Logotherapy is a philosophical therapy developed by Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Doctor of Philosophy Viktor Frankl (1905–1997). The theoretical basis of logotherapy is based on human free will, the will to find purpose, and the purposefulness of life. According to Frankl, these three characteristics of being human can be found in the Noological dimension of human consciousness, which differs from the Psychic dimension of human consciousness. Due to its historical origins, Frankl’s logotherapy is also referred to as the third Viennese school of psychotherapy, after Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic school and Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology school. But – unlike psychiatry-based Psychoanalysis and psychology-based Individual Psychology – Logotherapy is based on existential-phenomenological-hermeneutic theory, or Logophilosophy, and Existential analysis, which means understanding, interpreting, and treating people based on a logotherapeutic model of diagnosing disorders. At the heart of logotherapy is a holistic perception of humanity, a focus on the future, and the realization of universal values through implementing purpose-related values. Logotherapy is a widely known and widely used therapy in Central and Southern Europe, the USA, Canada and South America.
HOW DOES LOGOTHERAPY DIFFER FROM PSYCHOTHERAPIES?
Logotherapy focuses on treating disorders of the Noological dimension of human consciousness. These disorders include all existential (related to one’s own and general existence) and purpose-related disorders, such as general anxiety and depression, feelings and experiences of meaninglessness and purposelessness, fears related to death or illness, experiences of losing or distortioning of the purpose of one’s life, and anxiety-inducing conflicts between external reality and one’s own self. Psychotherapies focus on treating disorders of the Psychic dimension of human consciousness. These include all disorders related to emotions, learning, attention, perception, psychosomatics, and processing the feedback one receives in human relationships. Logotherapy and psychotherapies cannot replace each other because they focus on treating disorders in different dimensions of human consciousness. These disorders differ in their etiology and quality. However, logotherapy and some psychotherapies can complement each other and work well together in the comprehensive treatment of human mental health.
