Man's Search for Meaning (OLD EDITION/OUT OF PRINT) Paperback – June 1, 2006

I think once again I find myself reading a book exactly when I need it. I’ve studied psychology and have had a somewhat difficult life especially in recent years. I’ve been losing hope and meaning while desperately searching for it and trying to avoid pain and suffering. This book is harrowing and inspiring. The highest feelings of the human condition are here alongside the lowest. And he weaves a beauty and sense of acceptance and transcendence. An ability to see meaning in suffering and untangle oneself from fear and neurosis by redirecting focus to what it is we want or care about. Amazing!

I recently completed a master's in counseling and guidance and have been reading to find a set of books that will best address some of the disorders in the DSM-IV. Following is a list I have put together from my reading so far, and these are books that I would HIGHLY recommend. I would like to say up front that the DSM-IV is full of very normal behaviors that for some reason have become magnified or exaggerated in an individual to the point of causing a negative impact in their daily lives. Take OCD for example, it is quite normal and even preferable (from a safety perspective) to check and be sure that one has turned off all the burners on the stove after cooking, or to be sure the back door is locked before going to bed. But to continue checking time and again would be problematic and can lead to problems in an individual's life. Something is diagnosed as a disorder when it moves from being a "normal" activity to being something that causes dysfunction in daily living. So, one may read the DSM-IV and see themselves reflected in many of the disorders. The question is always: is this behavior negatively impacting my life? If so then that is when it crosses the line of normal and needs to be treated.Depression; I believe there are two sources for depression: one source is our own minds, we think ourselves into the depression - at least in this case we know where it is coming from and we should be able to step behind our thoughts and help ourselves move in a better direction. The other source seemingly comes from nowhere; one minute we are okay and the next we are thrown into the depths* Book = "Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul Through Creativity"- David H. Rosen"o I would recommend reading this at least through chapter 4, going further than that delves into some deep Jungian psychology which will not likely appeal to everyone. I certainly enjoy Jungian psychology and believe that Jung's work will become more and more important and critical to our understanding as we move forward in this field of psychology. Jung's psychology is really on the borderland between spirit/soul and the science of psychology and it is Jung's work that brought me into this field. However it is quite complex/deep/different and may lose some readers. For a very good intro to Jung's work, I would recommend "The Essential Jung" by Anthony Storr, but this is not light reading as is composed of excerpts from Jung's collected works.* Book = "Man's Search for Meaning" - Viktor Franklo I would recommend this book for two primary reasons: one is it pushes very strongly the message that meaning is essential in our lives - as shown through Victor Frankl's imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps. Frankl comments on how he observed the individuals who gave up the fight and died, and the individuals who persevered - and most importantly what it was that he believes made the difference. The other reason I recommend this book is that it helps the individuals whose thoughts may have led them to depression to realize that things could be worse. Of course there are devastations we may face that can truly be to us, just as bad as a Nazi concentration camps, but for the most part, we often push ourselves into depression for reasons that are somewhat superficial compared to other realities.Depersonalization Disorder - essentially feeling like you are not really there* Book = "Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self" - Daphne Simeon and Jeffrey Abugelo Excellent book which will help folks understand this disorder. This is for me a very interesting disorder, I think this is one disorder where the connection between our ego consciousness and perhaps what we are at a much deeper level is challenged. Normally we are locked into full belief in our reality - we believe we are very much a part of it and that we "are" the body in which we reside. This disorder forces us to question if we are the body we think we are. It would appear that whatever piece of our mind is keeping us in full belief is breaking down a bit, leaving us a bit outside of the "normal" feeling of being the body. Folks with this disorder can actually worry that they do not have control of their body and that this body may do something they do not want it to do. Driving a car for example can be quite traumatic if you think your body may be acting without your input.Bipolar disorder - the book I am recommending is focused on Bipolar II disorder - essentially swinging from manic (very happy and carefree) to severe depression. This book was actually required reading during the Masters program* Book = "An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness" by Kay Redfield Jamisono Excellent book written by a psychologist who suffers from this disorder. This book helps to understand the importance of medication for this disorder, as well as the path of destruction that can easily be paved during carefree, manic episodes.ADHD (attention deficit disorder)* Book = "Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates And What You Can Do About It" - Gabor Mateo This is not just a great book for folks with ADHD, but for everyone - as many of the lessons here translate to all of us. This is an extremely excellent book on ADHD and living in general.OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)* Book = "Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals: The Hidden Epidemic of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - Ian Osborno Excellent book on OCD - this book will help individuals with OCD as well as those who know someone with the disorder - to understand what is happening in the mind of a person with this disorder. This book will also help OCD folks realize that they are not alone and that many of the rituals or compulsions are shared by other folks with OCD.That is all for now, but I am still reading

It's truly tragic that this man(or anyone) was forced to endure such atrocious events as those described in this book. The lessons he has shared as a result of those experiences are easy to comprehend and seem obvious and even simple once they have been laid bare. Finding the right message at the right time for yourself to apply could be elusive for a bit but seems to be worth the effort to do it. A hard earned gift this man has shared with humanity.

This 2008 edition of Frankl's 1945 book is a must read for every human being who wants to lift their spirit in moments of despair. The book is structured in three different parts. The first one (Experiences in a Concentration Camp) and the Postscript (The case for a Tragic Optimism) fit beautifully together, and are the basis of Frankl's philosophy and psychotherapy system called Logotherapy. They are narrated in a very conversational way because they are, after all, a memoir. They differ greatly in style and tone from the second part (Logotherapy in a Nutshell), which is a summary of Frankl's therapy system, partially based on Frankl's experiences and observations as Auschwitz inmate, and partially on techniques and views of the world that he had started elaborating before he was sent to the camp. This part is drier in style, way more technical and not as approachable for the reader, unless the reader is really into therapy or a therapist. Harold Kushner's preface to this 2008 edition is a good summary of the book main points, while Frankl's preface to the 1992 edition summarizes well how the book and Logotherapy came to be. The book has many pearls of wisdom, and is very uplifting despite the brutality of what we read. In all honesty, I already expected that when I picked up the book. Some prisoner's stories are utterly poetic despite their tragedy. I'm glad that those people's historical memoirs had been so beautifully preserved. On the other hand, this is a survivor's first-person narration of the events, so that allows for invaluable insights into the reality of the extermination camps and into the inmates' mental/emotional state and fortune.Since we live in 2021 and we're pretty aware of the Nazis' atrocities, most of the things that Frankl tells about his experience are somewhat lessened by the impact on the reader of dozens of documentaries and movies on WW2. It might have been chilling reading the book in the postwar era, when all the details were still unfolding and the wold came to realize what had really happened. What we didn't know before reading the book is that a new therapeutic model, Logotherapy, was greatly influenced by the Jew's suffering in Auschwitz, and that there is hope even in the biggest moments of despair. For the rest, Frank's take on life is admirable and full of wisdom, whether you are into Logotherapy or not. I especially liked his comments on love, the youth and unemployment, as they are still, more than half a century later, valid. LOGOTHERAPY, SOME CORE PRINCIPLES AND POINTS I LIKE> The great task for any person is to find meaning in his/her life. Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: Work (doing something significant), Love (caring for another person), and Courage in difficult times.> Suffering is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it.> You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.> Logotherapy aims to curing the soul by leading it to find meaning in life.> What matters is to make the best of any given situation.> Man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.> The aim of life is not to be happy as the seeking of happiness can increase someone's unhappiness.> Suffering is unavoidable, is part of life, and we need to accept it and re-frame it.> Tragic optimism, i.e., one remains optimistic in spite of the “tragic triad, or those aspects of human existence which may be circumscribed by: (1) pain; (2) guilt; and (3) death and that we should say 'yes' to life in spite of all that.> To suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic. > Success cannot be pursued but it is an end result that the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.There are hundreds of pearls of wisdom that I cannot reproduce here because it would take too long, but those are the ones that made me read the book in the first place.SOME CRITIQUEFrankl poignantly mentions that despite all the inmates being subject to the harsh situations (food and sleep deprivation, hard-work labor, extreme cold, beatings, etc.) some died and some survived, and he ways that, many of those who died did so because they gave up on life and lose hope in getting alive out of the camps and resuming their lives after the war.I love most of what Frankl says and his attitude towards life. However, we cannot say that Frankl survived just because he had a specific mindset, hopes of getting alive, finding his family and publishing the basics of Logotherapy included in this edition, which he had already started writing before being taken to the camp. First of all, he was an intellectual and a psychiatrist, i.e. a person with a strong mind, mentally s stable with enough intellectual harnesses to re-frame anything in his head to give it meaning. He certainly was an optimistic, like it's in his nature. Not everyone was so well equipped mentally and emotionally. What's more, there must have been other people who, like him, had hopes of surviving, seeing their families and doing something with their lives in the outside world, but they never made it because, I can only hypothesize, their physique and immune system, as well as their mental state weren't Frankl's.

Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is one of the most powerful and moving books ever written. Combining his experiences as a Holocaust survivor with his groundbreaking psychological insights, Frankl explores how meaning and purpose can sustain us even in the darkest circumstances. His concept of logotherapy—the idea that our primary drive is not pleasure or power, but meaning—offers a transformative perspective on suffering and resilience. This book is both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring, reminding us of the strength of the human spirit. A must-read for anyone searching for purpose in life.