Living Logotherapy
Published by
www.elisabeth-lukas-archiv.de
© 2020 Elisabeth-Lukas-Archiv gGmbH
Dr. Heidi Schönfeld
Nürnberger Straße 103a
D-96050 Bamberg
This English edition published with the kind permission of Profil Verlag. Originally published in German as Lehrbuch der Logotherapie, Menschenbild und Methoden © 2014 Profil Verlag GmbH München, Wien
Elisabeth Lukas
LOGOTHERAPY
Principles and Methods
Translated from the German by:
Dr. David Nolland, Oxford
Edited by:
Dr. Heidi Schönfeld, Bamberg, and Dr. David Nolland, Oxford
Cover design, typesetting and layout:
© Bernhard Keller, Köln
Print and distribution: tredition GmbH, Hamburg
ISBN 978-3-00-066678-0 (paperback)
ISBN 978-3-00-066679-7 (eBook)
Elisabeth Lukas
LOGOTHERAPY
Principles and Methods
Elisabeth Lukas
LOGOTHERAPY
Principles and Methods
LIVING LOGOTHERAPY
A publication series of the Elisabeth-Lukas-Archive
Contents
Foreword
Translator’s Note
Logotherapy’s Concept of Man
Classification of Logotherapy
The Concept of Dimensional Ontology
The Dialectic of Fate and Freedom
Conscience, the “Organ of Meaning”
The Dialectic of Vulnerability and Intactness
The Dialectic of Pleasure Orientation and
Meaning Orientation
An Intermediary Case Study
Two and three dimensional interpretations
The Dialectic of Character and Personality
Self-knowledge and Dealing with Oneself
The Logotherapeutic Form of Conversation
Keywords as a Guarantee Against the Imposition of Values
The Problem of Ambivalence: the Torn Human Being
The Problem of Non-acceptance: People Who are Frozen
by Protest
The Problem of Ignorance: the Person Walled-in
by Indifference
Reflections on a “Rhetoric of Love”
The Methods of Logotherapy
The Categories of Neurosis According to Viktor E. Frankl
The Origin of Anxiety Neuroses
Curing Anxiety Neuroses
Keeping the Compulsive Neurotic Character in Check
A Bit of Unkindness: Hysteria
Rescue by Renunciation
A Multidimensional Concept for Dealing with Addiction
Eating Disorders – a Problem Complex with Two Roots
Preventing Iatrogenic Damage
Supporting Patients with Somatic / Endogenous Illness
Dealing with the Blows of Fate
Noogenic Neuroses and Depressions
Ways Out of the Existential Vacuum
How Sleeping Disorders and Sexual Disorders are Created
A Recipe for Avoiding Egocentricity
Prevention and Aftercare
The Value of Life
The Pathogenesis of Mental Disorders
Further Developments in Logotherapy
Being Able to Decide Well
Principles of Meaning-Centred Family Therapy
Perceiving Oneself in a Completely Different Way
The Author
Foreword for the Series “Living Logotherapy”
“In our time, people usually have enough to live on. What they often lack, however, is something to live for.” This is how Viktor E. Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist and founder of logotherapy, summarised a problem that is just as relevant today as ever. Elisabeth Lukas, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, has an international reputation as Frankl’s most important student. In her many books, she illustrates how logotherapy provides help in cases of mental illness, enriches the everyday life of healthy people and inspires us all to lead a meaningful, fulfilling life. Her books illustrate how humane, authentic and up-to-date a “living logotherapy” can be. The main objective of this new series is to make her books, which have enjoyed lasting success in the German-speaking world, more accessible to speakers of English.
Many people have worked hard to make it possible for the Elisabeth Lukas Archive to publish this new series. Particular thanks are due to our translator Dr. David Nolland, who has produced a fluid text that remains very close to the original. He has excellent knowledge in the field of logotherapy and supervises this series in all matters relating to the English-speaking market. Thanks are also due to Prof. Dr. Alexander Batthyány, who supported us from the beginning and will accompany this series as a guide. The formatting and layout is due to Bernhard Keller, and the beautiful presentation of the books is wholly attributable to his expertise.
The first book in this series was a collaborative project combining discussions of the theory of logotherapy by Lukas with numerous case studies by Schönfeld. The present book, the second in the series, is a textbook by Elisabeth Lukas on the fundamental concepts of logotherapy and their applications. This book has been reprinted in German many times, but there has not, until now, been a satisfactory translation available in English.
Thanks to Dr. Kagelmann of Profil Verlag, the holder of the rights for the German version of the books, for generously giving his permission for an English language version.
The third book, which will appear shortly, is a further collaboration between Lukas and Schönfeld, combining case studies with discussions of how these cases illustrate the practical application of logotherapeutic methods.
All that remains is to wish all of these books on the practical application of logotherapy success in the English-speaking world. May it give readers a glimpse into the vitality and relevance of these lifechanging therapeutic methods!
Dr. Heidi Schönfeld
Director of the Elisabeth-Lukas-Archive
Translator’s Note
Logotherapy is notoriously tricky to translate, as indicated