Life's Purpose And Meaning

2005 February

Like many I have been moved by the media coverage of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and it has motivated me finally to read a book that has been on my personal reading list for a long time: Viktor E Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning.

Frankl was working as a psychiatrist when he was sent to Auschwitz. He quickly lost all his belongings, as well as most of his family. Part of the time he was engaged in hard manual labour, but survived to be liberated at the end of the war. In 1945 he wrote this book in 9 days. It has now sold over 9 million copies, and has been translated into over 20 languages. The first part is an account of his time in various concentration camps, and his observation on his fellow prisoners and their guards.

This may seem an unpleasant topic, and you may be wondering why anyone would want to read such a book. I found the book moving and uplifting, rather than distasteful.

It also made me ponder on the proper role of therapy in the world, as the second part of the book is taken up with an overview of logotherapy - "logotherapy in a nutshell" - Frankl's therapeutic approach to human troubles.

This book is well worth reading, both as a human being and as a therapist.