SOURCE_DOCUMENTS/journal_023_2.txt

The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 65-73. 
ON THE NEW COSMOLOGY AND EDUCATION FOR MEANING 
Bernard Dansart 
According to the anthropologist, Margaret Mead, every culture has a creation story or cosmology, which seeks to answer the deep human need to understand our origins, our place on this planet and in the universe, and our destiny. This story not only helps us make sense of the mysteries of life and death; it also provides the paradigm for the very structure of society, its institutions, and everyday conduct. The cosmology developed in the 20th century is the explanation that provides the context for discovering meaning in life through the three basic values --creative, experiential, and attitudinal -identified by Viktor Frankl. By knowing our story we are able to discover what we can contribute to the world, experience delight and awe at our participation in this mysterious universe, and gain greater insight into the importance and applicability of the attitudinal values. 
According to Viktor Frankl, meaning cannot be discovered in the abstract; it can only be understood within a context. The broadest context for discovering meaning and purpose in life comes from understanding our place in the universe. Spiritual questions such as 'Where did I come from", 'Why am I here", and 'What is my destiny'' are answered in their broadest scope by understanding our place in the universe, our cosmology. 
The Western Cosmology 
Brian Swimme, a mathematical cosmologist, describes cosmology as ''the story of the birth, development, and destiny of the universe, told with the aim of assisting humans in their task of identifying their roles within the great drama."6-P-95 Cosmology is an ancient wisdom tradition that draws upon science, theology, art, poetry, and philosophy but is not strictly identified with any one of these. The specific aim of cosmology is 
65 
that of "embedding a human being in the numinous dynamics of our solar system."6•P 31 
Origin in the Sacred Story 
Dowd1 introduces the Western European tradition by tracing it back to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis in the Bible where God says: 
Let us make humanity in our image, in our likeness, and 
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the 
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild 
animals of the earth, and over all the creatures that move 
upon the earth. 
The use of the word "dominion," and its interpretation, is key. Western Christian interpretation has often explained the term "dominion" as control and power. In another creation account, this time in chapter two of Genesis, Adam is given the right to name all the plants and animals. Again, in our Western tradition the ability to name carries with it the power to control. The Hebrew term "yorade," however, carries the notion of relationship rather than dominion or control. 
From this biblical view, and the theology derived from it, the following conclusions were reached. We inhabit a ready-made universe that exists just as it was created. We were made with a relationship to and in the image of a transcendent God who was detached from the earth. The status conferred upon us by God made us superior to all the other creatures and authorized us to control them as we saw fit. From these conclusions it was but a short step to the belief that it was our right and privilege to explore nature, to probe and dissect it, and shape it to our own pleasure. Our sense of superiority over and detachment from nature freed us to develop the physical sciences and technology that resulted in our contemporary and expanded understanding of the physical nature of the universe. 
The Influence of Physical Science 
Driven by a succession of geniuses in the physical sciences, the scientific basis of cosmology as we know it today had been developing at an accelerating pace for about 300 years prior to the twentieth century. 3 The prevailing view of each of these scientists was that of a world composed of disparate, unconnected, inanimate parts interacting with each other according to the laws of cause-effect, determinism, and fractioning the whole into its component parts. Once science had isolated the ultimate particle the twin goals of control and predictability would be 
66 
achieved. All reality would ultimately be reduced to the physics of elementary particles. Spiritual questions would no longer be relevant. This is the reductionism at its height so often decried by Frankl. 
Some of the particles were huge like the stars and planets, while some were submicroscopic like the atom. According to Fox and Swimme, "The fundamental symbol for the classical scientific world view was the billiard table with the billiard balls glancing off one another."2 -P 12 One reason this approach to science was so appealing was because it complemented nicely the religious, hierarchical, biblical view of an objective world. The dualism developed by Descartes separated matter and spirit. Humans, who were spiritual because they were made in the image of their creator, were at the top of the pyramid of being and free to use their collective intelligence to probe and manipulate inanimate objects lower on the pyramid. Thus, harmony among science, technology, and religion existed and allowed science and technology to flourish. 
Over the course of approximately 300 years of Western European civilization, the values of primal cultures were thus challenged by new meanings discovered by exceptionally insightful and dedicated individuals. During these 300 years of search for the ultimate particle that would be hailed as the building block of all reality, these new meanings developed into socially codified values. Values such as control, domination, security, and the empirical philosophy gradually eliminated much need to hypothesize spirits or gods to explain the forces of nature and offer humans a sense of security. 
The science and technology in existence prior to the 20th century led to many marvelous discoveries but finally resulted in a dead end. The search for an ultimate particle, that solid entity that would account for the macroscopic reality of our daily experience, failed. Instead, science discovered an ultimate particle that may often masquerade as energy, an energy whose source is undetectable even by our most sophisticated instruments. The dead end is "all nourishing abyss,"6 that strange, marvelous, awe-inspiring, one-of-a-kind universe which cannot be put into context because it is a singularity and greater than anything we know. 
The Effect of the Big Bang Theory 
Science of the twentieth century arrived with a bang; more precisely, with what is called the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. Briefly, this theory says the universe began some 15 billion years ago as 
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a primeval fireball explosion of heat and energy which has evolved over these 15 billion years into the universe that we know today. The magnitude of this universe is so great that it consists of some 100 billion galaxies each containing approximately 100 billion solar systems.1 After this fireball had evolved for 1 billion years the galaxies began to form. Ten billion years later our own sun took shape. In another 500 million years the earth with its seas appeared. In another 500 million years the first life appeared on earth. Primates using tools, the taming of fire, performance of ritual burials, the development of language, all appeared within the last 2.5 million years. 
If the evolution of the universe from a pinpoint explosion of stupendous energy is not fantastic enough, we are further told that the universe is not an unchanging infinite space as was commonly believed in the early twentieth century. On the contrary, it is still expanding. It is expanding at precisely the amount necessary to keep from flying apart on the one hand and collapsing in upon itself on the other hand. Finally, by tracing the trajectories of galactic expansion backward, scientists discover a single pinpoint of ineffable energy that gave birth to the entire universe. Thus modern science brings us to the same belief found in the cosmology stories of previous civilizations that the universe began in a single place. 
The existence of this primal point source, predicted by George Gamow, was a subject of much scientific debate until the discovery and measurement of the background radiation that was also predicted. This background radiation or energy is measured in photons, bundles of energy which come and go in mysterious ways. They are mysterious because they can appear out of nowhere, disappear, and then reappear somewhere else with no visible connection. According to Swimme their source is the same source as the origin of the entire universe, what he refers to as "all-nourishing abyss." 
I use "all-nourishing abyss" as a way of pointing to this 
mystery at the base of being. One advantage of this 
designation is its dual emphasis: the universe's 
generative potentiality is indicated with the phrase "all
nourishing," but the universe's power of infinite absorption 
is indicated with "abyss." 
The universe emerges out of all-nourishing abyss not only 
fifteen billion years ago but in every moment. Each instant 
protons and antiprotons are flashing out of, and are as 
suddenly absorbed back into, all-nourishing abyss. All
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nourishing abyss then is not a th_ing, nor a collection of things, nor even, strictly speaking, a physical place, but rather a power that gives birth and that absorbs existence at a thing's annihilation. The foundational reality of the universe is this unseen ocean of potentiality. If all the individual things of the universe were to evaporate, one would be left with an 
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infinity of pure generative power.6·P 
The Cosmogenetic Principle 
The knowledge that we currently have leads scientists to postulate three principles of functioning as characteristics of the universe. First is the principle of differentiation. The abundant and limitless variation present in the universe is open to observation by means that include optical and radio telescopes. The evolution of the universe began with the primary fireball followed by the elementary particles which produced hydrogen and helium. Next came the heavy elements, stars, galaxies, planets, and the multiple plant and animal forms of planet earth. Even a cursory examination reveals a universe with a decided predilection for complexity and variation and a repugnance for repetition. 
The second principle of operation is that of communion or relationship. Gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak field forces ensure that everything in the universe is connected, however remotely. Subatomic particles like electrons have been discovered to have an ambiguous nature, sometimes being observed as particles and sometimes as waves, thus revealing a relationship so intimate that the same entity may manifest itself in two different forms. On a macroscopic scale, the evolution of the universe from the fireball to human beings demonstrates a relationship and interdependence among all things that exist. 
Finally, the universe is a self-organizing or autopoietic system. This self-organizing force directed the evolution of the fireball through the subelemental particles, wavelets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, superclusters, planets, earth, and the myriad life forms on earth, including humans. This organizing force is self-contained and points to the quality of interiority because there is no other source outside the universe for it to draw upon. Likewise, the organization evident in the universe could not be the result of random chance because scientists agree that 15 billion years would not be long enough to produce even a single amino acid molecule by chance. Imagine the inner principle needed to maintain the universe 
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poised on a knife's edge between two avenues of destruction, either collapsing in upon itself or flying apart into disintegration. Instead the universe maintains just the precise amount of tension between the force of gravity holding it together and the energy working to keep it constantly expanding. 
Modern Writers Filled with Awe and Wonder 
The writings of modern cosmologists and authors from other disciplines are also filled with wonder at the mysteries of the universe. Charlene Spretnak,5 writing in a book aptly subtitled The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age, censures the view of those who understand the physics of quantum science yet retain a committed belief in the unconnected, totally mechanical, objective, billiard ball view of the cosmos. This view is inadequate because although it understands well enough the discoveries of quantum physics, it dismisses any deeper analysis of their significance and potential as a new metaphor for human functioning. A universe of inert, dead objects and forces devoid of awe and mystery is the order of the day for them. Also missing is any recognition of the potential that quantum physics holds for possible insights into the meaning of human existence. 
Swimme describes the irony of discovering new knowledge without a corresponding change of consciousness in this way: "I do not know of any science department in the American system of higher education where a change of perception is a primary aim of the curriculum. Our focus of course has been dominated by the central task of accumulating and producing knowledge. "5,P-24 His own fascination and awe at the mysteries of the universe was so complete and obvious to others that on many occasions he was accused of being high on drugs. His altered state of consciousness, however, stemmed from his fascination with the mystery inherent in the story of the universe, an absorption in the numinous, rather than some chemical enhancement. 
Connection of Cosmology to Logotherapy Principles 
I propose that the cosmologists are talking about what Frankl calls an experiential value, something that goes beyond logic and words to the spiritual dimension. Regardless of how it would be expressed, it would convey an experience beyond information, empirical data, an assemblage of equations, or what scientists call fact. 
The codified values of the aboriginal peoples included little formal science or control of nature; yet at the same time they were filled with 
70 
great awe and respect for the planet and the universe. These values also included a healthy dose of fear based on a lack of scientific understanding of the forces of nature. Painfully, haltingly, values like these were challenged and eventually supplanted by meanings discovered by committed and insightful individuals during the Copernican revolution. Since the revolution of consciousness resulting from the discovery that the earth revolves around the sun took many years, we should not be surprised if it also takes many years before the metaphors offered by the discoveries of quantum science permeate our consciousness to the degree that they bring about personal and institutional change. Whatever meanings and values result from our contemporary understanding of the universe, they should prove helpful in answering spiritual questions such as our origin, place in the universe, and destiny. 
A Proposed School Curriculum 
One of my fantasies is to develop a school curriculum that exposes children from their earliest years to the story of the universe. Children in kindergarten could be told of the birth of the universe, the "Big Bang." It would be no less fascinating or understandable than Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, or Jack and the Beanstalk. This could be followed with stories of the primary gasses which children could understand because of their experience with clouds. Eventually they could learn more detail about galaxies, stars, planets, and earth. Children and adults would benefit from a recurring story presented at increasingly sophisticated levels of how the destiny of the planets, earth, and sun are controlled by the Milky Way which they themselves can see in the night sky. Certainly, it would help offset the story told with great consistency on television that the purpose of life is to be a consumer. The cosmological story offered by television is advertising; and the story of advertising is dissatisfaction with what we have and stimulation of the desire for more "stuff." Consequently, our society is consumed by a profound loneliness that cannot be assuaged by a surfeit of things. Our desires are inflamed but our spiritual needs unmet in a sea of inert, dead objects devoid of wonder. We wither amidst a cosmology of consumerism whose story is 'We're born, we buy, we die." 
We are in a Transition Stage 
How surprising, gracious, and benevolent of the self-organizing cosmos to offer a corrective to the mechanomorphic model in the form of 
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a technology that resulted in space travel. Reflecting on the words of astronaut Michael Collins, consider the change in consciousness made possible by photographs taken from space vehicles showing planet earth in unsuspected radiance. 
Seeing Earth from a distance has changed my perception 
of the solar system... Ever since Copernicus's theory 
gained wide acceptance, people have considered it an 
irrefutable truth; yet I submit that we still cling emotionally 
to the preCopernican, or Ptolemaic notion that Earth is 
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the center of everything. 1·P 
Before it failed, the scientific paradigm developed between the 16th and 20th centuries produced the framework for a whole set of institutional values that are now in the process of extensive re-evaluation. A dualistic view of spirit and matter, and prizing of predictability and control, had become codified in societal values and structures. One result was a technology that produced "smart bombs" and other military hardware that have failed to deliver the promised peace and security. An economic system of unbridled capitalism predicated on the existence of a universe of discrete, independent, and unrelated objects has produced a society characterized by ovenweening competition. Belief in unlimited progress has spilled over into an excessive reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, strip mining, deforestation, and pollution of air and water. These and many other social and institutional values and their consequences were a result of the mechanical, billiard ball view of a universe based on a philosophy of absolute and immutable empiricism. 
Today we are in a transition stage between stories. The belief in a mechanomorphic universe populated only by inanimate objects is being challenged by the view of a universe which is organismic. Leading thinkers are discovering new meanings within the context of contemporary developments of science, technology, scripture study, and theological reflection which offer more satisfying answers to questions posed by us in our search for meaning. To the question of our origin we can now respond that we came from the "Big Bang." In response to questions about meaning and values to guide our behavior, we can look to the three characteristics of the universe -differentiation, connectedness, and self-organization. Light is shed on our destiny when we reflect that 15 billion years of the universe's existence reveals a story of evolution toward ever greater diversity and higher levels of consciousness. Appreciation of the inanimate world as rich in being and 
7
meaning at many levels is receiving increasing acceptance.4· 
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An education curriculum more in line with reality as we now understand and appreciate it may come about and offer children meaning for living rather than inflated desires for amassing more stuff. This new level of consciousness may produce a greater sense of connectedness, wonder, and respect for all levels of being in the universe and help to heal our society of the mass neuroses of addiction, aggression, and depression. With the rise of a critical mass of people, including those in positions of great power, who develop this new consciousness, a fresh set of societal values may find its way into our social institutions and gain widespread acceptance. 
BERNARD R. DANSART, Ed.D. [P.O. Box 178, 1450 Alta Vista, Dubuque, Iowa 52004-0178 USA; bdansart@loras.edu] is a Professor Emeritus at Loras College. He will continue to teach part-time in the School Counseling program. 
References 
1. 
Dowd, M. (1993). Earthspirit. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications. 

2. 
Fox, M., & Swimme, B. (1982). Manifesto for a global civilization. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Company. 

3. 
Greene, J. (1969). 100 great scientists. NY: Simon & Schuster. 

4. 
O'Murchu, D. (1997). Quantum theology. NY: Crossroad Publishing Company. 

5. 
Spretnak, C. (1991 ). States of grace. NY: HarperCollins. 

6. 
Swimme, B. (1996). The hidden heart of the cosmos. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. 

7. 
Wei-ming, T. (1994). Beyond the enlightenment mentality. In M. Tucker & J. Grim (Eds.). Worfdviews and Ecology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. 


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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 74-80. 
LOGOTHERAPY CONCEPTS APPLIED TO GRIEF AND MOURNING 
Patricia E. Haines 
After 14 years in remIssIon Betty's cancer reoccurred. At first chemotherapy seemed to be working. Her spirits were up, and she continued daily activities. Then the worst scenario happened. The chemotherapy was no longer effective. Gradually her physical condition deteriorated. We watched in awful dread. Our feelings of helplessness increased as Betty's ability to function decreased. We shed our tears in private. Then, toward the end, we all shed tears with her. 

Before Betty's decline, I made it a point to look intently into her snapping eyes. I closed my eyes to take in the total effect of her infectious laugh. I savored the meaningful moments. I refused to focus on the end of her days because to do so would have denied me the meaning of the present. 
Working with the Recently Bereaved 
Sensitivity and responsiveness to mourners are very important during early bereavement. We acknowledge, with understanding, the reality and depth of their grief. Those close to the deceased may display erratic, agitated, irrational behavior or even hysterics or rage. They may be stunned and inconsolable for days, unable to benefit from words intended to comfort. 
In these situations talking about meaning potential is premature. The comment, "One day you will enjoy meaningful memories of your loved one," can bring angry responses because feelings of loss are overwhelming and pervasive. 
Survivors say they particularly resent attempts to soften the impact of their loss. They point out that sayings such as, "It's God's will," or ''This too shall pass," or "I know how you feel," are intolerable to mourners. They would be much more comforted by a simple, "I'm sorry." A recent 
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widow said that the most welcomed words were "How are you" from people who really wanted to know the answer. 
Words are not always necessary. Sometimes we can best comfort our bereaved friends or clients through what chaplains call the "ministry of presence"-just being there as a comforting presence. Selftranscendence through silent strength can do wonders. 
Sarah's Denial 
Sarah's 29-year-old brother died in an auto accident. The untimely death devastated Sarah. Her life had been wrapped up in her brother's accomplishments. She saw no other meaning of her own. For months after his death she sat in his apartment surrounded by his possessions. She hung his laundered clothes neatly in his closet. She paid the rent monthly claiming she needed more time to go through his belongings. His cremains were stored in a shoebox inside the closet. Every evening she returned to her own home and dialed his number just to hear his voice on the recorded message. She believed "He is gone, but he is still here. Someday he will come back if I can keep him alive." 
In this situation the denial became pathological. Sarah was not able to move forward. Her ability to find meaning in the memory of the sibling love they had shared was blocked. 
Facing Denial: Difficult, Necessary 
Although death is a normal process in life, and is a part of logotherapy's Tragic Triad, we live in a death-denying culture.3 However, as Frankl states, despair ends only when meaning begins.2 The bereaved begin to make new friends, participate in new activities, commit to carrying on with life, and, if widowed, become acclimatized to living as a single person. 
Meaninglessness in Grief 
Bereaved individuals feel a myriad of emotions, including: futility, senselessness, sadness, desperation, frustration, loneliness, anger, and despair. These are experienced within the stages of grief, which Levinson describes as: 3 
• 
Denial 

• 
Estrangement 

• 
Meaninglessness 

• 
Acceptance 

• 
Normalization 

• 
Existential resolution 


Welter affirms that feelings of meaninglessness are a part of grief. He states, "Love has great meaning because it is a connectedness. We are 
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born with some kind of innate equipment that yearns for such a connection that has been established, forcing us to grapple with the meaninglessness." s,p.s9 
Sub-stages of the Meaninglessness Stage 
Often meaninglessness is compounded because families witness loved ones endure immeasurable suffering before death. Lukas states that "one area beyond our comprehension is unavoidable and unexplainable suffering. Logotherapy deals with the entire range of human problems, from those we can change to those we cannot. Its concern is to comfort, its goal is to find the best possible help, its empathy is to patients who are led to realize that suffering is not meaninglessness." 4,P·61 
I believe there are several sub-stages within the stage Levinson labels as the Meaninglessness stage: 
1. 
Disbelief that something of this magnitude can happen to them 

2. 
Reinforcement of a belief that life is tragic and meaningless 

3. 
Search for quick coping techniques Drinking Overeating Abusing Drugs 

4. 
Absence of potential for meaning 

5. 
Deepening of the existential vacuum Depressed feelings Seeing self as helpless Failure to use available resources 

6. 
Existential despair If unresolved, posttraumatic stress disorder or suicide 


Feelings/Behaviors/Thoughts during Meaninglessness 
The sub-stages of the Meaninglessness Stage of grief lead to feelings, behaviors, and thoughts that can be expected. Education about these should permeate each counseling encounter during this stage of grief. Some, but not all, of the expectations are: 
*Having emotional ups and downs. 
*Feeling overwhelmed by the trauma of loss. 
*Having "in touch" experiences. 
*Experiencing periods of intense anger or even rage. 
*Wondering if normalcy will ever return. 
*Experiencing depression. 
*Experiencing sleeplessness. 
*Having a poor appetite. 
*Longing to be in touch with the loved one. 
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*Experiencing a sense of amnesia of the deceased person. "I try to 
picture his face and I can't." 
*Wandering about in a daze. 
*Crying and sobbing spontaneously. 
*Feeling "weird" inside. 
*Experiencing sporadic episodes of anxiety and panic. 
*Having anniversary anxiety. 
*Feeling alone in the universe -no sense of family, no anchor. 
Logotherapy Process of Grief Resolution 
1. 
Protective Bubble-"! function as though nothing major has happened. I know I should feel grief, but I don't feel anything." 

2. 
Existential Awakening-''This is beginning to hurt. I have this gnawing pain in the pit of my stomach." 

3. 
Transitional Existential Despair-"l'm feeling the absolute reality of my loss. My nerves are raw. I flare at the least little thing. I cannot imagine life without the presence of my loved one." 

4. 
Opening an Existential Path to Meaning-"! think I can survive this blow in my life. I can begin to face the death of my loved one and to cherish the memory. Gradually I will begin to integrate the memory and presence of their spirit into my daily activity." 

5. 
Existential Commitment to Memory-"I am fully engaged in daily activities. At times throughout the day, memories fill me with warmth -more warmth than sadness. Memories of times shared surface during the day, which bring about meaningful connectedness with my loved one. As time passes, the meaning associated with the person deepens until the cherished memory occupies a permanent place in the center of my living core." 


Healing Through Meaning 
So, it is clear that a Counselor's task, when the bereaved person has reached the Meaninglessness stage of grief, is to help the bereaved person move toward meaning. Lukas states: "No suffering can defeat us if we are prepared to search for its meaning, no loss is conceivable that does not hold the possibility of at least one meaning -that is the answer we owe to those who seek our consul." 4,p.ao 
Starting with the Individual's Spiritual Base 
A starting point is the existing spiritual base of the bereaved person. Counselors can determine the spiritual base of the bereaved through talking to them. A person's response to a death can reveal much about their belief system. Does the person talk about the loved one's passing in spiritual terms? Does the individual attend a place of worship? Is the 
77 
person turning to faith for comfort? Does the person belong to a twelvestep program? How does the person cope with adversity and pain? What is the level of meaning in the person's life? If the person does not have a religious spiritual base, does he or she have a concept of a strong inner core which can act as a spiritual base? 
The grief process seems to come to a resolution more satisfactorily for persons who have a pre-existing sense of meaning in their lives. They take the time needed, transcend their pain, and move toward spiritual peace. Eventually, they reach a degree of acceptance that enables them to remember deceased loved ones fondly. Though they experience sadness, anxiety, panic, or yearning, these feelings occur less frequently and are less disturbing. 
Dealing with Blockage Stemming from Guilt and Shame 
Often the client's guilt and shame stemming from the feelings of not doing enough to prevent the death, not visiting enough, or not doing enough for the deceased while alive, diverts mourners from their journey toward meaning. Instead, they focus on what they believe they "should" or "ought" to have done, berating themselves for negligence. The counselor's task is to dereflect these self-recriminations to prevent hyperreflection of the self-defeating admonitions of guilt, shame, self-pity, and remorse. Dereflection can be accomplished by reminding individuals that they cannot expect to have responded perfectly to this stressful situation, and the responsibility of the person's care was not exclusively theirs. In the case of the sudden death of a loved one, the "shoulds" and "oughts" may be amplified since there is no longer an opportunity to say words left unspoken or to share precious moments together. 
In the situation where self-recriminations are severe and inhibiting, exercises such as listing activities that individuals did to help their loved ones may be beneficial. In the situation of sudden death people can write a letter expressing to the deceased person their feelings and remembrances. They might be encouraged to read the letter aloud to the person. In both situations, they are asked to recount meaningful conversations with the deceased individual. 
Experiences of Application in a Group Support 
For several years now, the Pastoral Care Department of a local hospital has held a non-religious grief support group. Following a death, family members and close friends are given information about the group and encouraged to attend. Newcomers are given the opportunity to tell their stories. Often they have a need to relate the events surrounding the dying, down to the last detail. At this point feelings may be submerged and numbed, or they may be at the surface and ready to spill out. 
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Participants are helped, mostly by other bereaved people in the group, to manage their feelings one day at a time or even one minute at a time if need be. Above all, they are helped to realize they have a core of inner strength that will enable them to handle the emerging pain in the caring atmosphere of people who have had the same experience reaching out to another. 
Specific Cases 
Recently, a member said, "This is the safest place for me. I can say or feel anything I want. People here understand as no one else does." 
Ben, 45, came to the group saying he was embarrassed to need help because his wife had died eight months ago. He had hoped that increasing his activities would take care of the grief. However, after months of trying to suppress his feelings without success, he decided he had to do something. He admitted that sharing in a group intimidated him, and crying humiliated him. Group members were able to put him at ease. Gradually, when he realized that others, including other men, were describing the same feelings and frustrations he felt, Ben became a full participant and exhibited significant personal spiritual growth. 
The Value of Sharing Groups 
Fabry states, "In the deepening climate of trust, members of sharing groups can be led to see several areas in which meaning suddenly may illuminate their life." 1-P-154 He pointed out that even in the most serious despair, and despite all limitations, individuals have a center of choice in everything which can result in meaningful or meaningless existence. 
Group participants learn to recognize meaning that exists in prior "mundane" events. They marvel at their loved ones' behaviors that once were taken for granted. Sharing special experiences, and laughing and crying together, creates a lasting bond among them. In most situations the facilitator does not have a major role because participants take the lead. Education and insight happen, usually not through lecture, but rather through the group process. Some members bring poetry they have written, readings that are especially meaningful, or articles that bring comfort. Each year a candlelight memorial is held at Thanksgiving for current and past group members. At that time the participants are encouraged to bring photographs or other remembrances of their deceased loved ones. 
Measuring Success 
What constitutes success in grief counseling? One measure of success is related to the meaning realized by the participants. 
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After one year a member of our grief support group wrote about her growth and meaning derived from the group experience. She wrote, "One year ago I was in complete despair, convinced that I would never want to move on. Through this group, I felt nurtured and supported during my darkest hour. No one told me not to cry or to get ahold of myself, or, worse yet, that I should be over this by now. Through your caring and love, I had the courage to establish my identity and move on. I believe I am ready to move on." This woman was on the path to meaning, incorporating the changes which occurred so abruptly in her life. Her journey was different than what she had planned, but she was moving toward meaning none-the-less. 
6
Actor John Travolta spoke of love and loss:5·P· 
"I've lost lots of people that I love. But I guess I finally learned 
that, when it comes to loving people, you really don't have a 
choice. If you want to feel alive and experience something 
wonderful, you have to risk great loss. Relationships mean too 
much to me to ever walk away." 
This is the essence in the healing of loss. The healing lies in the blessing of memory, which keeps alive the loving remembrances of lives that have touched ours. 
PATRICIA E. HAINES, Ph.D., RN [666 Dayton Street, Akron, Ohio 44310 USA] received her Doctorate in Counseling and Human Development and is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor Ill, A Certified Criminal Justice Specialist, a Certified Jewish Chaplain, a Registered Nurse, and a journalist. 
References 
1. 
Fabry, J. (1979). Sharing groups. In J. Fabry, R., Bulka, & W. Sahakian (Eds.), Logotherapy in Action (pp. 161-64). NY: Jason Aronson. 

2. 
Frankl, V. (1963). Man's search for meaning. NY: Pocket Books. 

3. 
Levinson, J. (1995, July 27). Personal communication. Dallas, Texas. 

4. 
Lukas, E. (1986). Meaning in suffering. Berkeley: Institute of Logotherapy. 

5. 
Rader, D. (1995, October 22). You have to let your heart be in someone else's heart. Parade Magazine, pp. 4-6. 

6. 
Welter, P. (1987). Counseling and the search for meaning. Waco, Texas: Word Books. 


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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 81-88. 
HEIDEGGER'S BRIGHTNESS AND FRANKL'S SELF-TRANSCENDENCE 
Jim Lantz 
It is widely recognized that a person's exposure to crisis and/or trauma can result in either growth or despair.2•6 Crisis intervention and trauma therapy workers are consistently interested in discovering the factors that help turn a crisis and/or trauma into an experience of growth rather than a process of dysfunction. In this author's view, the transformation from crisis and/or trauma to growth and transformation has best been described in the existential writings of Viktor Frankl1·2·3.4 about self-transcendence and in the writings of Martin Heidegger5 about brightness and care. These two scholars of life have both consistently outlined the existential aspects of the healing process and the opportunities for growth that are always embedded in the experience of crisis and/or trauma. 
The present article describes briefly (a) Heidegger's concept of brightness and its similarities to Frankl's concept of self-transcendence and (b) how Heidegger's ideas about brightness may be used during logotherapy with clients who are experiencing crisis and trauma. The author also provides some clinical material illustrating both brightness and self-transcendence. The article emphasizes Heidegger's concept of brightness as it is assumed that Forum readers are already familiar with Frankl's concept of self-transcendence. 
What Is Brightness? 
Brightness is a central concept in Heidegger's daseinsanalysis (i.e., the analysis of existence). Brightness is a term used by Heidegger5 to describe one of a human being's potential responses to his or her special relationship to Being. For Heidegger, the human being is one of many 

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different kinds of beings (rocks, trees, animals, fish, the sky, etc.) that are created through Primordial Being. Heidegger believes that human beings (dasein) and other kinds of beings are all beings (small "b") within Primordial Being (large "B"), but that dasein has a special relationship to Primordial Being in that dasein is the only being that can become aware of "thrown-ness." For Heidegger, thrown-ness is the fact of our birth, when we are thrown into a position that is between Being and nothingness (our eventual death). This special relationship between dasein and Being (the awareness of our thrown-ness, birth and death) results in death imagery, death anxiety, and dread. For Heidegger, dasein can react to his or her special relationship with Being in one of two markedly different ways. These two responses to thrownness can be described as "arrogance" and "brightness." 
Arrogance 
In the arrogance response to thrown-ness and death imagery, the human being acts as though he or she is the center of the universe and develops the myth that all other beings and Being exist for him or her. In this arrogance response, dasein hides from death imagery, thrownness, and dread by transforming his/her special relationship with Being into a sort of permission to view all other beings and Primordial Being as expendable resources that exist for his/her consumption. This arrogance method of dealing with thrown-ness and death imagery has resulted in what many present-day psychologists, sociologists, and psychotherapists call narcissism. The arrogance response to thrown-ness and death imagery can be found in cultural, group, marital, family, and individual levels of human organization. For Heidegger, arrogance is a central problem in Western civilization. Arrogance fuels materialism and pollution and clouds our awareness of spirituality, beauty, and meaning in life. 
Considerable time and attention have been spent in the mental health literature attempting to describe the impact of narcissism or arrogance and how to challenge and change this form of pathology during individual, group, marital, and family treatment. Heidegger's concepts can be used to help the logotherapist more fully understand the relationship between narcissism, arrogance, and death imagery; and Heidegger's description of brightness can provide important understandings and direction in efforts to treat the narcissistic and arrogant client. 
Brightness 
A second potential response to the human being's special relationship to Being is "brightness." Responding to death imagery or 
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thrown-ness with brightness means to use death imagery to understand and celebrate the spirituality, importance, meaning, and specialness of existence (the specialness of the self, other beings, and Primordial Being itself). For Heidegger, brightness is a special manner of being-in-theworld that may be compared to the shining of a light in whose brightness the presence of other beings may be revealed. For Heidegger, a human being who responds to thrown-ness and death imagery with brightness becomes an attendant of Being who rather consistently manifests love 
23
and care. Frankl1· · .4 describes brightness as self-transcendence. 
In Heidegger's view, the human being who is aware of thrown-ness and eventual personal death can become an arrogant consumer of Being and other beings or can become a brightness that is comparable to the light of a glade in a forest where all beings can show, unfold, develop and reveal themselves. For Heidegger.5 existing as brightness and using brightness in taking care of the things and fellow human beings of the world is the human being's intrinsic task in life. At times, Heidegger describes arrogance as bad faith and brightness as authentic living. 
Brightness in Logotherapy and Existenzanalyse 
From a Heideggerian point of view, it is the central task of the logotherapist to challenge arrogance and to encourage brightness during the process of treatment. Such a task assumes that the logotherapist has a responsibility to create a treatment situation in which the treatment process becomes a world-unfolding and world-opening brightness that can promote and accept new possibilities for communication, interaction, meaning, intimacy, self-transcendence, and love in the glade of the treatment experience. From a Heideggerian perspective, the logotherapist has considerable responsibilities to: (a) manifest brightness (i.e., self-transcendence) in his or her personal life and his or her role of therapist within dasein; (b) help the client notice opportunities to manifest brightness and self-transcendence by becoming an attendant of Being; 
(c) help the client become a more effective attendant of meaning and Being; and (d) help the client celebrate his or her experiences of brightness and self-transcendence in his or her life as an attendant of meaning and Being.5 
Brightness and the Logotherapist 
It is a central responsibility of the logotherapist to manifest brightness in his or her relationship with the client and to shine light upon the potentials for meaning and being in the life of the client. In order for the 
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logotherapist to fulfill this responsibility, he or she should become a selftranscendent attendant of meaning and Being in his or her personal and professional life. 
As is true for the average client, the logotherapist must also face up to thrown-ness, death imagery, and dread in order to become an attendant of meaning and Being. The logotherapist may be exposed to thrown-ness, dread, and death imagery in one of two ways. Some logotherapists are exposed to thrown-ness and death imagery through the normal (yet still painful) exposure to the deaths of friends, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, and pets that always occurs during the human life cycle. Other logotherapists are exposed to thrown-ness and death imagery through less normal personal exposure to death and the near death experience such as occurs during catastrophe (tornado, flood, etc.), war, a violent physical attack upon the self or someone we love (such as rape), through exposure to a lifethreatening medical condition (such as heart attack, stroke or cancer), or through experiences in a Nazi death camp. 2 Regardless of the manner in which the logotherapist is exposed to thrown-ness or death imagery, it is his or her responsibility to utilize death imagery to emotionally understand and celebrate the significance of meaning and Being, other beings, and other human beings. In other words, to develop brightness and/or selftranscendence. 
Some Illustrations 
The following stories illustrate the development and manifestation of brightness and self-transcendence in the life and work of many social work students I have had the pleasure to teach over the years. Such stories are part of the foundation of my faith in the endurance of meaning and self-transcendence in the world and in the future of the helping professions. The stories are used with permission, but have been changed enough to protect confidentiality. 
Karen 
When Karen was a kid, she developed strange and unusual seizures. Her pediatrician was not able to help, and neither was the neurologist she saw after the pediatrician. What was of help was play therapy! Karen started seeing a psychologist who used play therapy materials and methods to help her describe what was bothering her. What was bothering Karen was her pedophile Uncle Billy. Uncle Billy eventually went to jail for child molestation. Karen remained in play therapy from 
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soon after her 6th birthday until she was 8 years old. During Karen's early teenage years, she developed an interest in neglected, abused, and mental retardation/developmental disability kids. She volunteered at a special school in her hometown for special education kids and eventually got a part-time job during the summers at a camp for mental retardation/developmental disability kids. Karen received her undergraduate degree in social work in 1987, worked for a few years and then obtained her MSW degree from Ohio State in the early 1990s. She is presently an extremely well respected supervisor at a child welfare agency in Central Ohio. 
Karen believes that she has a special call and feel for working with abused and neglected children. I believe she is correct. I see Karen as an excellent example of someone who has responded to thrown-ness and the traumas in her life with brightness and self-transcendence, Karen is a good reason for faith. 
Carol 
Carol was a nice, middle-class kid who went to college to find a husband. She graduated from college in the late 1960s with a degree in art history, married Bill and had two healthy and beautiful little girls. Her third child was not so fortunate. Bill, Jr., was a Down's-syndrome kid with severe cerebral palsy. Over the years, Carol became an expert at taking care of her son's special needs. She learned to become an advocate for her son, and she developed a special knack for relating to special needs kids and their parents. 
Carol was accepted into Ohio State's MSW program when her son was 16, and she graduated with her MSW when her son turned 18. After graduation, Carol got a job as a case manager in the local mental retardation/developmental disabilities system and has become especially effective in her work. A few years ago, Carol went into private practice, specializing in family treatment with families containing a special needs child. 
Carol has demonstrated self-transcendence and brightness in response to the tragedy she and her family have faced, and she has become an attendant of Being. Carol is another outstanding reason for faith. 
Ed 
Ed graduated from high school in 1966. Since he could not afford college and was about to be drafted, he said, "To hell with it" and joined the Marines. He got through training just in time to experience the "Tet" 
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offensive. Ed was eventually wounded in combat and returned to the United States with a purple heart, a bronze star, and with a deep interest in drugs. After many lost jobs and two marital failures, Ed stopped using drugs, joined AA, and became involved in volunteer work with other vets. He started sponsoring vets in his AA work and discovered that he was especially good in his work with substance abusing Vietnam veterans. After 15 years of solid employment, effective husbandhood and fatherhood, and years and years of top-notch sponsorship of other Vietnam veterans in AA, Ed was downsized at work and laid off. Once again Ed said "To hell with it" and started taking social work classes at Ohio State. He took only four years to get both his undergraduate degree and MSW, and he now works in the Veterans Administration system. 
Ed is doing the work he loves and had been doing for years, "except now I get paid." Ed is brightness, self-transcendence and a very good reason for faith. 
Bobbie 
Before age 10, Bobbie experienced a number of deaths in her family of origin. She lost her father, a sister, an aunt, an uncle, her grandmother, and her grandfather. Bobbie got the idea in her young head that if she loved someone, they were probably going to die. Since Bobbie was not a mean kid, she did the right thing and stopped loving people. She became cold, distant, overly intellectual, and avoided her feeling life whenever possible. Bobbie graduated from high school and went on to study elementary education in college. After about 10 years of elementary school teaching, Bobbie got into therapy and started warming up. After about 5 years of group and individual psychotherapy, Bobbie decided she wanted to become a therapist. She received her MSW degree from Ohio State in the early 1990s, worked for a few years at a family service agency and is now in private practice where she specializes in working with kids, adolescents, and adults who suffer with attachment disorders. She does excellent work. 
Bobbie is another wounded healer who has utilized her awareness of tragedy and thrown-ness to develop self-transcendence and brightness. Bobbie is a good reason for faith. 
Joyce 
Joyce graduated from high school when she was 17 and came to Ohio State to study political science as she hoped eventually to go to law school. During Joyce's sophomore year, her mother discovered that she had breast cancer. It was late-stage breast cancer, and her prognosis 
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was not good. Joyce dropped out of college to help her mother and became well acquainted with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. 
After her mother died, Joyce went into a deep depression. She entered therapy with a friend of mine and used both medications and individual psychotherapy to overcome her depression and her grief. Joyce decided to change her major. She returned to college and started studying social work. She received her undergraduate degree in 1994 and her MSW from our accelerated program in 1995. Joyce got a job after receiving her MSW degree as a hospital social worker. She eventually got herself transferred to an oncology unit, and then, just last year, started working as a hospice social worker in an excellent Midwest hospital. 
Joyce is very clear that she does excellent work reactive to both her school knowledge and personal knowledge of the impact of illness (and treatment) on human living. She does her work in honor of her mother and father and two siblings who faced cancer with courage and dignity "along with me." Joyce is brightness, self-transcendence and another reason for faith. 
Sam 
Samantha reports that she discovered she was a lesbian around the age of 8 or 9. She also decided to "keep it to myself as her father and mother were not open to different gender preferences. Sam hid her gender identity from family and friends until she was in college. A bleeding ulcer got Samantha into therapy with a university counseling center social worker who helped her explore her sexual identity, her fear of "coming out," and her hopes for her future life. Samantha finally came out, started calling herself "Sam," and became involved in the gay rights movement. Sam started volunteering in the gay community and met a number of social workers other than her therapist who recommended she explore social work as a profession. Sam graduated with an MSW degree from Ohio State in 1996 and now works as a case manager in an AIDS awareness and support network. 
Sam is also brightness and self-transcendence. She has taken much of the pain in her life and transformed it into her work as an attendant of meaning and Being. Sam is another good reason for faith. 
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Self-Transcendence, Brightness, and the Future of the Helping Professions 
The previous six stories about social work students who have taken their awareness of crisis, trauma, death, death imagery, and thrown-ness and transformed it into brightness and self-transcendence are only a few of the hundreds of such stories I could tell. These are old stories that emerge and re-emerge over the centuries, and they are also common stories. Sometimes they are called wounded healer stories. Sometimes they are called self-transcendence stories. My priest would call them stories of the Holy Spirit. Heidegger would call them "brightness" stories. 5 Sometimes such stories grow and expand and become legends or epic poems. 
Such stories do not just happen in the social work profession. They also get told by psychologists, counselors, nurses, teachers, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and pastoral counselors. Such stories are not just told at The Ohio State University but are also told at other universities and colleges around the world. I believe in these stories of brightness and self-transcendence. I have seen them again and again. They give me faith. They give me faith in the future of the helping professions, the usefulness of logotherapy and existenzanalyse, the future of therapeutic living, and the future of the mental health professions. These stories give me faith in meaning, Being, and in the beings that Heidegger called dasein. 
JIM LANTZ, PH.D. [1947 College Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA] is a Dip/ornate in logotherapy, Co-Director of Lantz and Lantz Counseling Associates, and a faculty member at The Ohio State University, College of Social Work. 
References 
1. 
Frankl, V. (1955). The doctor and the soul. NY: Vintage Press. 

2. 
Frankl, V. (1959). Man's search for meaning. NY: Simon & Schuster. 

3. 
Frankl, V. (1969). The will to meaning. NY: New American Library. 

4. 
Frankl, V. (1975). The unconscious god. NY: Simon & Schuster. 

5. 
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. NY: Harper. 


6. Lantz, J. (1993). Existential family therapy: Using the concepts of Viktor Frankl. Northvale: Jason Aronson. 
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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 89-94. 
LOGOTHERAPEUTIC GUIDELINES FOR THERAPISTS' SELF-CARE 
Maria Ungar, Larry Mackey, Monica Guest, & Christopher Bernard 
Several authors note that "a pressing issue among therapists working in today's managed care-s~stems 
10 82
is self-care.6• • P-But while over 
studies focus on its prevention. A search of Psychological Abstracts locates only 18 articles that address self-care as it relates to mental health professionals. Notably absent are studies outlining guidelines for training that enhances effective self-care among therapists, which is a research area that is "...an ethical requirement and necessary to protect the health of careers. "10• P 82 
In an earlier Forum article, Dr. Robert Shields described burnout as "...a process during which the human spirit is ignored within the confines 
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of self-imposed psychic boundaries. "12• P-He quoted Dr. Paul Welter who suggested "...burnout is a spiritual issue best treated by calling forth 
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the resources of the human spirit." 12• P-
Related to Shield's article, the purpose of the present paper is twofold: (a) to reflect on concepts relevant to therapists' burnout experiences from a meaning-oriented perspective, and (b) to flesh out and illustrate guidelines to utilizing the resources of the human spirit in self-care. 
When Therapists are Prone to Burnout 
Like our clients, therapists can harbor unhealthy attitudes. In this first section, we review some concepts that can help therapists recognize when our dispositions might make us more prone to stress and burnout. 
The Concept of the ''Wounded Healer'' 
First put forth by Henry Nouwen in 1972, the concept of the 'Wounded Healer'' means that we, like our clients, can be scarred by life's difficulties.11 In terms of tragedies, difficulties, and personal 
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obstacles that we might have to overcome, our lives are not dissimilar from the lives of our clients. However, suffering itself does not have to detract from our effectiveness as therapists. On the contrary, it may help us see meaning potentials that we might not have realized before. 
A vivid example of this concept is found in the article "Finding Meaning in Unavoidable Suffering," where Dr. Robert Barnes contends, "Those who show an undefeated spirit in desrerate circumstances can 
2
do something for us that others cannot do."1· P-He explains that through tapping into our own spiritual dimension, we can transcend our suffering. Our own suffering, in fact, can contribute to our heightened sensitivity to the pain and suffering of others. 
However, being wounded, in itself, does not guarantee good results. Our example can be used in a constructive manner only if we have adequately acknowledged, transcended, and dealt with suffering. For only then does our example mirror hope and encourage clients to reach out to alleviate avoidable suffering or to face unavoidable suffering with courage. If we deny parts of our experience we may engender a similar attitude in others. 
The Concept of "Pyramidal and Parallel Value-System" 
A second area of difficulties that therapists face, additional to the hardships in our own lives, is inherent in the work that we do. Clinical cases that are challenging require considerable energy and good coping skills. For example, research shows that therapists who work with 
6 10 10
traumatized clients, 2· · patients with chronic illness,7· and AIDS patients,7 report higher levels of job-related stress than other mental health therapists. 
Logotherapeutic literature cautions that whether we succumb to crises in the face of several pre-disposing factors is greatly influenced by
5
our attitudes.4· In this regard, Dr. Elisabeth Lukas refers to the "parallel and pyramidal value systems. "8• P-5 
She explains that a pyramidal value system makes us more susceptible to crises, because in this case we assign the most value to one particular event or attribute in our lives. If we become unable to fulfill this task or unable to live up to this attribute maximally, we fall into great despair easily, In a parallel value system, on the other hand, we "do not put all the eggs in one basket." We remain open to meaning possibilities and tasks to fulfill. 
During a workshop on "Crisis Prevention and Crisis lntervention"8 Lukas illustrated this concept by reviewing Professor Frankl's life from the parallel value system perspective. When he was no longer able to write and teach at the University of Vienna, Frankl increasingly devoted his energies to his family and to mentoring his students, who were also very 
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dear to him.· Lukas calls us to illustrate our own value system. The question to ask ourselves is whether we have a parallel value-system.8 
Unhealthy Attitudes 
In relation to our value-system, Frankl outlined four major unhealthy 
138 139
attitudes, which if dominant in our lives easily lead to neuroses:4• PP· 
• Fatalism is manifested in the assumption that everything is determined, everything can be explained, nothing is sacred or a mystery. 
8
This attitude leads to a cynical and pessimistic outlook on life.4· 
• 
Fanaticism (which is akin to the pyramidal value system) is a tendency to elevate a single value to the absolute level and idealize it. Fanaticism represents a danger each time the selected value is not attained, as the fanatic person easily breaks down in an emotional crisis. 4 ·8 

• 
Provisory attitude means living only for the present, disregarding or not planning for the future. It is apparent in wishful thinking, impulsivity, lack of aspirations for one's life, and making no effort to reach one's goals. 

• 
Collectivistic thinking means following the opinion of the majority to the extent of giving up one's individuality, personal convictions, and 


8
responsibility. 4· 
One example in reference to these attitudes is the attempt to dominate clients' ways of thinking and not recognize their freedom and responsibility in decision making. Not only does this increase the burden on the therapist, but also it makes it very difficult for clients to search for and find personal meaning. 
In summary of the above mentioned concepts, we, as counselors, experience and are affected by the tragic triad of human existence.5• P·92 We are confronted with suffering in the form of pain, guilt, and death, not only directly in our own lives, but also indirectly through the suffering of our clients. Taking a faulty attitude toward suffering is self-defeating because it depletes our energies, and it is detrimental to the welfare of our clients. 
Meaning-Orientation Counteracts Burnout 
In this next section, we turn our attention to examining logotherapy's triad of values. Juxtaposed to the tragic triad, we explore how therapists can find meaning--not despite but exactly because of--our lives; exactly because of the work that we do. 
Creative Values 
We have to take our physical and emotional limitations seriously. If we neglect the "vessel" of our spirit our ability to give to the world will decrease in the long run. We can take care of ourselves by taking time to 
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de-reflect from our immediate circumstances and to engage in activities that refresh and re-vitalize us. Examples include participating in physical exercise, developing a hobby, creating a mission statement, joining a discussion group. Regarding the issue of the parallel value system, we can enrich our professional lives by complementing our therapeutic activities with other valuable ways of giving, such as teaching, writing, supervision, or consultation. 
Experiential Values 
Our professional lives are enriched when we, through self-distancing, reflect on what we can learn from a situation, as well as when we contemplate what life is teaching us through the wisdom of our clients. Frankl reported "taking advantage" of experiential values when, early in his practice, he decided to worry less about what he learned from Freud and Adler; worry less about what techniques to use, or what to say to clients; but concentrate strongly on what his clients were telling to him. He also made shorthand stenographic notes of his sessions, which later helped him to reconstruct memorable case examples in his books. "Listen to your clients"9· P 33--listen to the melody of their hearts--was Frankl's advice to the young Elisabeth Lukas, when she moved to Germany, soon after completing her studies in Vienna, and found that "...well tested formulas and techniques did not work as they were supposed to." 9· P-33 The significance of Frankl's advice is to help us realize that when we give ourselves fully to the therapeutic relationship, then there is always a third element involved: Logos--meaning. That is, as logotherapists, we are never alone in our work. 
Attitudinal Values 
When we have worked hard to achieve a desired end but it does not come about, we can question ourselves "Socratically": In whose eyes do I want to be seen as successful?; Where do I place my trust? The answers these questions can be comforting and reassuring when we have done our best. Although the results of our efforts may not yet be visible, our efforts were not in vain. We accompanied our clients to the threshold of an area in which meanings can be found. In this case, the initiative to cross the threshold has to remain theirs. 
Alternatively, we have to model patience. We can communicate to our clients that even if a meaningful path is not yet in sight, we still are responsible for the way we choose to bear ourselves until meaning "dawns." 
There is another side of the coin to stress, worry, and concern--we can be reassured that the very fact that we are disturbed by demanding cases shows that we are sensitive, caring therapists who take the welfare 
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of our clients seriously. Perhaps exactly the fact that we are exhausted after a particularly difficult case shows that we have done our job our way; that we have worked with full dedication. 
Other logotherapeutic formulations can help us realize attitudinal values in the face of unavoidable work-related tension: No power on Earth can rob us of our experiences;5 What we have accomplished cannot be erased or taken away from us. 5 This includes instances when we courageously accompanied clients in their suffering, when we transcended personally challenging situations, or when we responded with a smile or a caring word when it was most needed. 
Concluding Remarks 
Lukas points out that whereas the realization of creative and experiential values depends, to some degree, on the environment and our abilities, attitudinal values require our inner response. Therefore, attitudinal values are the most significant among the three components of the value-triad. Prompting clients to "do" or to "experience" sometimes arouses resistance. Modification of attitudes, whereby clients are helped to mobilize the defiant power of the human spirit, often must precede the realization of creative and experiential values. 
Similarly, in therapists' self-care, attitudinal values occupy a central role--they provide the WHY for our mission. Creative values direct us to WHAT we can do to take good care of ourselves. Experiential values illuminate HOW we can work to be less prone to burnout. 
MARIA UNGAR, Ph.D. [15489-109A Ave., Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, V3R OX6] is a registered Psychologist working for Employee Assistance Programs, and in private practice. She is post-doctoral fellow at Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia. 
Rev. LARRY MACKEY, OMI, is an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and former Missionary to Native Peoples on the West Coast, where he pioneered establishing AA groups. He is Executive Director of the Bountyfull House Counselling Centre. 
MONICA GUEST, S.C.I.C., is a Sister of Charity of the Immaculate Conception. A former Educator, Missionary, and Campus Minister, she is a Counsellor at the Bountyfu/1 House. 
CHRISTOPHER BERNARD, M.Div., O.S.B., is a therapist who brings to his work the spiritual experience of 12 years as a Monk in a French Benedictine Abbey. He is Sabbatical Fellow at the University of Victoria Centre for Religion and Society, Victoria, British Columbia. 
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References 
1. 
Barnes, R. C. (1994). Finding meaning in unavoidable suffering. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 17, 20-26. 

2. 
Buttolo, W. H. (1996). Psychotherapy integration for war traumatization--a training project in central Bosnia. European Psychologist, 1, 140-146. 

3. 
Cushway, D. (1996). Tolerance begins at home: Implications for counselor training. The International Forum for the Advancement of Counseling, 18, 189-199. 

4. 
Frankl, V. E. (1993). Theorie und therapie der neurosen [Theory and therapy of neuroses). Munchen, Germany: Reinhardt. 

5. 
Frankl, V. E. (1967). Psychotherapy and existentialism. NY: Simon and Schuster. 

6. 
Friedman, M. J. (1996). PTSD diagnosis and treatment for mental health clinicians. Community Mental Health Journal, 33, 173-189. 

7. 
Hooley, L. (1997). Circumventing burnout in AIDS care. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51, 759-766. 

8. 
Lukas, E. (1996). Logotherapy in crisis-prevention. Workshop Notes. Workshop held at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, November, 1996. 

9. 
Lukas, E. (1995). Auf den spuren des logos-Briefwechsel mit Viktor E. Frankl [From the traces of logos-Correspondence with Viktor E. Frankl]. Munchen: Quintessenz. 

10. 
Moore, K. A., & Cooper, C. L. (1996). Stress in mental health professionals: A treatment overview. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42, 82-89. 

11. 
Nouwen, H. (1972). The wounded healer: Ministry in contemporary society. NY: Doubleday. 

12. 
Shields, R. (1988). Stress and burnout in the helping profession. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 19, 41-44. 


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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 95-100. 
FINDING LOGOTHERAPY IN TODAY'S POPULAR CULTURE Deborah Paden-Levy 
With the ending of the 20th century, Western culture bristles with materialistic, violent, egocentric, and pleasure-seeking values. Television, movies, the print media, and the computer all spread self-gratifying and power-driven examples rapidly. At the same time, there appears to be a new yearning for spirituality, higher values, nurturing the soul, and a search for more meaning in life. Viktor Frankl's logotherapy has a place in this new longing as the 21st century begins. 
Finding logotherapy in today's culture is possible and particularly powerful against the backdrop of hedonism. Three recent and inspiring examples of logotherapy are the books, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alborn and Still Me by Christopher Reeve, and the movie, Life is Beautiful. 
The Book Tuesdays with Morrie 
In the non-fiction book Tuesdays with Morrie, the author chronicles the last seminar that Morrie Schwartz teaches as he slowly dies from Lou Gehrig's disease. A college professor, Morrie uses his final opportunity to instruct by meeting with a former student on Tuesdays and discussing the meaning of life in the face of death. Morrie is determined to dispel the notion that dying equals uselessness. He makes the best use of his time by sharing his wisdom, his experiences, and himself. Morrie refuses to withdraw from the world and wither up despite his fate. 
Morrie's life did not start out smoothly or with good fortune. His mother died when Morrie was eight years old, while his father spoke little English and paid little attention to him. Impoverished in funds and nurturing, Morrie focused on his education to overcome his plight. He spent his life as a caring college professor, teaching sociology and humanism, and as a caring husband, father, and friend. By overcoming his difficult beginnings, Morrie demonstrates the premise of logotherapy that we are not victims of our past. 
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Each childhood has its bruises, but that does not determine us. As human beings and spiritual beings, we are more than what we receive. We still have freedom to decide what we deliver into life. "A person exposed to severe traumas may lead a normal life while another growing up under positive circumstances goes astray. Every person responds to life in an individual way, influenced by past conditions but also free to defy them."9· P·53 Furthermore, in logotherapy identity is not determined by what we receive in our childhoods but instead by what we bestow to the world. Morrie's identity is not a neglected, resentful, mistrusting one as a result of his past conditions. His identity is formed by his sharing with students, his focused listening to friends, his caring and kindness that he spreads to others, and his openness during his dying days. As Elisabeth Lukas writes, "Bitterness can be overcome if you have the will. You are not a machine ... that spits out what was fed in. Hate from hate, love 
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from love -no, that's too simple."9· P· Each of us has a powerful say in what becomes our identity. 
In Tuesdays with Morrie the logotherapy concept of self-distancing is evident. Finding distance between our problems and our beings and seeing problems as learning experiences represent a resource of the human spirit. As Morrie becomes bedridden he begins to see himself as not defeated by his disease but as more than the disease. He shows that there "is a great deal left -in every situation."9• P· 140 Morrie is able to use humor to joke about his withering body. The closer he gets to death the more he sees his body as a bare shell, a container for the vast human spirit. 
Confronting death squarely, Morrie gains wisdom about life. He addresses the emptiness he sees in people around him, what Frankl calls the existential vacuum. 5 Morrie remarks: 
So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem 
half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are 
important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The 
way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving 
others, devote yourself to your community around you, and 
devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and 
43
meaning. 1· P· 
Morrie is critical of the egotistical, materialistic emphasis in our culture which does not even bring satisfaction. The brain-washing that "more is good" fogs our perspective. Morrie explains: 
You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or 
for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship .... I can tell you, 
as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money 
nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter 
how much of them you have.1• P 125 
96 
As Morrie's body beings its slow, unforgiving decay of the neurological system, there is a shift of meaningful areas from values of action and work to contemplative, experiential values. Morrie spends time gazing out his window noticing the change in the trees, the strength of the wind blowing. He is drawn to nature through his window. Relationships for Morrie also gain a new potency. His house becomes filled with friendship, communication, love, honesty, and teaching. 
Limited by fate, Morrie makes use of his last area of freedom to find meaning: He molds his attitude within his unchangeable situation. He bears his suffering with dignity, with courage, and shows the world the "how'' of suffering. "Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip."1· P-10 
Morrie's spirit refuses to stall, but rather grows until the last breath. His disease knocks at his spirit but only reaches his body. "The rich life is one whose 'wax' has burned down, whose substance has been reduced, 
22
but whose substance has enlightened others."2· P-The legacy of Morrie Schwartz is certainly one of radiant illumination. 
Christopher Reeve's Still Me 
In his book Still Me, Christopher Reeve describes his journey from successful actor and avid athlete to his paralysis following a horse riding accident. His life takes a dramatic and poignant turn as the actor, best known for "Superman," fights for his breath and his life. His struggles rivet the nation and the world. Overcoming despair and confusion, Reeve gives the world a gift of hope, courage, and perseverance. He is a vivid example of growth through meaning. Reeve finds his spirit "still there" despite the stillness of his body. 
A turning point for Reeve is seeing his children after regaining consciousness. He understands instantly that his children need him, and that they are grateful he is still alive despite his dreadful condition. This realization pushes away his thoughts of suicide, and it is the beginning of Reeve's way out -to focus on others. In logotherapy, if one is needed, the strength for the task follows and grows.9 
Laughing for the first time after the accident when the comedian Robin Williams visits his bedside, Reeve gains some self-detachment. There is still humor; there is still joy even with the enormous challenges facing him. In logotherapy, the task is to find what is left in life instead of what is missing. Reeve begins to appreciate at a deeper level the relationships he still has with family and friends. He takes a step farther by feeling gratitude in his dismal situation: He feels lucky to be alive! Reeve points the way to the defiant power of the human spirit. He explains, "But slowly I began to come up again, as one does from a dive 
97 
in deep water. I gradually stopped wonderin~, What life do I have? and began to consider, What life can I build" ?10· P-
According to logotherapy, difficult situations offer hidden meanings, inner growth, and learning opportunities. During his rehabilitation, Reeve starts talking with other patients he would not have ordinarily met. He beings connecting to these patients in profound ways which he had never before envisioned. He starts to consider what to make of his life. Reeve states, "I believe it's what you do after a disaster that can give it meaning."10· P-126 What task awaits Reeve?-He answers with his diligent efforts of raising research funds and awareness for spinal cord injuries. He sees too much of the other patients' struggles to ignore the larger picture and just focus on himself. He recognizes a meaning for him -to fight for a cause. According to Reeve: 
The body and mind, in trying to survive, can be totally selfish .... 
I think these selfish thoughts are part of the survival mechanism. 
That "me-me-me" is an inevitable first response. And then you 
need to evolve to higher thoughts -a different way of thinking. 10• 
p.49 
By taking a higher stand in our spirit against our body and psyche, we use our remaining freedom to reach out beyond our person and toward others.4 To help envision this higher thinking, Reeve focuses on a postcard a stranger sent him of a Mayan temple in Mexico. Pyramidshaped, the temple has hundreds of steps up to the top which Reeve imagines climbing until he reaches the pinnacle and goes into the sky. This is a fitting metaphor for self-transcendence. 
Reeve reveals his most difficult but clear lesson learned from his pain: He must give when sometimes he really wants to take. This is a lesson learned through his negative experiences, a value not otherwise attained. With his attitude, his focus on others, and the bearing of his suffering, Reeve shows us an authentic, human-level hero replacing the fantasized super hero. 
The Film Life Is Beautiful 
The definition of salvation is "the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction."11 · P-1264 The Italian movie, Life is Beautiful, is a story of salvation: Not only is a child saved from extermination, but also a father is saved from meaninglessness. As a fable, this movie portrays a father's efforts to protect his son from the horrors inside a Nazi concentration camp. By maintaining his son's innocence, faith, and life, through a game of pretend, the father transcends the dark reality. 
At first, the title of this movie appears contradictory. How could life be beautiful in a setting so evil? The movie's co-writer, director, and actor, Roberto Benigni, attributes this title to Leon Trotsky who could not stop 
98 
thinking that "life is beautiful" even while huddled in a bunker awaiting Stalin's assassins to kill him.7 We always have freedom of attitude in any circumstance. To be alive is beautiful. And, a life can be made beautiful by one's sacrifices. 
In Life is Beautiful, humor dissolves the rigidity, self-importance, and treachery of fascism into absurdity. The father's wit is utilized both as a satirical weapon and a shield to guard his son. The father asserts his power of imagination and humor by creating an elaborate game for his son: The boy who is the best at hiding from the guards and putting up with the hardships wins the prize.7 The son's safety and cooperation is maneuvered by this creative diversion. The movie does not make light of the Holocaust but shows us the lesson of averting despair with laughter. In logotherapy, humor is considered in the spiritual dimension. Indeed, Viktor Frankl at one time considered writing a book on the metaphysical background of humor. 6 
It is not what we demand of life but what is demanded of us from life. It is necessary to respond to the demands that each moment makes on us. In the movie, the moment comes for the mother to decide whether to voluntarily join her husband and son on the train to the concentration camp. Being non-Jewish, she can keep herself safe or follow her conscience. Taking the opportunity of the meaning potential of the moment, she chooses her inner compass and insists upon being put on the train. 
Realizing attitudinal values, the father masks his own fear, exhaustion, and hunger to set an example for his son. This ability to bear suffering bravely is living at the highest ethical level.3 Transcending himself, the father focuses on his son and his wife in spite of his own wretched condition in the prison camp. He makes tremendous efforts to cheer his son and wife. Ultimately, he sacrifices his own life for the sake of his family's survival. "Courage in suffering works against despair, concern for others works against meaninglessness."9· P-74 
The centerpiece of Nazi propaganda, Triumph of the Willi was a film depicting Hitler's philosophy of the will to power. It is in stark contrast to Life is Beautiful which shows logotherapy's "triumph of the will." It is the will to meaning which is the principle motivation for living rather than power or pleasure. 5 While Hitler's film demonstrates that willpower can create a reality, Benigni's film demonstrates that willpower can transfonn reality. Moreover, "Life is Beautiful builds upon one of the more substantial lessons to have emerged from the camps: The trait most necessary to survival is not strength, intelligence, or ruthlessness but a sense of purpose."7· P-59 
99 
The Spirit Can Still Soar Above Adversity 
As we turn our minds and spirits toward the new millennium, the missive of Viktor Frankl can be discovered in popular Western culture. The film and books examined above represent artifacts of today's popular culture. Both Christopher Reeve and Life is Beautiful have received many standing ovations, while Tuesdays with Morrie has spent a lengthy time on the best-seller list and has become a movie. There is a longing for direction in life's journey, and these three examples are pacemakers for that journey. Chance may have power over life, but humans have power over its meaning.9 Fate struck fierce blows to Morrie Schwartz, Christopher Reeve, and the father in Life is Beautiful, but their spirits slipped through the bars of their imprisonments. 
It is heartening that in spite of the vast current problems of meaninglessness, Viktor Frankl's message of tragic optimism can be found in popular culture. As we begin a new millennium, it is within the human capacity to transform life's negatives into something of grace. 
DEBORAH PADEN-LEVY, M.A., LPC [5939 Harry Hines, Suite 823, Dallas, Texas 75225 USA] is a Licensed Professional Counselor working for the past eight years in the psychiatric practice of Manoochehr Khatami, M.D., in Dallas, Texas (E-mail: DebPLevy@aol.com). 
References 
1. 
Alborn, M. (1997). Tuesdays with Morrie. NY: Doubleday. 

2. 
Barnes, R. C. (1995a). Logotherapy and the human spirit. (Available from Robert C. Barnes, Ph.D., P.O. Box 15211, Abilene, TX 79698). 


3. 
Barnes, R. C. (1995b). Logotherapy's consideration of the dignity and uniqueness of the human being. 

4. 
Barnes, R. C. (1995c). Viktor Frankl's logotherapy. 


5. Frankl, V. E. (1962). Man's search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. 
6. Frankl, V. E. (1997). Viktor Frankl-recollections: An autobiography. NY: Plenum Press. 
7. 
Johnson, 8. (1998, November 9). Gallows humor [Review of the film Life is Beautifu~. Maclean's, 89. 

8. 
Klawans, S. (1998, November 2). Life is beautiful [Review of the film Life is Beautifu~. Nation, 267i 35. 

9. 
Lukas, E. (1986). Meaning in suffering. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Logotherapy Press. 

10. 
Reeve, C. (1998). Still Me. NY: Cambria Productions. 


11. Stein, J. (Ed.). (1967). The Random House dictionary of the English language. NY: Random House. 
100 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 101-106. 
PURPOSE IN LIFE AND SELF-CONCEPT OF BANGLADESHI STUDENTS REARED IN HOME AND INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS 
Tania Rahman, Abdul Khaleque, & Anisur Rahman 
(ABSTRACT) To study the effect of orphanage vs. home living environment in Bangladeshi children, a group of 30 orphanage students were compared with 30 home-reared students with respect to purpose in life and self-concept. The Purpose-in-Life (PIL) test and the Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept (SC) scale were administered to all participants. The orphanage students had significantly lower PIL and SC scores (PIL = 
59.9 vs. 88.0, t =-9.40, p < .001; SC= 49.9 vs. 61.2, t =-4.47, p < .001). A positive correlation (r = .78; p < .001) was found between PIL and SC scores. Thus study supports other research that indicates the living environment plays an important role in the ultimate development of children. 
Of various environments, the family environment is considered to be the most important for affecting the personality pattern of an individual.8 Compared to the family, an institutional environment provides comparatively less encouragement or stimulation for intellectual, emotional, and social development.13 Institutionally-reared children have been found to be impaired in development or relationships with others. They are less likely to show signs of strong attachment to other 
10 
persons. 
Adjustment to self and the world is influenced by the meaning an individual experiences and actualizes.6 Persons become frustrated when they experience less meaning in life. This situation leads a person to become a problemed one, which has been shown in many studies 
11
relevant to logotherapy, including some in Bangladesh.3· Consequently frustrated individuals can be involved in different anti-social activities in the society, such as crime,2 addiction,3 and absenteeism.11 Therefore, for the wellbeing of the society, as well as the individual, we should be careful to avoid situations that lead persons to become problemed ones. 
101 
In Bangladesh, the orphanage is an institution mostly run by donations from personal capacity, religious organizations, government funds, and international organizations. The aim is to rear Bangladeshi orphans to certain age. During children's stay in such an institution, they are provided food and shelter free of cost. They are also provided free formal education at a school run by the orphanage. To make the orphans self-dependant, they are also offered vocational training so that they can earn their livelihood outside the institution when they leave. In these institutions, the environment is such that the orphans lead an isolated life with limited opportunities for recreation and parental affection. In such a situation, orphans may become frustrated and confused about their meaning in life. Therefore, this study was designed to measure the purpose in life and self-concept of the orphans in comparison with students reared at home. 
METHOD Subjects 
The study sample consisted of 30 institutionalized and 30 homereared children. The institutionalized children were from an orphanage in Bangladesh. The children living at home were from a high school in the same city. The subjects were secondary school students with ages ranging from 14 to 17 years. 
Instruments 
Purpose in life (PIL) test.4 A modified Bengali version of the PIL scale was used in the present study. There was no time limit for completion. In the present study, subjects took about 10 minutes to complete the 20 PIL items. The PIL objective scores in Part A is a sum of the numerical values. Parts B and C were interpreted clinically by a trained counselor. In Part A, scores below 92 indicate the lack of clear meaning and purpose in life. ' 
Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept scale.9 Self-Concept (SC) was measured by a Bengali version of the Piers Harris Children's SC scale. This scale is a paper pencil type with 80 "yes/no" questions. Substantial evidence of the construct validity is reported in the manual for the scale. High scores indicate high self-concept, and low scores indicate low self-concept. 
To test reliability of the Bengali version in the present study, the scores of the Bengali version were correlated with the scores of the 
102 
original scale. A high positive correlation was found between the two sets of scores (r = .98; p < .005). 
Procedure 
Data were collected after securing due permission from both the orphanage and the regular school. The students who participated were given information about the study and were provided an opportunity to assent. PIL and SC scales were administered in small groups. Precise instruction and pre-test trial were given; and proper care was taken about children completing the test on their own. After finishing the PIL scale, the SC scale was administrated. The respondents were assured that the information provided by them would be kept confidential. 
Results 
The mean PIL score of the orphanage students was significantly lower than that of the home-reared students (t = -9.40, df = 58, p < .001). Likewise, the mean SC score of the orphanage students was significantly lower than that of the home-reared students (t = -4.47, df= 58, p < .001). 
Table: Means and Standard Deviations for Purpose-in-Life (PIL) scores and Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept (SC) scores of 30 orphanage students and 30 home-reared students in Bangladesh. 
Orphanage  Home-reared  
Students  Students  
PIL  MEAN  59.9  88.0  
SD  10.7  12.4  
Self-Concept  MEAN  49.9  61.2  
SD  7.8  8.1  

A positive correlation was found between PIL and SC scores for students of both the groups (r = .56, p < .001 for orphanage students; r = .71, p < .001 for home-reared students). A higher positive correlation was found between PIL and SC scores when the groups were combined (r = .78, p < .001). 
103 
Discussion 
In the present study orphanage students have lower life-purpose and self-concept than the home-reared students. Sometimes social and institutional environments are found responsible for producing maladjusted students.7 In the orphanage, students are rarely praised for their accomplishments. This situation may become an obstacle for the students to think of themselves in a positive way. Elsewhere, research findings have shown that children's social development and adjustment are influenced by the parent-child relationship. 1·5 There is a positive association between self-concept and family experience of the child. Parents play a crucial role in the development of children's personality. Children's self-concept is also influenced by their parents through their interactions with children. At home, children are loved and cared for by their parents. Parents foster the information that helps children's cognitive development. The maturation of cognitive evaluation processes enables the students to assess their abilities and performance. So a student who grows in a stimulating home environment gets various opportunities to have good adjustment in-and out-side of the home. 
Other Bangladeshi studies have demonstrated that purposefulness in life is an indicator of good adjustment and a healthy personality.12 In the present study less purposefulness in life was reflected in low selfconcept. In an orphanage, students are brought up under strict rules and regulations. Moreover, they often experience less stimulating environments and limited opportunities for exploring their world outside the orphanage. As a result of this situation, they may feel frustrated and develop low purposefulness in life and low self-concept. 
The present study seems to indicate we must be careful about the conditions that might frustrate a person so much as to lose their sense of meaning in life.3• 11 Less purposefulness in life and low self-concept appear as a consequence of a bitter environment--this calls for greater effort and reassurance for developing a positive attitude towards life in orphanages in the Bangladeshi society. 
The generalization of the findings of the present study is limited due to the very small number subjects and modest experimental controls. Nevertheless, the results indicate significant differences between orphans and home-reared Bangladeshi students in their self-concept and purpose in life. If these results hold, then there are important implications for children's sense of meaning and attitude towards life and important societal implications. Probable solutions to this problem would require a 
104 
drastic change in the environment prevailing in the orphanages in Bangladesh. 
Further research is recommended to be carried out in other cultures and with a larger number of subjects. There is a void in the research literature on clinical approaches in the mental health care of children who grow up outside traditional families. 
TANIA RAHMAN, M.Sc., is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Social Welfare and Research [University of Dhaka, Dhaka1000 Bangladesh]. Her main interest is Social Psychology. 
ABDUL KHALEQUE, Ph.D., is Research Associate, Center for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection, School of Family Studies University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06269, USA. 
ANISUR RAHMAN, M.S., is the Senior Field Research Officer at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. 
Acknowledgement: The authors are grateful to the Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka for providing necessary support for conducting this kind of research. 
References 
1. Bee, H. (1978). The developing child (2nd ed.). NY: Harper & Row. 
2. Begum, F., & Begum H. A. (1993). Explaining violence and aggression: A probe into some social-psychological factors. Sociovision, Dhaka. 
3. 
Begum, H. A., & Rahman, T. (1991). Why are they addicted? A probe into some psychological factors. In H. A. Begum (Ed.), Understanding the drug addicts: Some psychological studies (pp. 27-54). Dhaka: Centre for Psychological Studies; Centre for Psychosocial Research and Training. 

4. 
Crumbaugh, J. C. (1968). Cross validation of purpose in life. Journal of Individual Psychology, 24, 74-81. 

5. 
Douvan, E. N., & Adelson, N. (1966). The Adolescent Experience. NY:Wiley. 


6. Frankl, V. E. (1967). Psychology and existentialism: Selected papers on logotherapy. NY: Simon & Schuster. 
7. Khan, S. H., & Sorcar, N. R. (1973). Truancy and maladjustment of school children. In A. Mia & M. Alauddin (Eds.), Problems of 
105 
children and adolescents in Bangladesh. University of Dhaka: Institute of Social Welfare and Research. 
8. 
Mussen, P. H., Conger, J. J., & Kagan, J. (1963). Child development and personality. NY: Harper & Row. 

9. 
Piers, E., & Harris, D. (1969). Manual of the Piers Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Nashville: Counselor Recordings and Tests. 

10. 
Provence, S., & Lipton, R. C. (1962). Infants in institutions. NY: International University Press. 

11. 
Rahman, T., & Khaleque, A. (1996). The purpose in life and academic behavior of problem students in Bangladesh. Social Indicators Research, 39, 59-64. 

12. 
Sultana, Q. A. (1984). A study of some factors in adjustment patterns of adolescent boys and girls in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Psychology, 7, 72-81. 

13. 
Yarrow, J. (1961), Maternal deprivation towards an empirical and conceptual re-evaluation. Psychology, 58, 549-590. 



Tania Rahman Abdul Khleque Anisur Rahman 
106 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 107-110. 
DEPRESSION IN MENTAL RETARDATION: AN ADDITIONAL DIRECTION FOR LOGOTHERAPY 
Stefan E. Schulenberg 
Depression is one of the most prevalent problems encountered today. It is seen so often that it has been dubbed the "common cold" of mental illness.8• P-188 From the perspective of logotherapy, depression can be related to the dimension of the human spirit. The noetic, or spiritual, dimension does not become ill, but illness can originate there in the form of noogenic neuroses which result from a frustrated will to mean
6
ing.5· These noogenic neuroses can lead to additional psychological difficulties, including depression.5 
Depression in Persons with Mental Retardation 
One group of individuals who are at heightened risk for encountering forms of mental illness, especially depression, are people with mental retardation. In the past, one of the perspectives taken by mental health professionals concerning people with mental retardation was that they lacked the capacity to acquire the range of mental disorders seen in people without mental retardation; however, this perspective no longer holds true.2 
More recently, it has been concluded that individuals with mental retardation experience the same forms of mental illness as those without mental retardation. 14 It is now known that mental disorders represent a significant problem for people with mental retardation.3 One mental disorder in particular that is problematic is depression. 
A review of 25 published reports concluded that persons with mental retardation have the capacity to demonstrate the entire spectrum of affective disorders, of which depression is one example. 15 In fact, individuals with mild cognitive impairments might experience higher rates of depression than their counterparts without such impairment.12 

It should be noted that there is some debate with regard to how depression is expressed in persons with mental retardation. Depression is likely to present in the usual way for people with mild mental retardation, whereas differences in presentation are more likely in persons with more severe levels of impairment. 13 People with severe or profound mental retardation may not be able to effectively report depressive symptoms,1 but they may express their feelings in other ways. Symptoms that might be indicative of depression in persons with mental retardation include the demonstration of aggression, self-injurious behaviors, yelling, and crying. 10 Although there may be some differences in how depression is expressed in persons with mental retardation, the important thing to keep in mind is that they clearly experience forms of depression that often require assessment and treatment. 
The presence of depression in persons with mental retardation has been linked to a variety of factors, and a varied group of treatment techniques have been implemented to assist persons with mental retardation in navigating their environments more efficiently. However, application of logotherapy tends to be overlooked. What role can logotherapy play in forms of depression resulting from a frustrated will to meaning? 
An Additional Direction for Logotherapy 
If depression can ensue from noogenic neurosis, and if persons with mental retardation experience depression, then it follows that noogenic neuroses should be considered when people with mental retardation experience depression. Logotherapists should be encouraged to help clients with mental retardation with finding meaning. 
Logotherapy posits that meaning potentials are omnipresent and that noogenic neuroses may be dealt with by participating in activities that are meaningful.6 Helping clients with mental retardation to engage in meaningful activity may hinder the onset and course of depressive symptoms. 
Logotherapy Instruments and Mental Retardation 
An important area for future research involves assessment using logotherapy instruments. For years, instruments designed to measure constructs such as depression have been empirically investigated for use with persons with mental retardation. There is evidence that people with mental retardation are able to express and report their depression.9 It has been concluded that persons with mild cognitive impairments possess the capability, largely on their own with only limited help, of reliably completing depression instruments.12 The implication is that if persons with mild cognitive impairments can reliably complete measures of depression, then they may be able to reliably complete logotherapy instruments as well. Research should be conducted to determine the applicability of such measures as the Purpose-in-Life (PIL) test, the Life Purpose Questionnaire (LPQ),7 and the Meaning in Suffering Test (MIST), 16 particularly with individuals with mild and moderate forms of mental retardation. 
On the other hand, using depression instruments designed for use with intellectually average individuals is not ideal because people with mental retardation often have communication difficulties and their forms of depression tend to present atypically. 11 The implication here is that the existing logotherapy instruments may not be able to reliably assess for depression. Thus, it may be the case that these measures need to be adapted for use with persons with mental retardation. 
Meaning Fulfillment with Persons with Mental Retardation 
There is a strong need for research to be conducted in the area of meaning fulfillment with persons with mental retardation. Two areas of future study concern: (a) the prevalence of depression in adolescents with mental retardation who are mainstreamed into classrooms, and (b) the development and course of suicidal ideation in persons with mental retardation. 
The applications of logotherapy are many and should be thoroughly explored in the area of mental retardation. This is truly a challenging and rewarding area. There is no better time to proceed than now, as we find ourselves at the dawn of a New Millennium. 
Stefan E. Schulenberg, M.A. [Department of Psychology, University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069-2390 USA] is a graduate student in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Dakota. He is pursuing logotherapy education through the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. 
References 
1. 
Benavidez, D. A., & Matson, J. L. (1993). Assessment of depression in mentally retarded adolescents. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 14, 179-188. 

2. 
Borthwick-Duffy, S. A. (1994). Epidemiology and prevalence 


of psychopathology in people with mental retardation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 17-27. 
3. 
Campbell, M., & Malone, R. P. (1991). Mental retardation and psychiatric disorders. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 42, 374-379. 

4. 
Crumbaugh, J. C., & Maholick, L. T. (1964). An experimental study in existentialism: The psychometric approach to Frankl's concept of noogenic neurosis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 20, 200-207. 

5. 
Fabry, J. 8. (1994). The pursuit of meaning: Viktor Frankl, logotherapy, and life (rev. ed.). Abilene, TX: Institute of Logotherapy Press. 

6. 
Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man's search for meaning (rev. ed.). NY: Washington Square Press. 

7. 
Hablas, R., & Hutzel!, R. R. (1982). The Life Purpose Questionnaire: An alternative to the Purpose-in-Life test for geriatric, neuropsychiatric patients. In S. A. Wawrytko (Ed.), Analecta Frankliana (pp. 211-215). Berkeley: Strawberry Hill. 

8. 
Holmes, D. S. (1997). Abnormal psychology. (3rd ed.). NY: Longman. 

9. 
Kazdin, A. E., Matson, J. L., & Senatore, V. (1983). Assessment of depression in mentally retarded adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1040-1043. 


10. Meins, W. (1995). Symptoms of major depression in mentally retarded adults. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 39, 41-45. 
11. 
Meins, W. ( 1996). A new depression scale designed for use with adults with mental retardation. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 40, 222-226. 

12. 
Prout, H. T., & Schaefer, 8. M. (1985). Self-reports of depression by community-based mildly mentally retarded adults. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, 220-222. 

13. 
Reynolds, W. M., & Miller, K. L. (1985). Depression and learned helplessness in mentally retarded and nonmentally retarded adolescents: An initial investigation. Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 6, 295-306. 

14. 
Singh, N. N., Sood, A., Sonenklar, N., & Ellis, C. R. (1991). Assessment and diagnosis of mental illness in persons with mental retardation. Behavior Modification, 15, 419-443. 

15. 
Sovner, R., & Hurley, A. D. (1983). Do the mentally retarded suffer from affective illness? Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 61-67. 

16. 
Starck, P. (1983). Patients' perceptions of the meaning of suffering. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 6, 110116. 


110 

The International Forum for Logotherapy, 2000, 23, 111-115. 
OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PUBLISHED IN 
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR LOGO THERAPY 
R. R. Hutzell 
The International Forum for Logotherapy is designed to be of service to a broad array of logotherapists. As such, the Forum is not meant to limit itself strictly to the publication of logotherapy research articles. However, research-based articles have always been a welcome component of the Forum. In the introduction to the inaugural issue in 1978, Editor Joe Fabry wrote " ... the function of the journal is to carry research reports, case studies, papers on innovative modifications of logotherapeutic techniques, philosophical articles, and presentations of personal experiences." 2 
The initial issue of the Forum included a review of research relevant to Paradoxical Intention that had been published in other professional journals.1 Other reviews of relevant research have been published in the Forum over the years. 
The purpose of the present paper is to overview the research that has appeared in the Forum. This task is somewhat complicated by the fact that most of the actual research published in the Forum is written and edited to be of interest to a wide audience, and thus the research information is not always obvious in the format of the papers in the Forum. As a result, other reviewers might categorize many of the articles differently than was done for the present paper. 
The approximately 440 articles published in the Forum to date were reviewed. Most of these were original publications, although some were reprinted or re-written from elsewhere. The articles that were reviewed excluded the annotated reference columns, letters, book reviews, obituaries, announcements, and the like. 
111 
For purposes of the present paper, only articles that employed what would be considered scientific data gathering methods and that presented original information were included. library research or research literature reviews were not included. 
It is often accepted that there are three general types of scientific data gathering methods used in conducting original research by helping professionals. These are: descriptive methods, correlational methods, and formal experiments. 
Descriptive methods include: naturalistic observation, surveys, and clinical method. Case studies are a common use of the clinical method of descriptive investigation. Case studies do not prove relationships, nor do they prove causes-and-effects, but they do allow demonstration of techniques, and they do allow generation of hypotheses. 
Correlational methods do demonstrate relationships between two or more variables, although correlational methods, too, do not prove causes-and-effects. Correlational methods are often seen in the Forum in presentations of relationships between sense of life-meaning and a wide variety of variables. Correlational methods are useful in theoretical analyses and they are used in the construction of test instruments relevant to logotherapy. 
Formal experiments allow the researcher to manipulate an independent variable to study the effect on a dependent variable. When well designed, formal experiments demonstrate causes-and-effects. Hypotheses about basic theory assumptions can be tested to provide support for the tenets of a theory. 
A negative side to formal experiments is that in order to exercise proper control of all potentially relevant variables, some degree of artificiality is generally involved. This frequently causes research consumers, including clinical practitioners, to question the generalizability of the results to "real world" situations. 
A particular advantage of formal experiments is that they are well respected by academicians and scientists, thus giving broad credence to a field of study. Viktor Frankl understood this; and in the first article appearing in the Forum, in a dialogue between Frankl and Fabry, Frankl commented: 
... you won't get a hearing unless you try to satisfy the 
preferences of present-time Western thinking, which 
means the scientific orientation or, to put it in more 
concrete terms, our test-and statistics-mindedness. So 
why should we lose, unnecessarily and undeservedly, 
112 
whole segments of the academic community, precluding 
them a priori from understanding how much logotherapy 
is needed today ... Why should we give up, right from the 
beginning, getting a hearing from the modern researchers 
by considering ourselves above tests and statistics? We 
have no reason not to admit our need to find our 
discoveries supported by strictly empirical research. 3 
Review of the articles published in the Forum during its 20 years of publication shows many articles that include information gathered in accordance with scientific data gathering methods. However many of those articles utilize descriptive methods while relatively few articles utilize more rigorous methods. 
If you count those articles that prominently display the use of descriptive techniques of scientific data gathering-not including correlational methods or experimental designs-you find 96 articles, or over 20% of the articles published to date in the Forum. To qualify as "prominently displaying their descriptive techniques," articles were counted only if they obviously presented survey results or if they included clear references to use of clinical method in the title or a heading. Examples of clear references to clinical method include: the use of words like "case history"; or the presentation of extended dialogues; or the use of proper names indicating a case study to follow. If articles that did not so prominently display the fact that they included descriptive techniques had been included in this analysis, a much larger percentage of articles would have been counted, because many articles contain case histories but don't note such in title or headings. 
When you count articles that utilize more rigorous scientific methods, you find 42 additional articles. Of these, 39 are correlational in nature, 
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while 3 are well-controlled experiments.4· · So, roughly 10% of the articles published to date in the Forum can be considered as utilizing the more rigorous methods of scientific data gathering. 
So, altogether, roughly 1/3 of the articles published to date in the Forum clearly utilize scientific data gathering methods of helping professionals. But the bulk of those articles are not rigorous, and less than 1% are true experiments. One might suggest that there certainly is room and need for increased numbers of rigorously deigned research articles if logotherapy is to "get a hearing" as Frankl requested, from the academic community and modern researchers. 
You might wonder whether, over the years, the Forum has shown increased emphasis on articles using scientific data gathering methods. 
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One way to assess this is to compare the numbers of such articles published in the first half of all Forum articles to date versus the numbers of such articles published in the more recent half of all Forum articles. Of the 138 articles that used scientific data gathering techniques, 58 were in the first half of all Forum articles and 80 were in the more recent half. This suggests some increase in articles using scientific methods published in the Forum over the years of publication. 
However, comparing only articles using more rigorous methods (that is, correlational and experimental designs), 20 were published in the first half of all articles, and 22 were published in the second half. Of the 3 well-controlled experiments, 1 was published in the first half, and 2 were published in the second half. So, when only the rigorous science that will be needed to "get a hearing" from the academic community and modern researchers is considered, these articles do not appear to have increased over the years in the Forum. 
I have heard two primary reasons why there haven't been more rigorously scientific articles published in the Forum. One is that it is very difficult to design and conduct well controlled experimental protocols with objective data about "meaning." The other is that publication of such articles often requires dedication of much journal space to very detailed and minor or obvious manipulations, while the journal historically has been intended for a very broad audience. 
One might wonder if rigorous research studies of logotherapy are being conducted and published in other scientific journals. The Journal Des Viktor-Frankl-lnstituts (which was published in English and German between the years 1993 and 1998) had as a goal the publication of articles " ... in compliance with the stringent rules of academic editorship ... " and " ... selected with methodical strictness and reviewed by experts ... ". So, the Journal Des Viktor-Frankl-lnstituts might seem a logical repository for rigorous research studies of logotherapy. Yet, relatively few of this journal's articles contained rigorous empirical research designs. 
Another place to search for a destination journal of logotherapy research studies is in the Annotated References column that has been a part of the Forum since 1992. That column is produced by conducting numerous computer literature searches (limited to English language articles) then commenting on those articles that appear particularly relevant to logotherapy. A review of those annotated references shows there is interest in publishing articles related to the concept of meaning, broadly conceived, in a wide variety of professional and scientific 
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journals. However, very few of those articles are research studies that can be considered rigorous empirical validation of logotherapy per se. 
In summary, it is suggested that The International Forum for Logotherapy has always welcomed research-based articles, but relatively few articles using rigorous scientific methods have been published in the Forum, and the frequency of such articles does not appear to be increasing. Perhaps the Forum is not the ideal vehicle for publication of rigidly empirical papers, due to its broad audience and larger mission. However, there is little indication that much empirical logotherapy research is being published elsewhere. This raises the question ... how shall the frequency of empirical logotherapy research be increased and where shall it be published? 
ROBERT R. HUTZELL, Ph.D. [P. 0. Drawer 112, Knoxville, Iowa 50138 U.S.A.] is a Clinical Psychologist, Dip/ornate in Logotherapy, and Editor of The International Forum for Logotherapy. 
References 
1. Ascher, L. M. (1978-79). Paradoxical intention: A review of preliminary research. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1, 18-21. 
2. Fabry, J. B. (1978-79). Letter from the editor. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1, 2. 
3. 
Fabry, J. B., & Frankl, V. E. 1978-79). Aspects and prospects of logotherapy. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1, 3-6. 

4. 
Sappington, A. A., Bryant, J., & Oden, C. (1990). An experimental investigation of Viktor Frankl's theory of meaningfulness in life. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 13, 125-130. 

5. 
Sappington, A. A., Goodwin, S., & Palmatier, A. (1996). An experimental investigation of the relationship between anger and altruism. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 19, 80-84. 

6. 
Starck, P. L. (1981). Rehabilitative nursing and logotherapy: A study of spinal cord injured clients. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 4, 101-109.