Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl died on this day in 1997. In that line of work, he is known for developing logotherapy, a kind of treatment centered on the idea that people’s main purpose in life is to find meaning in their lives. To the general public, though, he is most famous for his work “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which reflects on his experience as a victim of the Holocaust and how it connects to that drive to discover a sense of purpose.
The book is considered a foundational text in the public memory of the Holocaust due in large part to its description not just of the material realities experienced by victims in those years, but also its examination of the social and mental elements of life in concentration camps. He was already a working psychiatrist in Vienna, and well into developing the ideas behind logotherapy by the time he was detained and brought to the first of what would be four concentration camps he would be imprisoned in.
Logotherapy has grown in its influence over the decades, and many of its elements have been built into the most popular types of psychotherapy currently in practice, including cognitive behavioral therapy, which aids those with mental health conditions through challenging their assumptions and views on their own lives; and acceptance and commitment therapy, the name of which is pretty self-explanatory. The book, meanwhile, remains an essential text for anyone who wants to understand the Holocaust — as well as those looking to better understand themselves.
