came to accept that they truly were no longer captive, their joy began to be mixed with irritability, bitterness, and disillusionment. Having long repressed the urge to lash out at their oppressors, they now gave vent to their feelings. They resented the blandly sympathetic comments of their former neighbors. And in many cases (including Frankl’s) they found that a loved one whom they had long hoped to see again was no longer alive.

Part Two, Logotherapy in a Nutshell, summarizes the main tenets of the therapeutic method Frankl himself developed. According to logotherapy, human beings are motivated primarily by a desire for meaning, not by what Sigmund Freud calls the “pleasure principle” and not by what Alfred Adler calls “a striving for superiority.” A lack of meaning in one’s life leads to an ”existential vacuum,” which Frankl describes as a widespread condition in modern society. A chief goal of logotherapy is to aid the patient in finding meaning. However, there is no one thing that will give meaning to every life. Rather, everyone must find the meaning in their particular life. The logotherapist helps the patient see the range of possibilities. In general, these fall into three categories: a person may find meaning in creating or accomplishing something, or in an encounter with something or someone, or in a right attitude toward suffering. Frankl sees no need to explain the first category. As to the second category, he notes that meaning may be found in an encounter with goodness, truth or beauty, but he emphasizes the value of an encounter with a person in a word—love. As to finding meaning in suffering, Frankl does not recommend seeking suffering, but he does hold that when suffering is unavoidable, meaning can be found in facing it bravely.

Read an explanation of a quote (#3) about how suffering can be a source of meaning.

Frankl then describes logotherapeutic treatment in concrete terms. A key technique, “paradoxical intention,” involves trying to bring about something one wishes to avoid. For example, a person suffering from insomnia can try to stay awake as long as possible, which surprisingly will hasten sleep. Frankl ends his explanation of logotherapy by returning to the problem of the existential vacuum experienced by so many people. Its cause, he believes, is the nihilistic doctrine that human beings are nothing but machines who behave deterministically. He insists that, on the contrary, human beings are free and therefore unpredictable.

Read about Main Idea #3: Some things can be achieved only when they are not consciously attempted.

In a postscript added in 1984, The Case For A Tragic Optimism, Frankl considers a “tragic triad”: pain, guilt, and death. The optimistic view he recommends of these is to see each as an opportunity. Suffering offers an opportunity to display courage and overcome adversity. Guilt can motivate a person to do better; to live a new life radically different from the old one. Finally, approaching death affords the opportunity to look back with satisfaction on the life one lived, now “safely deposited” in the past.

Read an explanation of a quote (#4) about Frankl’s perspective on the past and the future.

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