Existential Therapy

The Core Idea: Meaning in the Face of Suffering

Existential therapy, in the form developed by Viktor Frankl, starts from a radical premise: the primary drive in human beings is not pleasure or power, but the search for meaning. Even in the most horrific, life-threatening circumstances, a person can choose to find meaning in their existence. This act of finding meaning is called meaning making, and it is the central task of therapy.

Frankl called his approach Logotherapy. The word Logos is Greek for "soul," so Logotherapy literally means "treatment for the soul." This immediately tells you that the therapy is not just about fixing symptoms or adjusting behaviour — it is about addressing the deepest questions of a person's existence.

The Spiritual Unconscious

Just as Freud described an unconscious mind filled with repressed instincts and desires, Frankl proposed a spiritual unconscious. This is not a religious concept in a narrow sense, but a storehouse of the highest human qualities: love, aesthetic awareness, and values. Neurotic problems, in this view, do not only arise from conflicts in the instinctual unconscious. They can also arise when a person's spiritual dimension is neglected or blocked.

Existential Anxiety and Neurosis

Frankl distinguished three aspects of a person's existence: the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual. Neurotic anxieties can attach to any of these three. However, he placed special emphasis on spiritual anxieties — the anxieties that arise when a person feels their life has no meaning, purpose, or value. This kind of anxiety is called existential anxiety: a neurotic anxiety of spiritual origin. It is the feeling of emptiness, of meaninglessness, that can be more debilitating than any physical symptom.

The Goal of Logotherapy

The goal is straightforward and powerful: to help the patient find meaning and responsibility in their life, regardless of their life circumstances. The therapist does not try to change the patient's situation; they try to change the patient's relationship to that situation. The focus is on the unique nature of the patient's life — no two people will find the same meaning, and the therapist's job is to help the patient discover their own.

The Therapeutic Process: How It Works

The therapist's role in Logotherapy is distinct from many other approaches.

• Therapist as a real person: The therapist is open and shares their own feelings, values, and existence with the client. This is not a blank-screen or detached expert; it is a genuine human encounter. …