There are books you read and enjoy. There are books you read and think about for a while. And then some books land somewhere so deep inside you that you genuinely cannot remember what you thought before you read them.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl was that book for me.
I came to it during my counselling training, expecting theory. What I got was something I wasn't prepared for — a man who had lost everything, survived the unthinkable, and came out the other side not bitter and broken, but with a framework for understanding human suffering that I had spent most of my life desperately needing without knowing it existed.
I want to tell you about Frankl. Not the textbook version — the real one. Because his story is one of the most extraordinary in the history of psychology, and understanding the man makes the theory land in a completely different way.
Who Was Viktor Frankl?
Viktor Emil Frankl was born on 26 March 1905 in Vienna, Austria. He was a psychiatrist, neurologist, Holocaust survivor and the founder of logotherapy — an approach to psychotherapy centred on the human search for meaning.
Frankl began developing his ideas long before the Second World War. He first used the term logotherapy during the 1920s, and by 1941 he had begun writing the first version of The Doctor and the Soul, in which he set out the foundations of his approach.
That distinction matters. Logotherapy was not created inside the concentration camps. Frankl’s experiences there would profoundly affect his understanding of suffering, responsibility and meaning, but the framework itself had already begun to take shape.
In 1942, Frankl and his family were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where his father died. In 1944, Frankl was transported to Auschwitz. His mother was murdered there, and his wife, Tilly, later died at Bergen-Belsen.
When Frankl arrived at Auschwitz, he was forced to surrender the unpublished manuscript of The Doctor and the Soul. The loss of that work became personally significant to him, and he later reconstructed it after the war.
Frankl survived several concentration camps before being liberated in 1945. After returning to Vienna, he resumed his professional work. In 1946, he dictated the book that would eventually become known in English as Man’s Search for Meaning. According to the Viktor Frankl Institute, he completed that dictation in nine days.
The book combined an account of his experiences with an introduction to logotherapy. It became one of the best-known works about meaning, suffering and human responsibility.
What stays with me is not the idea that suffering automatically makes somebody stronger. It does not. Nor do I believe that every painful experience arrives with an obvious purpose.
What stays with me is Frankl’s insistence that, even when we cannot undo what has happened, we may still be able to consider how we relate to it and what we choose to do next.
What Is Logotherapy?
The word logos is commonly translated here as “meaning”. At its simplest, logotherapy is an approach that places the search for meaning at the centre of human life.
Frankl’s work includes three central ideas: freedom of will, will to meaning and meaning in life.
Freedom of will does not mean that we are free from every limitation or that we can simply choose our way out of suffering. Circumstances, health, trauma, inequality and the actions of other people can all restrict what is possible. Frankl’s argument was that, within those limitations, we may still retain some capacity to take a position towards what is happening and consider how we will respond.
Will to meaning describes Frankl’s belief that the search for meaning is a primary human motivation. This does not mean that everybody needs one enormous purpose or that a meaningful life must look impressive from the outside. Meaning might be found through work, creativity, relationships, love, responsibility or the way somebody faces circumstances they cannot change.
Meaning in life is personal and particular. What gives one person a sense of meaning may not do the same for somebody else, and what matters to us can change throughout our lives.
Frankl wrote:
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognise that it is he who is asked.”
— Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (2006, p. 109)
I understand this as an invitation to stop waiting for life to provide one final answer. Instead, we might consider what life is asking of us now and how we want to answer through the way we live.
That is my interpretation rather than a universal instruction. You may read the same words and find something entirely different in them. Perhaps that is part of their value: they invite us to think about meaning rather than telling us precisely what our meaning should be.
Paradoxical Intention — The Technique That Sounds Mad But Works
One of the techniques associated with logotherapy is called paradoxical intention.
The basic idea is that trying desperately to suppress or prevent a feared response can sometimes increase our anxiety about it. Paradoxical intention invites a person, usually with appropriate therapeutic guidance, to create some distance from that fear by deliberately and sometimes humorously exaggerating the response they are trying so hard to avoid.
Frankl used sleeplessness as one example. The harder somebody tries to force themselves to sleep, the more tense and alert they may become. Rather than continuing that struggle, they might experiment with intentionally trying to remain awake. The purpose is not to punish themselves or imagine every possible disaster. It is to change their relationship with the fear and interrupt the struggle surrounding it.
The Viktor Frankl Institute describes the technique as using self-distancing and humorous exaggeration to help break a cycle of anxiety and symptom amplification.
That does not mean it is suitable for every person, every fear or every mental health difficulty. It should not be presented as a guaranteed cure or as a replacement for professional support.
I have found the underlying principle useful in my own life: sometimes fighting a thought gives it more power, while approaching it with curiosity can create a little more room around it.
It did not make my anxiety disappear overnight. What it sometimes gave me was a different way to relate to it — and with that came a greater sense of agency.
The ABC model, developed by Albert Ellis as part of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, provides a practical framework for recognising how our beliefs can shape our emotional responses. It is not part of logotherapy, but I see a useful point of connection with Frankl’s emphasis on how we relate and respond to what happens to us.
The ABC Model — A Separate but Useful Connection
The ABC model was developed by psychologist Albert Ellis as part of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, commonly known as REBT. It is not part of logotherapy, although I see a useful connection between the two approaches.
The model offers a way of exploring how our beliefs about an event can influence our emotional and behavioural responses.
A — Activating Event
Something happens. A conversation goes badly. You make a mistake. Somebody says something that stings, or your plans fall apart.
B — Beliefs
These are the thoughts, assumptions and meanings you attach to what happened. You might think: This always happens to me. I never get anything right. This proves that I am not good enough.
C — Consequences
These are the emotional and behavioural consequences that may follow, such as anxiety, anger, withdrawal or avoidance.
The model does not claim that events are irrelevant or that our thoughts are the sole cause of every feeling. What happens to us matters, and emotional responses can also be affected by our history, relationships, health, circumstances and many other factors.
The useful part of the ABC model is the recognition that our beliefs can help mediate how we respond. When we become aware of those beliefs, we may be able to examine them rather than automatically accepting them as facts.
This is where I see a connection with Frankl’s work. Both approaches invite us to notice that there may be some space between what happens and what we do next.
We cannot always change the activating event. We cannot simply think our way out of every painful circumstance. But with time, support and practice, we may be able to reconsider the meaning we have attached to an experience and decide whether that meaning still serves us.
For me, that possibility creates room for greater choice without pretending that people are responsible for everything that has happened to them.
Why This Clicked for Me Personally
I came to Frankl's work at a point in my life where I had spent decades believing certain things about myself. I came across it during my studies when training to become a counsellor.
I believed that I was someone who got things wrong. That my instincts couldn't be trusted. That the fear I felt was evidence that I wasn't capable, rather than evidence that I was human. That the gap between who I was and who I thought I should be was a fixed, permanent feature of my existence rather than a story I had been told and then kept telling myself. During my studies throughout college and university, this was problematic. In simple terms, I was more worried about what others were doing and the way they approached the work than about doing it myself. If others were doing it, then it must be right, and that gave me confidence in a technique that would get me a pass. It took me a while to find my own way where I would confidently sit in front of my computer or laptop and just write. Not caring what others were doing. I found my way. I started to enjoy doing assignments. Weird, right?
Logotherapy gave me a different question to ask.
Not what is wrong with me? But what does my life mean, and am I living in a way that reflects that meaning?
Not why do I feel this way? But what is this feeling pointing me toward, and what do I choose to do with it?
Not how do I stop being afraid? But what would I do if I stopped letting the fear make the decisions?
Those are different questions. They lead to different places.
Paradoxical intention helped me consider fears that I had spent years trying to avoid. The ABC model helped me notice the difference between what was happening and the meaning I was attaching to it. Frankl’s work encouraged me to think more deeply about meaning, responsibility and the choices that may remain available even during difficult periods.
These ideas were not a cure, and Frankl was not personally responsible for the changes in my life. They became part of the scaffolding that helped me understand my experiences differently.
I went from somebody who struggled to leave the house to a qualified counsellor with an Honours degree and a Postgraduate Certificate, eventually standing on a stage in front of thousands of people.
That change did not happen because I discovered one quotation or read one book. It happened gradually, through study, support, reflection, experience and a great deal of personal work. Frankl’s ideas formed one meaningful part of that longer journey.
Where to Start if This Resonates With You
If any of this has sparked something, I'd start with Man's Search for Meaning. It is not a long book. It is not a difficult read. But it is one of those rare things — a book that genuinely changes the lens through which you see your own experience.
After that, The Doctor and the Soul goes deeper into the theory if you want to explore further.
If the questions raised by Frankl feel personally important — perhaps you are experiencing a loss of meaning, persistent anxiety or a sense that the life you are living no longer feels like your own — counselling may offer a confidential space in which to explore them.
I do not believe that ordinary difficulties should be compared with Frankl’s experience of the Holocaust. Suffering does not need to be compared or ranked before it deserves care. Whatever you are carrying belongs to your life, and that makes it worthy of attention.
Frankl’s work does not tell us that every painful experience has a hidden purpose. What it can offer is an invitation to consider what still matters to us, what remains within our influence and how we want to move forward from where we are.
If you would like to explore those questions through counselling, you can find more information at keithgumbrell.co.uk.
References
Ellis, A. (1994) Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. Revised and updated edition. New York: Citadel Press.
Frankl, V.E. (2006) Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna (n.d.) Viktor Frankl: Biography. Available at: https://www.viktorfrankl.org/biography.html
Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna (n.d.) Logotherapy and Existential Analysis. Available at: https://www.viktorfrankl.org/logotherapy.html
