Man's Search for Meaning

Frankl states that hope, like genuine laughter or like faith or love is not something that we can will into being. Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. As time passed, however, the prisoner's experience in a concentration camp finally became nothing but a remembered nightmare. Man's search for meaning can help anyone who suffers from depression, which Frankl urges stems from a lack of meaning if it is not the clinical type (chemical imbalances in the brain). After reading this book I realized that I had a choice.

Why I found this book so helpful in my struggles with depression is because one of the rock-bottom places where depression can take you is despair.

Have you felt the vacuum of meaningless suffering sucking the life out of you like a black hole? After the Book of Mormon, this would be my second recommendation to anyone looking for purpose in life.

As opposed to Freud, who believed that the primary drive in man, the most urgent motivation, was pleasure, Frankl believes that it is meaning.

Here are a few more personal reflections: Depression and Meaning; Depression or existential distress as a wake-up call to search for a deeper meaning was, pun intended, a wake-up concept for me. Have you ever thought that living only extends the misery and torment you've already took? In what must have seemed hopeless circumstances, is there any point in searching for meaning for one's life?

Meaning is made by man himself, and each man's purpose is unique to him. Attaining success? This was the experience of those who—like Frankl—returned home to discover that no one awaited them. I started reading "Man's Search for Meaning" thanks to a recommendation that appear on another book called I started reading "Man's Search for Meaning" thanks to a recommendation that appear on another book called I never thought the book would actually deal with psychiatry, neuroses and some basic mental health issues.I never thought the book would actually deal with psychiatry, neuroses and some basic mental health issues.One of the best books I've ever read. It is almost reportage. 080701429X For example, in the direst of consequences, we could take pride in staying humans and helping one another instead of regressing to an animal level.I leave you indeed with a powerful quote from the book on this subject:If you feel depressed, maybe you don’t have an overarching goal which juices you?Enjoying what life can offer is a great way of living a meaningful life.If you are like me and tend to be demanding of yourself and rarely enjoy rewards, start changing that.You have just read a neatly organized summary with all the biggest lessons.

I wouldn't call it depressing; I would call it observant of people in difficult circumstances and why some give up, and some keep hope alive. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America. I found again the reasons to live, to try my best and to serve life.

At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, the book had sold over 10 million copies and had been translated into 24 languages. I’ve been meaning to read this for a very long time, but have to admit that the idea of reading a book by someone who survived the Holocaust with long descriptions of that part of their life included with graphic detail didn’t really make me want to jump at the chance.

It is a must-read book for all I think. And, probably worst of all, they prevent us from looking deeper into ourselves to find meaning.This part made me think of Henry Thoreau’s quote about most people “living a life of quiet desperation”.A chapter of Man’s Search for Meaning is dedicated to Contrary to Freud’s introspection, Logotherapy takes the person In the logotherapy’s perspective existential distress is Thus depression can be a welcome warning if we use it as a wake-up call for some long-due soul searching.According to Frankl the main sources of meaning are:The first is what you could call a life purpose or life goal.I love the second one as it puts experiences and a life of enjoyment as an alternative to achievement.

Before the war he established suicide prevention centers in Vienna for teenagers, and tried to help them find their unique meaning in life. And finally, meaning can be found in the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. He is not advising us to bring it upon ourselves as a form of sadomasochism but to rise above it with heroic integrity and see it as an opportunity to learn from it. I'm 77 and every time I re-read the book, I find new relevant meaning.The book is a fast read, and it's hard to argue with a book that has more than 12 million copies in print worldwide. Look at the circumstances of your life, look at your talents and the people that surround you. Frankl does not dwell on the atrocities, but he does detail the mindset of his fellow prisoners facing what most of them knew was their death (as well as the death of their loved ones). He found that in the camps the survivors had a positive attitude, which reinforced their search for meaning and gave them hope in a hopeless situation. Meaning is found in creating or doing. For more books please Thank you so much for you valuable comment. As opposed to Freud, who believed that the primary drive in man, the most urgent motivation, was pleasure, Frankl believes that it is meaning. Perhaps for this reason, Frankl's book affected me even more deeply than it otherwise might have. The first part, which I loved, is the author's story about how he endured the concentration camps. The search for meaning, for a response to something life is asking of you, is the place where hope is born. This is how Frankl dealt with his experience of those terrible years. Man’s Search for Meaning is a classic and one of the most quoted books in the thousands of books that I have read. He wrote "The Search for Meaning" in only nine days and described how his positive attitude and search for meaning enabled him to survive.