Volume 15, Number 2 Autumn 1992 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 4-8. 
A MESSAGE OF HOPE 
Tom McKillop 
Father Tom McKillop, on-site coordinator of the Ninth World Congress of Logotherapy to be held in Toronto, July 28 to August 1, wrote an invitational statement upon request of Canadian Member of Parliament, Dennis Mills. It is being distributed, in an attractive circular, among Mr. Mills' constituents. In the statement, Father McKillop explains what he imagines Logotherapy might have to say to people of Mr. Mills' district. The distributed statement ends with an invitation to all constituents to attend the World Congress of Logotherapy. 
Forum editors have slightly modified and shortened the statement for inclusion in this pre-World Congress issue of The International Forum for Logotherapy. Invitational statements have been removed, because you will find World Congress information elsewhere in this issue. 
Each of you is unique, unrepeatable, irreplaceable, incomparable, separate, and distinct. You have been given a body and a psyche which are sometimes similar in character type and/or traits to others, but beyond that you are a spirit person with a limited degree of freedom and a capacity to respond to life and its demands. There never was, there never is, there never will be an absolute twin, a clone, one who can replace you. You are one of a kind and life is calling, inviting, and challenging you to become the authentic you by transcending yourself and at the same time forgetting yourself. 
If you simply search for pleasure or power, you will experience something missing. You will at some moment feel empty, a void, a vacuum. You will wonder, "What's it all about?" 
When the need for meaning finally occurs to you, you will begin to search for that meaning every day. You will realize that when you wake up in the morning and you say thanks for the gift of life, that is meaningful. When you stretch and exercise, wash, and dress yourself in clothes suitable to your 

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life at work or play, that is meaningful. When you prepare to have breakfast, read the morning paper, listen to music, share this first meal of the day with someone, that is meaningful. 
When you give a kiss and send someone off to work or school, that is meaningful. When a friend calls you on the phone, that is meaningful. When you think of an idea for your work, greet someone with a kind word and a gentle smile, listen to a co-worker who is in pain, that Is meaningful. 
When you stop for lunch, say grace, have warm conversation, that is meaningful. When you shop for the family, take a stroll, go to the park to relax, go to the bank or pharmacy, that is meaningful. When you think about the poor ones on the street, think about your beloved in your imagination and heart, that is meaningful. 
When you follow through on a promise, say you are sorry when you make a mistake, forgive someone who hurt you, that is meaningful. When you invite someone for dinner, write a letter to a distant friend, call on one of your relations or neighbors In the hospital, that is meaningful. 
When you feel the warmth of the day, bundle up when it's chilly, appreciate soft rain, look carefully at a beautiful painting, enjoy a tiny group of children walking together, when you remain still and look at a cloud, when you hear the singing of a bird or watch a centipede struggle to move forward or enjoy squirrels racing after one another up a tree, that is meaningful. 
When you write a poem, read a chapter of a favorite book, create a song, or have a good sleep, that is meaningful. 
When you remember a birthday, give or receive a gift, hear the birthday song sung, have a piece of cake, blow out the candles, sip a glass of wine, that is meaningful. 
When you praise someone with a kind word, spend time with someone, ask a question, shake a person's hand, or be silent and meditate, that is meaningful. 
The future is bringing meaningful possibilities, opportunities, and challenges to each of us moment by moment. In each of these experiences you can discover meaning if you are sensitive and conscious, or when you are giving yourself to someone, to a cause, or the world in some creative way. 
You can discover meaning when you are receiving something from someone, from an encounter, from a love relationship, from nature, from the world. This is the world of experience. 
You can find meaning even when you feel guilty, lonely, or afraid; when you are suffering, when you are sick, when you are experiencing the death of a beloved. In these abyss situations you can find meaning through your attitudes. 
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You can be missing the gift of precious moments by being unaware, by withdrawing, by racing through life, by giving In to self pity, by centering your attention on the dark side of life. You can think negatively, close yourself off, give in to fear, exist defensively to protect yourself, turn away from opportunities. You can exist in limbo, be listless, drifting and dreamy. 
You can see each person on the street, in your apartment building, or in your neighborhood as an enemy or a potential one. You can think the worst--believing that all news is bad news, that the world is corrupt and on the way to oblivion--or you can join those who live with hope, believing that life in this family, this neighborhood, this work place, this section of town, this world, can be meaningful. 
Those who put the search for meaning first, says Dr. Viktor Frankl, and who are conscious in experiencing It in the small and beautiful things of life will have as a consequence happiness and a feeling of pleasure. The power and energy of each person will help to achieve meaning through transcending oneself either for a cause or loving a person. 
Young People 
Young people need to be challenged to go beyond themselves. They need to be called by name, to be believed in, to be trusted, to be loved. They need to see that each one is more than a body with emotions and attractions, that each Is unique, special, and precious. 
They need to learn that each one has a spiritual gift, a conscience by which they can know right from wrong. They need to be helped and encouraged to make the right choices. 
If you are a young person, you can see that all kinds of opportunities and challenges demand a response. Life wants more than reactions, emotions, anger, rage, or jealousy. Life wants you to realize that you are free and can be creative and can love. If you turn to drugs, you become enslaved and lose your freedom, you miss living the reality, you lose the meaning. 
You have the power of imagination, the power of dreaming great things for the world and your friends. You can have a vision. 
You can find meaning at a concert, in a friendship, by reaching out to the aged or sick, by playing a guitar or piano, by going to a show, by having a burger, by organizing a barbecue, having a party, calling a friend, playing baseball, hockey, or volleyball. 
You can welcome a new person into your group, be sensitive to someone who is disabled, stand up for your rights. You can say it like it is. 
You can choose life that is meaningful. 
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The Older Generation 
Each older person's life is like a film in which each moment, each encounter, each project, each suffering and pain, each sickness, each moment of recognition, each creative act, each experience, is recorded in a colored frame never to be lost. 
Your life is like a harvest in which each past event is eternal, never to be annihilated. No one can take away your history, your listing of lived events. You need to treasure each photograph, each letter, each record of the past to be able to say thank you--to be grateful. 
You need to face the moments, actions, or decisions when you were mistaken and declare to yourself and to those with whom you live, work, or play that you are guilty, and to seek forgiveness. 
Death invites you to see that your life is limited and you need to deal with your unfinished business before your life is over. The young look to the future and its possibilities. The old have lived more and can remember reality. 
Single People 
As a single person, you can turn your attention to service to the needy, to be a friend to those who feel lonely, or who feel the need for a listening heart. You can be a friend to the homeless, a trusted friend who has compassion, who cares. You can be one whose conscience is sensitive and a person of integrity with an inner life. 
As a single parent, you are called by your love to experience an alternative family atmosphere, to forget what you do not have and to call upon your gifts, your human resources, and your friends to help you bring your child and yourself to fullness of life that your child is meant to have. You can be an inspiration displaying the defiant power of the human spirit in the midst of a difficult situation. 
Addicted or Disadvantaged 
If you are addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, work, or sex, you can face that uncontrollable aspect of your life. You can search for that tiny area of freedom to respond to life, to seek support, and to give help. In time you can become free enough to be the authentic you and express your compassion toward others, especially those who are also addicted. 
If you are disadvantaged, physically, emotionally, or mentally, you need to sense that you are a spirit with the dignity of a human person. You can overcome limitations by accepting the reality of being disadvantaged and dreaming of what is possible for you to do for the good of others. Your 
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courage and perseverance is a bright light, a beautiful sign to others who need models. You are on your way to your life as it is meant to be. 
There is no one who can take your place and make your contribution. Even unconsciously, you can be a great teacher by your simple presence, by your fidelity, and by never giving up. You are one of a kind! 
Poor and Unemployed 
Dr. Frankl lost all of his possessions, his name, clothes, status, money, and a precious manuscript in the concentration camps. What he learned and passed on to his fellow inmates can also be valuable to you who are poor. 
He learned that what counted was not what he had--his material possessions--but what he was--his spiritual self and its resources, the potentials, ideas, hopes, and attitudes. 
For those of you who have felt the ceiling and walls closing in and your world collapsing through the loss of your job or even your business, there is much embarrassment and humiliation in needing to beg for funds. You may never have known poverty but now everything seems to be falling apart. 
This tragic circumstance may be the time to learn important lessons: the significance of a friend who remained faithful, the importance of a family, the desperate need for a higher power, the unmasking of one's self as once a member of the fast lane, the need for prayer or meditation. 
You need to look again at your future and to seek other possibilities and opportunities. This might be the moment to make a choice of replacing the tendency to fill the abyss with escapes from reality, even suicide, by facing the loss and attempting to overcome It, by discovering a new project, novel cause, or a different direction. Perhaps you can show the dynamism of your human spirit by rising out of your ashes, to regain a spirit of freshness and youth in your life. 
A Challenge to Everyone 
If we would see each other as unique persons, each capable of unique contributions, we could come to a common vision and a common meaning. We would be able to transcend our differences, even transcend ourselves and our surrounding for the good of a greater community by experiencing relationships of respect, caring, and at times love. 
Dr. Frankl would challenge you to join the humane minority, not to be or remain lost in the crowd but to become one of those who lives, thinks, speaks, and acts according to one's conscience. 
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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 9-12. 
REFLECTIONS ON 11 FRANKL: LIFE WITH MEANING11 
Robert C. Leslie 
William Gould's book, Frankl: Life With Meaning, 5 makes a significant addition to the growing number of books written about Frankl and logotherapy. More than most writers, Gould gives particular attention to the philosophical base in Frankl's work. The index to the book shows references to most of the world's greatest philosophers and thus is almost encyclopedic in its emphasis. In addition, Gould makes helpful references to other psychological thinkers, and he critiques them in terms of Frankl's contributions. Because Gould is both a philosopher and a Methodist minister, his book is also a good introduction to the religious strand in Frankl's work. 
In my own case, I came to Frankl by way of William James and Gordon Allport. I had been teaching a course at Pacific School of Religion called "The Personal Ministry of Jesus" in which I had looked at a dozen personalities with biblical references as to how Jesus dealt with them. With each biblical person I also introduced a different system of personality theory to help in understanding the approach of Jesus. It was my dissatisfaction with the use of many personality theorists that led me to explore the usefulness of Frankl for my course. Until I found Frankl, I had not discovered any other writer who could meet my needs for all the narratives with which I had chosen to work. In my Preface to my Jesus and Logotherapy I wrote: "Logotherapy offers a philosophy of life and a method of counseling which is more consistent with a basically Christian way of life than any other existing system in the current therapeutic world."7' P-9 
James, Allport, and Frankl all dared to write books that are unashamedly religious. William James, Varieties of Religious Experience was the attempt of a philosopher-psychologist at approaching religious experience through case studies.6 Academic psychologist Gordon Allport wrote The Individual and His Religion stressing potential for growth, fulfillment, and 

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creativity.1 Psychiatrist-philosopher Viktor Frankl wrote The Doctor and the Soul, the earliest of his attempts at dealing with a medical ministry.2 Frankl also wrote The Unconscious God in which he developed his religious ideas further.4 Gould deals with all of these writings. 
Gould sees William James as sharing many of the ideas that Frankl 
holds to. He writes of James and Frankl: Their reasoning is propitiously circular in helping us to relate what we know to a life of meaning: 1) it explains what is called reality or truth is made up of a plurality of independent factors that enable humans to have what Frankl calls dimensional ontology; 2) it affirms that the majority of persons are essentially normally active and wish to pursue healthy lives; 3) it recognizes that persons live in communities that share values and goals; and 4) it views the actual world as generically orderable, despite evidences of corruption and brutality.5· P·71 In a similar way, Gould sees Allport and Frankl sharing similar points 
of view. Speaking of Allport, he writes: He aligns himself with an attitude adopted by Frankl; namely, that the religious sentiment, or appetite for meaning, takes many forms as it seeks to overcome the fragmentations of life, or in Frankl's words, to overcome the existential vacuum...Allport links religious sentiment with mature sentiment. Frankl's philosophy of the self agrees. A life of meaning contains a quest and a fulfillment that shows a growing maturity.5' P·140 Gordon Allport occupies a special place in Frankl's writings because 
he wrote the Preface to the book now known as Man's Search for Meaning. Allport met Frankl on Frankl's first lecture tour to American Universities. Allport was so impressed with Frankl's lecture in his class that he asked to see the manuscript that Frankl was using. He was so intrigued with the manuscript which contained the autobiographical account of Frankl's imprisonment in concentration camps that he encouraged Frankl to submit the manuscript to Beacon Press. Allport wrote the Preface, which, on the basis of his prominence in the American intellectual community, assured the book of a spectacular sale. Published in 1959 as From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist's Path to a New Therapy, with a Preface by Gordon W. Allport, the book in a revised and amplified form has become famous with its new title, 
Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy.3 
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Regarding Allport, Gould writes: Allport's system is realistic; he recognizes that the conflicts of life often prevent a person from making simple choices, and he pays special attention to the nature of intentionality and the need to value ~{19 grow, and to the key roles played by moral and spiritual values.5' 
Gould notes that Allport, in his The Individual and His Religion expresses the "engagement of the religious sentiment (the noetic dimension) in terms of a Christian framework"5' P-140 and Gould observes that Frankl talks about similar concerns but does not cast them in a specific Christian orientation. It is clear that Allport is in general agreement with virtually everything that Frankl writes. 
Toward the end of the book, in a single tightly written paragraph, Gould considers and then discards as inadequate six different contemporary approaches which fail to help patients in "overcoming somatogenic, psychogenic, and especially noogenic neuroses": 
Depth psychology, or Freudian psychoanalysis, which emphasizes the past and sees the self only in terms of needs and drives, has not met their needs. Neither has transactional analysis been able to help them, since, though it encourages the rewriting of personal "Scripts" and demythologizes Freud, its therapy focuses on the dimension of the psyche and ignores the noetic dimension. Behavior therapy reduces symptoms and offers changed behavior but fails to offer the person self-understanding. Reality therapy stresses responsibility but does not offer a method for dealing with the blows of fate. Gestalt therapy explains to a person the connection between that person's life and the U.Y~S of others but veers away from any idea of self transcendence.5' 
I want to supplement what Gould writes about Frankl's relationship with Alfred Adler by a personal word which I heard from Frankl himself. At a meeting of the Adlerian Society in Vienna, when Frankl was a medical student, Adler was openly criticized in a paper written and presented by one of the younger members. In the embarrassed silence that followed this attack on the "Master," Adler singled out Frankl, sitting on the back row in the amphitheater and asked him for his reaction. Frankl said that it was not his idea to attack Adler, but since he had been called out in public, he had no choice but to respond. He said that he walked to the blackboard and wrote down three words: 
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Body Mind 
Spirit Then he said to Adler, "You make place adequately for the Body and for the Mind, but you have left out the Spirit." Frankl said that Adler never forgave him for these words, and he found himself cast out of the Society. 
Gould writes of Frankl's opposition to all these psychotherapeutic 
systems: His quarrel with them lies in their failure to recognize the human's spiritual dimension, which he sees as the key to the meaning of life.5' P·152 
In the early incident with Adler, Frankl established the ground from which he has never veered since. 
ROBERT C. LESLIE, PH.D.[646 Santa Rosa Ave., Berkeley, California 94707 U.S.A.] is Emeritus Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling at the Pacific School of Religion and Curator of the Frankl Library and Memorabilia, Graduate Theological Union. 
References 
1. 
Allport, G. W. (1951). The individual and his religion: A psychological interpretation. NY: Macmillan. 

2. 
Frankl, V. E. (1957). The doctor and the soul: An introduction to logotherapy. NY: Alfred Knopf. Frankl, V. E. (1962). Man's search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy. Boston: Beacon Press. 


4. Frankl, V. E. (1978). The unconscious God: Psychotherapy and theology. NY: Simon & Schuster. 
5. Gould, W. B. (1993). Frankl: Life with meaning. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing. 
6. 
James, W. (1902). Varieties of religious experience. NY: Random House. 

7. 
Leslie, R. C. (1965). Jesus and logotherapy: The ministry of Jesus as interpreted through the psychotherapy of Viktor Frankl. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 


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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 13-19. 
THE LIFESTYLE APPROACH TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE 
Glenn D. Watters 
The lifestyle model of behavior patterns,4 with its emphasis on the responsible development of skills, is well suited to be integrated with logotherapy. In turn, logotherapy has a great deal to offer to the lifestyle approach. 
This article points to specific areas where logotherapy can be particularly helpful to change drug-abuse lifestyles. 
The lifestyle approach to drugseeking behavior proposes that the abuse of chemical substances can be traced back to three interrelated influences, the "three C's": conditions, choice, and cognition. Conditions, genetic or environmental, increase or decrease the risk for future drug involvement by restricting or enhancing available options. Choices are always available, although historical/developmental or current/situational conditions may limit them. Cognition allows clients to rationalize and defend their drug lifestyle and the choices that led up to it. 
Irrational, Automatic Beliefs 
Eight thinking patterns constitute the cognitive branch of lifestyle theory.5 They evolve because drug users want to justify and protect their choice of lifestyle. Their thinking patterns are largely irrational1 and automatic.3 They are irrational because they aim at short-term gratification at the expense of long-term satisfaction; and they are automatic because they are used routinely and repetitively. The manner in which these eight patterns promote a drug lifestyle is examined here. 

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Mollification 
Drug users often use mollification, which is to blame the negative consequences of their drug lifestyle on external factors, such as other people, life situations, and society at large. Until they accept responsibility for personal choices and their consequences, few meaningful changes will occur. 
Cutoff is a cognitive mechanism that can quickly eliminate deterrents to drug use and drug-related activity. Cutoffs may consist of a simple phrase, mental image, or musical theme. Drugs themselves can serve to cutoff deterrents to continued drug usage. People who plan to stop after two drinks but wind up finishing off a case of beer and a half pint of whisky may have used the first two drinks to cutoff their initially good intentions to limit themselves to two drinks. 
Entitlement 
Drug users may justify not only after drug use (mollification), but also before (entitlement). They may claim to feel overwhelmed at work or unappreciated at home, or find other ways of justification. Another form of entitlement involves the misidentification of wants as needs ("I am addicted and therefore entitled to do whatever is required to get the drug into my body"). 
Power orientation 
Drug users often attempt to gain control over their feelings of powerlessness, inadequacy, and low self-esteem by manipulating, intimidating, and controlling others. Power orientation also can take the form of using drugs to gain a sense of control over one's mood. This is why some users continue taking a drug even though it makes them feel worse. 
Sentimentality 
We all have a need to view ourselves in a positive, constructive light. Lifestyle drug abusers, too, will go to great lengths to prove that they really are good persons. They do this by being generous (buying expensive presents without good reason) or performing good deeds (making a speech about the dangers of drugs without ceasing their own habits). Sentimentality supports and perpetuates the drug lifestyle by leading the user to the mistaken conclusion that they are a nice person who does not need to change their behavior. 
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Superoptimism 
Drug users may overestimate their chances of avoiding the negative consequences of a drug lifestyle. They may be surrounded by people whose lives are falling apart as a consequence of their drug use, but will ignore these same "signs• in their own lives. They have the unrealistic expectation that they can continue abusing drugs and avoid becoming physically addicted to or psychologically dependent upon these substances. The direct pharmacological effect of drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine and the ability of the human body to withstand months and even years of physical abuse only add to the subject's growing sense of Invulnerability and superoptimism. 
Cognitive indolence 
Persons committed to a drug lifestyle are lazy in both thought and behavior (cognitive indolence). Because their critical reasoning skills are deficient, they pursue short-term hedonistic goals and dismiss the negative long-term consequences of their actions. This results in short-cut thinking, limited self-awareness, poor planning, and promotes relapse by dulling critical reasoning skills and the subject's ability to confront irrational and self-defeating thoughts. 
Discontinuity 
Drug-dependent individuals periodically wish to lead a drug-free lifestyle. However, because they do not have the skills to carry out these good intentions in the face of environmental temptation and change, they come across as inconsistent or discontinuous. They lose sight of constructive goals in favor of drugs and the lifestyle that has evolved from their drug-oriented thoughts, ideas, and choices. Finally, their preoccupation with drugs and drugrelated activities becomes all-consuming to the point where their only true goal is to remain in a drug lifestyle, a goal which does not lend itself to a consistent or stable pattern of thought or behavior. 
Behaviors Emanating From The Beliefs 
The lifestyle model of drug-seeking behavior consists of a series of behaviors emanating from a common set of automatic, irrational beliefs described above. These behaviors fall into four primary clusters. 
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Irresponsibility and pseudoresponslbllity 
Persons engaged In drug lifestyle patterns are characteristically irresponsible. They frequently fail to meet their personal obligations to friends, family, employers, and others to whom they are accountable. They may also show a pseudoresponsibility In which they use the pretext that, because they pay their bills and stay out of legal trouble, they do not have a problem with drugs. A closer Inspection, however, frequently reveals a pattern of behavior that Ignores the emotional and psychological needs of loved ones. 
Stress-coping imbalance 
Persons committed to a drug lifestyle cannot cope effectively with stress and are locked in an escalating pattern of social and environmental pressure which they attempt to handle by using drugs. Though drugs may alleviate stress in the short run, they create more problems because troubles that are ignored tend to grow rather than disappear. 
Interpersonal triviality 
Persons engaged in drug lifestyle activities avoid the self-transcendence found in purposeful interpersonal relationships and instead seek the company of other drug users. They gradually withdraw into a world of superficial interpersonal transactions and drug-based rituals. This interpersonal triviality soon takes preeminence over the actual pharmacological effects of the drug in promoting further drug usage. 
Social rule breaking and bending 
Drug users tend to violate the rules and norms of society. Unlike the lifestyle criminal, who wants to thwart the control efforts of authority figures, the drug abuser is driven by the desire to procure and use drugs. Since social rule bending (lying, conning, deceiving) is punished less severely than social rule breaking (stealing, robbing, assaulting) this is the preferred mode of social rule violations by persons engaged in drug lifestyle activities. They may also break rules, but typically only after they have attempted to get what they want through some form of social rule bending. 
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Treatment 
The lifestyle treatment model consists of three primary steps: 1) constructing a foundation for change, 2) identifying vehicles for change, and 
3) finding a reinforcing non-drug lifestyle. 
Foundation 
The foundation for change is a sense of disgust with one's past substance usage and current drug-oriented thinking. Users may remember others they have harmed as a consequence of their drug lifestyle or they may realize that many of their problems are a direct result of their drug use. The foundation for change furnishes drug users with new directions by focusing on the negative consequences of their past drug-related activities and current drug-oriented thinking. It also counterbalances the users' previous positive emotional response to drug use by drawing their attention to the negative aspects. 
Vehicles 
Vehicles for change are tools that can change the thinking and behavior of drug-involved persons, such as drug treatment, individual psychotherapy, increased involvement in religion, and educational enrichment. However, unless these vehicles are firmly founded on disgust with one's past drug activities and current drug-oriented thinking, any change is not likely to survive the first significant frustration or temptation. This is why educational and vocational programs alone do little to affect long-term changes. 
Reinforcing non-drug lifestyle 
Reinforcing a non-drug lifestyle, is needed as effective after-care service. Once the drug lifestyle has been abandoned, former drug users must find a substitute or they will drift back into old destructive habits or other negative lifestyles (e.g., compulsive gambling). The therapist must therefore explore alternative constructive lifestyles to satisfy the drug users' basic goals and values. The new lifestyle may not be capable of providing as much immediate gratification as the drug lifestyle, but it may offer greater long-term satisfaction. 
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Integration with Logotherapy 
Logotherapy has relevance to important features of drug abuse in general and the lifestyle model of drug abuse in particular. In terms of intervention, discontinuity Is probably the most difficult of the eight thinking patterns to manage, but it is discontinuity that holds the entire system together. Hence, while many drug abusers desire change, they frequently lose sight of their initially good Intentions because they are so easily sidetracked by forbidden thoughts and environmental temptations. Logoanalysis promises a sense of direction based on personal life-meaning. Logotherapy emphasizes self-transcendent goals that actualize the personal values the drug abuser has heretofore not realized. Thus, logotherapy can be very helpful in overcoming the problem of discontinuity. 
Because of its emphasis on freedom and responsibility, logotherapy counteracts the irresponsibility and pseudoresponsibility component of the drug lifestyle. It also can reduce Interpersonal triviality. A person immersed in a pattern of drug abuse tends to withdraw from meaningful human contact in favor of superficial associations and drug-based rituals. Logotherapy provides clients with a vehicle by which they can identify and develop self-transcendent goals previously abandoned in favor of self-indulgent goals. Lukas reports that clients often lose sight of their values by getting overly involved in a world of sensation and pleasure. She reports that logotherapy can be useful in helping rediscover the values and find the meaning in clients' lives.2 
Logotheoretic concepts and logotherapeutic techniques might help in the treatment of drug users by constructing a foundation of disgust and identifying salient vehicles for change. The most beneficial aspect of logotherapy, however, may come during the third stage of the treatment process (finding a reinforcing non-drug lifestyle). Because logotherapy provides a method by which underlying values are identified and actualized, it can assist in the development of a reinforcing non-drug lifestyle. Drug users will not give up their lifestyle unless they can find a suitable replacement. Logoanalysis can make a substantial contribution in this regard by providing a format through which values can be identified, self-transcendent goals can be actualized, and meaning in life can be found. 
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Conclusion 
Though logotherapy and lifestyle theory originate from different theoretical roots--logotherapy from an existential tradition and lifestyle theory from the cognitive-behavioral school--they appear amenable to integration through their common interest in choice, responsibility, and the pursuit of meaning. It seems likely, then, that continued attention to the logotherapylifestyle overlap can provide new insights and innovative techniques in the treatment of drug involved persons and others who have lost their direction in the pursuit of a meaningful lifestyle. 
GLENN D. WALTERS, PH.D. [Psychology Services, Federal Correctional Institution-Schuylkill, P. 0. Box 700, Minersville, Pennsylvania 17954-0700 U.S.A.] is a psychologist and author of drug abuse and criminal lifestyle materials. The assertions and opinions contained herein are the private views of the author and should not be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or United States Department of Justice. 
References 
1. 
Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. NY: Lyle Stuart. 

2. 
Lukas, E. (1984). Meaningful living; Logotherapeutic guide to health. Berkeley: Institute of Logotherapy Press. 

3. 
Tiffany, S. (1990). A cognitive model of drug urges and drug-use behavior: Role of automatic and nonautornatic processes. Psychological Review, 97, 147-168. 

4. 
Walters, G. (1990). The criminal lifestyle: Patterns of serious criminal conduct. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 

5. 
Walters, G. (1992). Drug-seeking behavior: Disease or lifestyle? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 23, 139-145. 


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The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 20-25. 
MEANING AND LIFE'S TRIALS: AN AVENUE OF HOPE 
Patricia E. Haines 
Life happens and often it is not fair. One of the most difficult scenarios for people to handle is the one in which life's equilibrium is interrupted by some catastrophe. People who face crisis or trauma experience shock, anxiety, depression, mood swings, and despair. Confidence in their ability to deal with life on life's terms is shaken. Often the rudest awakening is the realization that we live each day on life's terms, whether we realize it or not. 

Surviving Trauma: Physical, Emotional, or Spiritual 
In general, individuals take health and well-being for granted. When sudden illness appears, they immediately catastrophize. For example, a diagnosis of cancer or AIDS is interpreted as equalizing death. At the moment of diagnosis, people focus on dying. 
Bill, 60, was informed he tested HIV positive. He did not actively have AIDS at the time. Immediately upon hearing the news, Bill began to obsess about "the end." He created scenarios in his mind about his step-by-step decline. He had no quality in his life and determined no quality was possible. In short, he began dying before it was necessary. When I saw him, his first words were, "I've been given a death sentence. It's all over." 
In any life-threatening situation, finding the right words is difficult. As always, one must take care not to minimize the seriousness of the problem. So, I asked, "Do you think you will die today?" 
"Oh, no," he replied, "but eventually I will." 
"Me, too,· I said. 
This exchange broke the ice and opened the door for some work on meaning and purpose in the here and now. Bill was able, eventually, to use a logoplan to map a strategy of handling the reality of his illness. He 
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established reasonable and manageable goals. When setbacks occurred, he planned a strategy to manage them. He was able to find experiences day by day which were meaningful. In reaching out to other persons struggling with the knowledge that they have the HIV virus, Bill effectively co-facilitated a support group for such people. He commented that now he saw a clear purpose for his own struggle. 
In providing counseling to chronically ill or severely traumatized individuals, Lukas proposed that a therapist's responsibility is to help clients separate from their symptoms and to explore all avenues to meaning.3 When clients clarify their priorities and take responsibility for themselves, their lives can maintain mental health while reducing existential frustration. 
Even in misery, people can transcend daily pain and anxiety to reach a higher plane of spiritual awareness. Many examples are available. Frankl transcended fear and constant threats from his captors to reach some sort of spiritual serenity despite the chaos. 
My friend Joanne is another example. Joanne's cancer was diagnosed in her early twenties. Though her type of cancer was slow growing, the disease process was not without pain and aggravation. Throughout the next 24 years, Joanne's life was interrupted regularly for a dozen surgeries to remove more cancer. Each time Joanne went under the anesthesia, she never knew until she awakened whether or not she still had a larynx. Yet, her attitude was, "If they have to take it, I'll deal with it." Many years before that, Joanne had made up her mind that the disease would not prevent her from living and loving. Joanne survived a bout with alcoholism and dedicated a major part of her last years to carrying the message of recovery to other alcoholics. Her family, her work, and her recovery provided tremendous meaning until her death. Her motto was: live each day meaningfully and push on, no matter what. And to the end, she was her same outgoing, loving, and effervescent self, a testimony to the impact of meaning on the quality of life. 
Takashima encouraged people to meet disease head-on when recovery is possible.4 This assertive will to live often enhances the treatment. But in fighting a catastrophic disease which cannot be cured, clients would do well to concentrate on managing the disease rather than trying to conquer it. Many people can live relatively long, productive, and meaningful lives once they learn how to actively manage the illness or situation. The opposite can occur when infirmed individuals become engrossed in their illnesses. 
Jack, 40, had always been healthy and robust. When he was 25, he had a severe bout of pneumonia. He survived the illness physically, but not emotionally. This was Jack's first serious illness. Though the disease left him 
21 
weakened for a time, his physical recovery progressed nicely. However, because he had not come back 100 percent immediately, Jack convinced himself that he would never be well again. So, for 15 years he went from physician to physician trying to find ''the cure." 
In the process, each physician prescribed medications for various symptoms. Soon Jack had more and different symptoms. Then one day a physician leveled with him. Some of the newer symptoms were directly related to the years of putting substance after substance into his body and focusing on his illnesses. Reluctantly, Jack came into therapy. He had become comfortable feeling poorly, and the prospect of change was unnerving. 
Jack was helped to take charge of planning his own strategy for action. Through the use of guided imagery, Jack was helped to envision his symptoms moving away from his body. He reached out to hold them in check and told himself he had control. Eventually Jack was able to take responsibility for his wellness. He joined a 12-step fellowship for his substance abuse. Through the 12-step program involvement and counseling, he learned to accept what he could not change, to change what he could, and to know which was which. Even small, inconsequential events and daily competencies took on new meaning. He discovered that the attitude change followed action on his part to do something about his situation, which, in turn, helped him to feel a greater mastery of life events. One day he realized he felt strong and empowered. He knew that nothing could conquer his indomitable spirit if his life had meaning and purpose. 
In logotherapeutic terms, each day provides an opportunity for meaning, despite pain and frustration. In recent years, society has developed an all-or-nothing mentality. We are either all-the-way healthy, or we are dying-no in between. In reality, we are here minute by minute, heartbeat by heartbeat. Regardless of age or health status, a life isn't an authentic human life without meaning and purpose. Therefore, helping clients find meaning, tap into available resources, and activate the defiant power of the human spirit are primary goals in counseling traumatized people. Activating the powerful human spirit is a crucial step if individuals are to move beyond limitations imposed by illness or crisis. 
In keeping with logotherapeutic philosophy that therapists should not impose their values or ideologies onto someone else, helping professionals first help clients explore their spirituality. Then, these helping professionals assist clients to use their resources and strengths to combat the illness or trauma. For persons who flounder, seemingly with no resources or strength, logotherapists help by unmasking clients' inner core of health and strength, 
22 
which many never knew they had. If individuals have a belief system, the belief system is a source of support. Through this process many people learn more about themselves than they ever imagined. 
When using this process in a structured way, I call it logoplanning.2 In the logoplan, it is vitally important that clients take the responsibility of planning their own strategies with only a minimal amount of input from helping professionals. Counselors can provide possible alternatives and resources, but clients are the ones who make the commitment to follow through with their plan. Therefore, the plan must be the client's. 
The Logoplan 
The Logoplan can be an effective, step-by-step planning tool. The plan is a continuum of actions leading to a specific goal or desired scenario. Along the path, certain obstacles may appear to impede progress. The obstacle may be simple or severe. The key is one's ability to go over, under, around, or through the obstacle, or if that is not possible, to use the obstacle as a springboard to a new pathway or amended goal. 
The process of logoplanning incorporates five steps: 
1. 
Personalizing the Goal. What do you want to learn or accomplish? List not only the goals, but areas of competence and criteria for meaningful goal attainment. How will you know you have reached a meaningful outcome? Goals should be reasonable and attainable. In addition, what is needed to learn the task or to meet the requirements of the situation? 

2. 
Obstacles. What obstacles are blocking the path? Perhaps necessary resources are not available to attain what you want. Maybe a catastrophic illness hinders progress. Included in this step are people who, because of their biases, may hinder your progress in the logopath. 

3. 
Personal Resources. List the resources--educational material, professionals, colleagues, friends, family, groups, etc.--that can be pulled together for support or growth opportunities. 

4. 
Outcome. List parts of the goal which were reached if the entire goal was not accomplished. 

5. 
Reconstruct the Logopath (if necessary). List ways in which the path can be amended to reach the goal. If you decide to select another goal, then make another Logoplan. 


23 
Meaning in Spite of Suffering 
Frankl proved time and again that life can be meaningful no matter how desperate the circumstances. While encouraging his fellow prisoners in the camps, he told his captive comrades: 
...that human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life involves suffering and dying, privation, and death ...They must not lose hope but should keep their courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of our struggle did not detract from its dignity and meaning. I said that someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours--a friend, a wife, someone alive or dead, or a God--and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly--not miserable--knowing how 
to die_ 1. p.1a1-32 
Despair destroys meaning in the here and now for those who give into it Despair looms large and tends to dismantle hope. One man reported, "I always thought I was pretty upbeat until the doctor told me I had cancer. Then it was painfully obvious that I merely equated success with meaning. I discovered I didn't know anything about meaning and that there was more to life than being successful." Logotherapy can help persons whose lives have been suddenly disrupted by chaos. In helping clients learn how to separate from their symptoms and to focus on the path to meaning in the here and now, we guide them on a personal journey in which they will know a new peace and a greater confidence that their indomitable spirit will prevail no matter what happens. They will learn to confidently meet life on life's terms. 
PATRICIA E. HAINES, PH.D., R.N. [121 Merriman Road #B, Akron, Ohio 44303 U.S.A.] is a Chaplain Associate at Akron General Medical Center, Akron, Ohio, a licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, and a Cenified Chemical Dependency Counselor. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling and Human Development. 
References 
1. Frankl, V. (1963). Man's search for meaning. NY: Pocket Books. 
2. Haines, P. (1989, June). Activating the power of the defiant spirit for personalized education through logoplanning. Paper presented at the 7th World Congress of Logotherapy, Kansas City, MO. 
24 
3. 
Lukas, E. (1979). The four steps of logotherapy. In J. Fabry, R. Bulka, & W. Sahakian (Eds.), Logotherapy in action (p. 95). NY: Aronson Press. 

4. 
Takishima, H. (1979). Living with disease. In J. Fabry, R. Bulka, & W. Sahakian (Eds.), Logotherapy in action (p. 117). NY: Aronson Press. 


When President Clinton during his campaign and in his Inauguration Address stressed the importance ofpersonal responsibility, Joseph Fabry sent him the letter and received the answer reproduced on page 42. Perhaps our readers will feel like writing to President Clinton in support of the idea whose time, we think, is overdue. 
The Editors 
JOE FABRY LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON 
January 21, 1993 
Dear President Clinton: 
Buoyed by your Inauguration Speech I went back to my letter to you of October 16, 1991 and the two replies I received from you and David Watkins. 
You may now seriously consider balancing the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast with a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast, possibly on Alcatraz Island in the Bay of San Francisco, birthplace of the United Nations. 
You are undoubtedly familiar with Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning (on the "long-seller" list of the New York Times, having sold three million copies since 1959). Dr. Frankl, the leading living existential philosopher, has said in his books and in his 150 American lectures that freedom without responsibility leads to chaos and arbitrariness, and advocated a Statue of Responsibility as a powerful symbol. 
Freedom, used without responsibility, causes families to fall apart, natural resources to be wasted, drugs to be sold, laws to be tested for loopholes, and crimes committed. In education, nothing is more urgent than education for responsibility from kindergarten on. 
In your address yesterday, you uttered such unpopular words as "sacrifice," "pain," "hard truths," and "discipline." People will be more ready to accept them if they see them within the context of responsibility--consideration for not only themselves but including a wider circle, a partner, a neighborhood, a city, state, country, a planet. 
continued on page 42 
25 

The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 26-30. 
THE LOGOANCHOR TECHNIQUE 
Ann Graber Westermann 
In his book Meaning in Therapy, James Yoder describes an encounter he had with Viktor Frankl In this manner: 
"In 1980 at San Diego, California, site of the First World Congress of Logotherapy, I stood in a long line to await my turn to greet Dr. Frankl and tell him the meanings brought to me and to my students by his book, and particularly the account of his first night in Auschwitz, when, In the midst of agonizing pain and horror, he could, in spite of pain, step back from it and hear the truth that came to him: 'I'm obliged to live my thoughts rather than merely putting them 
22 23
down on paper."'(paraphrased)3' P-• Frankl shifted his focus. He transcended his current reality to something very life-giving that allowed him strength and courage to go on. 
In the preface to the third edition of The Doctor and the Soul, Frankl describes how he limped along painfully in the bitter cold, deploring the misery of his life, when he forced his thoughts to turn to another subject. "Suddenly I saw myself standing on the platform of a well-lit, warm, and pleasant lecture room. In front of me sat an attentive audience...By this method I succeeded somehow in rising above the situation, above the 
sufferings of the moment."1' p.x, 
This passage intrigued me for years. I wondered: Do we have to be in extremis before we can accomplish this shift in awareness to what might be termed phase transition to non-local time--experiences occurring outside of our usual time/space continuum? My success with what I call the Logoanchor Technique tells me that we do not. 
Perhaps our great human challenge is: LIVING OUR KNOWING! The present paper offers a technique for entering that ontological dimension--at will--and having experiences similar to those described by Frankl. 
26 
Logophilosophy & Logotherapy is Urgently Needed 
In a professional field where great value is placed on quantifiable data, existential therapy is considered, to use Irvin Yalom's phrase, the homeless waif.2• P·21 Symbolic representations and noetlc interventions are difficult to measure. Nevertheless, they may be the most applicable in dealing with existential dilemmas that are brought before us. 
Acceptable solutions need to be found to many pressing issues. Logophilosophy and Logotherapy can address essential life questions. Among the ones that cross my threshold most frequently, are: 
--How to remedy the terrible isolation, rampant in our midst, 
where so many people experience a lack of belonging and a 
sense of alienation. Will we reach out, with caring, to bridge 
these isolated islands of humanity? 
--How to deal with the relationship revolution going on 
between men and women. In our highly-prized independence, 
will we mutually learn to be interdependent, so the unique
ness of each is appreciated and interpersonal intimacy can be 
fostered? 
--How to put security into the lives of developing children who 
are often exposed to superficial values at an artificially driven 
pace. So many demands are made on their working parents 
(with extended families largely unavailable) in a society in 
transit, and a world in transition. Let us not neglect them or 
their needs, for they represent our most precious resource. In 
them lies the hope and the future of humankind! 
--How to approach the taboo subject of death. In a society 
where death is treated with denial, Is accountability for one's 
actions and responsibility similarly denied or deferred? (i.e., 
the credit-card syndrome, the national debt). How is the 
prevailing attitude about death reflected in the way we live 
life? How do we help our clients face their very real existential 
anxiety regarding death when it presents masks in so many 
guises? 
How does the logotherapist prepare to assist others to scale these sheer cliffs of human existence? Surely one must first be comfortable with these core issues oneself, in order to be an active listener and serve as a guide to others trying to transcend their existential crises. 
To that end, I often employ what I have come to think of as the logoanchor: An experience, rich in meaning, either from the past, or an 
27 
anticipated one from the future, which can be used as an anchor in a current situation. This technique can be used effectively in many situations--for example, to comfort frightened and lonely children, to bridge communication gaps between partners, to help heal grief and loss, to face fear of dying, to find motivation for living. 
When one goes to do battle on these intense fronts of life, it is best to wear the armor of vulnerability and to reach into the noetic dimension of the human spirit for strength and invincibility. The noetic dimension is where the essence of humanness can be found. This is the High Country to which Logotherapy as a Hohenpsychologie (height-psychology) leads the way. 
The Logoanchor Technique 
The logoanchor technique guides clients in the search for anchoring experiences in their own lives. Anchoring experiences are times when individuals were in touch with the highest or noblest they are capable of-moments rich in meaning, intuitive knowing, insight, altruistic love, creativity, faith, hope, authentic moments to relive and savor the noetic energies. 
It is best to begin the logoanchor process with a brief relaxation. About 15 minutes may be needed initially, but once a logoanchor is readily available, it can be accessed almost instantaneously. At the end of a brief relaxation, I continue as follows: 
I invite you now to participate in a multisensory imagery process by closing your eyes or focusing on one point to avoid visual distraction. Get comfortable in your seat, feeling that your body is safe in this space. 
Take a deep breath, hold it, exhale, and let go of any physical tensions in your body...just relax. Take another deep breath, hold it, exhale, and let go of any emotional tension you may have...just let it go. 
Take one more deep breath, hold it, and when you exhale let go of your mental preoccupations...just let them drift away and be here now, totally present to yourself in this moment in time. 
Begin breathing in your own natural rhythm, a rhythm uniquely yours, that will help you get calm and centered. 
Let your consciousness drift, the way you do when you daydream. Let's go down memory lane in search of an experience that filled you with awe and wonder; to a time 
28 
when you felt integrated and alive! When you were in touch with your uniqueness. your humanness In an essential way. 
A time when you felt expansive, full of intuitive knowing, experienced something sacred. To a moment when you felt transcendence was not only possible, but immanent! 
Bring that state of awareness forward to the present moment. 
Imprint it in your memory through multisensory imagery. Visual Impressions: see it clear1y. Auditory impressions: hear the sounds again. Gustatory impressions: what tastes were involved? Olfactory impressions: notice the smells, odors, aromas that accompanied the experience. Tactile impressions: touch it, feel it. What emotions were evoked? 
Put as many of these sensory impressions as you can together now into a holographic image and fully experience that moment again that was very life-giving, knowing that it is still alive in you and that you can use it again and again as a logoanchor whenever you are in need of one. 
A Case Example 
Lisa. a young woman with whom I am currently working, has suffered grievous losses in the past two years. First, her mother died. The family had barely adjusted to that, when her father died suddenly. Lisa had been very close to her father. "I felt heart-broken when my dad died and I became ill with bacterial endocarditis." (Nao-psychosomatic?) Weak from the prolonged illness and unable to function, she lost her job. Instead of doing familiar work competently, she suddenly found herself having to deal with probate matters and other totally bewildering things concerning her parents' legal affairs. Then her brother, John, whom she loved dearly, came to ask her if he could move in. He was dying and wanted to be with her. She nursed John at home between hospitalizations for several months, until he died of lung cancer. "John was my best friend since childhood. Suddenly I have no family. I am so alone. I'm afraid to be alone. I can't sleep. I miss them so much. I feel so forsaken; there is no one who loves me now," she said, overcome by grief. 
Gradually I began a Socratic Dialogue by probing, "Lisa, let us look for a time in your life when you felt loved, protected, and cared for--not necessarily by your immediate family. Was there ever such a time?" 
29 
Lisa: "Yes...When I was a little girl growing up...Our neighbors were Catholic and they had built a little shrine in their backyard. I was always welcome there. Often I would pick flowers and put them on the little altar and I would sit there for hours and talk to God and the Blessed Mother. I really thought that God lived in that little shrine! I always felt so at home there; very safe, protected, and loved!" 
Dereflexion from her present grief and fear of being alone had begun through a shift in focus to an experience that had been supportive in her past. We tapped into that memory and made it more vivid and accessible through multi-sensory imagery. She was to entertain that memory whenever she felt forsaken or when she couldn't sleep. After practicing this logoanchor for two weeks, on a subsequent visit she happily told me, "We seem to have our family reunions there now! First, John would join me in that little shrine in my mind. It was such fun; I could make him any age I wanted him to be. Then my dad showed up. I was very comforted by his presence. Now mom joins us. It's great! I feel so much better and I can sleep!" 
In the physical dimension she cannot change her situation, nor bring back to life those she loves. In the psychological dimension she was overwhelmed by her losses to the point where she could not function. Only in the noetic dimension is she free to take a stand against her suffering. She chooses to transform her grief into gratitude for all the love she had known in her family and for everything that had been beautiful in her past, which helps her to transcend her tragedy. She discovers rich meanings in her past and uses them as building blocks for her future. 
ANN GRABER WESTERMANN [133 Condor Court, St. Charles, Missouri 63303, U.S.A.] is primarily engaged in therapy work of a spiritual nature, leading growth groups, and lecturing in St. Louis, Missouri. She recently completed the Advanced Training in Logotherapy and is a Diplomate candidate. 
References 
1. Frankl, V. (1986). The doctor and the soul: From psychotherapy to logotherapy. Second Vintage Book Edition. 
2. Yalom, 1.(1992). Quoted by Patricia Lyon-Surrey in American Counselor. 
3. Yoder, J. (1989). Meaning in therapy: A logotherapy casebook for counselors. Columbus, GA: Quill Publications. 
30 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 31-34. 
LOGOTHERAPY'S KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM 
Rachel Asagba 
This article was written on the occasion of Elisabeth Lukas' 50th birthday •on behalf of those whom she helped recover through her work in her practice and her writings.• The editors of the Forum join Rachel Asagba in saying •a big thank-you for the work done.• 
Elisabeth Lukas has demonstrated the practical application of logotherapy in many fields of human behavior. She has shown that it can spread a psychological safety net under people not only in the Western world but also in developing countries. She has shown that it provides tools for clinical psychology, and it provides what Frankl calls "medical ministry" for the suffering. This caring is supplied through knowledge and wisdom. 
The logotherapists' knowledge is based on their understanding of human nature. Their wisdom prevents malpractice and provides professional ethical guidelines. 
The Knowledge of Logotherapy 
According to Lukas, logotherapy has a deep understanding of what human beings basically are and what they strive for; and it guides them in their search. It comprehends the human spirit and its resources, and makes therapeutic use of them. It knows what keeps people going in situations of unavoidable suffering and supports them on their way to meaningful solutions. 
Lukas demonstrated the unique contribution of logotherapy at a Munich conference for gynecologists. Questions that were discussed included the who and how of conveying the message to parents when a badly deformed child is to be born. General agreement was that there is not just one way to do it. Logotherapy's emphasis is to help the parents understand that the important issue is not that the child is "normal" or "abnormal"--the 

31 
important issue is the meaning that can be actualized in taking care of the child in either case. Parents need to be told to prepare for both positive and negative eventualities of the child, and they need to be helped to see that the assignment is to care for the child with love and affection. The logotherapist arouses the parents' "defiant power of their spirit," as a precondition for a modification of attitudes. Drawing on the resources of the human spirit provides strength needed to find fulfillment within their fate. 
Socratic dialogue can guide parents to realize that it is not always necessary, or possible, to be "happy" parents--even with "normal" children. Sometimes the parents with handicapped children find even greater fulfillment. The handicapped child does not have to be a source of sadness, but rather can be a challenge to make the most of the opportunity. 
Such positive attitudes, Lukas explained, require an existential anchoring point. Logotherapy does not presume to compete with religion. But if we are not anchored in some kind of faith that enables us to face the ups and downs of life, we have to face these questions through philosophy. Questions such as "why?" or ''why me?" demand answers--and therapists can help find answers in the teachings of logotherapy. 
Other schools of psychiatry deal with death and suffering through educating and theorizing (for instance, Kubler-Ross' stages of accepting death). Logotherapy is one of the few schools that gives existential help to those suffering from Frankl's ''tragic triad." 
Meaning in Developing Countries 
The logotherapeutic experience of finding meaning in suffering can help clients discover otherwise hidden opportunities. This is possible in all sorts of unavoidable suffering, including suffering experienced in developing countries where economic crises are the cause of much pain. The challenge often is that of survival. Some persons turn to corruption, drug dealing, and other unhealthy ways to survive. 
Logotherapy distinguishes situations of fate (which we cannot change) and those of freedom (which we can change). We must accept our genetic "fate• that we are Africans or Nigerians, but also we must use our areas of freedom, tempered by responsibility, and develop self-reliance within our capabilities. Instead of searching for white-collar jobs--not everyone can be a doctor or manager--we can go back to the land and plant crops or make use of our raw materials to produce something that is needed. 
32 
Few people think of what they can do for the country--instead they just complain about the situation. We cannot change our "fate" of being Nigerians, but we can work together and see that our country develops like Germany or Austria did after the first and the second World Wars. We can transform Africa into a better place to live. 
The Wisdom of Logotherapy 
Scientific knowledge alone is not enough to save the human race, as we have learned from atomic research. Scientific knowledge alone is not enough to keep us healthy. Knowledge must be complemented by wisdom. This is true even for clinical psychology whose therapeutic techniques and psychological strategies too easily propel clients into subhuman channels that plunge them more deeply into illness. 
What is the logotherapeutic wisdom that may have significance for clinical psychology? Not the development of fashionable techniques, but rather a consideration of the basic values and goals of all therapies. These ethical guidelines may be listed as: 
a) 
Normalize, don't psychologize, 

b) 
Encourage self-help, and 

c) 
Don't take away responsibility. 


Lukas considers normalization an important aspect of clinical psychology. Patients may lose their trust in clinical psychology if they are psychologized instead of being helped to make things better for themselves. 
Regarding the second ethical guideline--encouragement of self-help-Lukas points out that it is not the physicians who primarily cause a physical or psychological wound to heal. They can treat a wound with ointments and dressings but the process of healing is accomplished by the self-healing powers of the body. Modern medicine increasingly is becoming aware that health is more likely to be restored when the natural inner system is supported than when the attempt is made to "drive out the devil with the Beelzebub" of artificial chemical intervention. 
Clinical psychology must become aware that not only are there psychological causes of illnesses, but also there are noetic forces of selfhealing that can conquer such illnesses or even prevent them. A wise psychology will seek out and promote these self-healing forces so that wounds will heal, even when their origins cannot be discovered. 
Self-help is successfully applied in such organizations as Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous. Many patients with chronic disorders 
33 
recover through the books or radio talks by Lukas, Frankl, and other logotherapists. 
When I studied in Austria, I spent most of my time at the Medical SelfHelp Center in Vienna. As a dietitian, psychologist, and candidate for logotherapy I witnessed the effectiveness of self-help in patients with chronic diseases. As a former obese patient with a history of depression, I feel now is the time that we in Africa must realize the importance of self-help, and we must encourage it. 
Unfortunately not all people (even the experts) know the meaning of self-help. Sometimes they see it as something like self-medication. Self-help importantly includes an appeal to the resources of the human spirit, such as the will to meaning, goal orientation, and self-transcendence. As my contribution to mental health in Nigeria, I helped establish a medical self-help and referral center here. At present, in addition to counseling, a logotherapeutic approach to permanent weight reduction is offered. I hope that the assistance received from this center will change many peoples' lives in Nigeria. 
Related to the emphasis on self-help is the third ethical guideline stressed by Lukas: Responsibility must not be taken away from patients by medical personnel. Patients need to be directed and assisted to carry out their own responsibility. 
This also concerns Nigerians as a nation. All people must make themselves accountable for the economic failure. Each person, rich or poor, can do something instead of blaming the leaders. We are free to act regardless of the conditions in which we find ourselves in our country. 
Our Self-Help Center's major task is to stress responsibility of patients, rather than leave it to the doctors and medical personnel. Patients are encouraged to learn about their disease and about positive ways to live with it. For instance, the Center organizes education for diabetic self-help groups, and similar groups are established for patients with other chronic diseases. The importance of assuming accountability also is stressed in the weightreduction program. 
RACHEL ASAGBA is a psychologist with the University of Ibadan, P. 0. Box 19695, Ibadan, Nigeria. She studied logotherapy with Elisabeth Lukas at the South German Institute of Logotherapy, and learned much from her personal contact and friendship with Dr. Lukas. 
34 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 35-42. 
THE CHINESE PURPOSE-IN-LIFE TEST AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS 
Daniel T. L. Shek 
(ABSTRACT) The Chinese version of the Purpose-in-Life (PIL) test was administered to 500 Chinese college students, along with measures of psychological well-being (assessing psychiatric symptoms and positive mental health). Results showed that: a) total PIL test and two sub-scales, Quality of Existence and Purpose of Existence, correlated significantly with all measures of psychological well-being; b) relative to Purpose scores, Quality scores were more predictive of psychological well-being; and c) subjects with different existential statuses (defined by high vs. low levels of Quality and Purpose) had different degrees of psychological well-being. The results suggest that the Chinese version of the PIL test does measure the concept of meaning in life, but the relationship between life-meaning and psychological well-being deserves elaboration. 
That the absence of meaning in life is intimately linked to psychopathology is an attractive hypothesis, particularly with respect to its treatment implications. However, there are areas of conceptual ambiguity intrinsic to this formulation.15 
The first ambiguity arises from the specification of the essence of "meaning in life". Although Frankl regards the search for meaning as a basic human 

motive, whether meaning is a unidimensional concept or whether there are different aspects is not always clear. For instance, while Frankl distinguishes between meaning and purpose,6 such a distinction is not thoroughly addressed in much of the literature. There are two levels on which the phrase "perceived meaning in personal existence" can be understooc:1--meaning in life may refer to the presence of beliefs and related 
35 
goals (cognitive aspect), or it may refer to the presence of feeling and subjective experiences that life is meaningful (affective aspect), or both.15 
A second source of ambiguity concerns the relationship between meaning and conventional psychiatric syndromes. Although Frankl maintains that emptiness in meaning might lead to noogenic neuroses (pathological conditions etiologically distinct from other forms of psychopathology),7 Crumbaugh concludes that existential vacuum as indexed by the PIL "is not directly identifiable with any conventional syndromes, except perhaps depression".3 
An additional source of ambiguity concerns the relationship between psychological well-being and the quantity of meaning in life (rather than the sheer presence or absence of meaning per se). When considering the relationship between meaning and psychopathology, Frankl distinguishes between presence and absence of meaning rather than its degree experienced. It might prove illuminating to focus on the intensity of meaning rather than on its sheer presence or absence of meaning when examining the relationship between meaning and psychological well-being. 
Few studies have focused on the proposal that meaning is related to psychological well-being. Research data collected in adolescents would be particularly important because the quest for meaning has an "overwhelming urgency particularly at puberty. "6 
Utilizing the translated Chinese version of the Purpose-in-Life (C-PIL) test, Shek previously demonstrated that the C-PIL and its dominant subscales-Quality of Existence (QEXIST) and Purpose of Existence (PEXIST), correlated significantly with several measures of psychological well-being.15 QEXIST, compared with PEXIST, was more predictive of psychological well-being. It was also found that subjects with different existential statuses (defined by different combinations of high vs. low QEXIST and PEXIST) had different levels of psychological well-being. 
It is necessary to determine whether the relationships between the CPIL and other measures of psychological well-being can be replicated in other samples. In addition, since the subjects employed in the previous study were secondary school students, it would be important to know whether the observed relationships between the C-PIL and measures of psychological wellbeing also exist in persons in late adolescence, a period during which questions concerning purpose and meaning in life are always asked in an intensive manner. 
Data reported here were gathered in a larger study designed to investigate the mental health of Chinese university students.16 This paper 
36 
reports empirical evidence on the relationship between intensity of meaning and psychological well-being In a sample of Chinese university students. Several research questions are addressed: a) are perceived meaning in personal existence and its related dimensions (affective and cognitive aspects) associated with different measures of psychological well-being, b) are different aspects of meaning, as indexed by the C-PIL (QEXIST and PEXIST), differentially related to different measures of psychological well-being, and c) are there any significant differences in the psychological well-being among people with different existential statuses (defined by high vs. low levels of QEXIST and PEXIST)? 
Method Instruments 
The Purpose-in-Life test was designed by Crumbaugh to quantify existential meaning perceived by an individual, and evidence has been accumulated on its reliability and validity.3 The Chinese version of the PIL was translated by Shek, 14 who reported high reliability.15 Two dominant dimensions of this scale have been demonstrated--Quality of Existence (QEXIST = affective meaning experience: sum of items 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, and 19) and Purpose of Existence (PEXIST = cognitive aspect of meaning: sum of items 3, 4, 13, 17, 18, and 20). 
Apart from the C-PIL, the Chinese students also responded to other clinical scales measuring different areas of psychological well-being. These scales were translated into Chinese by various investigators and were shown to possess acceptable psychometric properties. These scales included: 
1. 
Chinese version of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire, designed to measure current non-psychotic disturbances. 8 

2. 
Trait Anxiety Scale of the Chinese State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, to assess chronic anxiety responses. 17 

3. 
Chinese Beck Depression Inventory, a self-report measure of acute severity of depressive symptomatology.1 

4. 
Chinese Hopelessness Scale, devised to measure the degree of pessimism experienced by an individual.2 

5. 
Chinese Self-Esteem Scale, from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale designed to assess the self-esteem of students.10 

6. 
Existential Well-Being Scale, a part of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale constructed to assess life-direction and satisfaction.9 

7. 
Life Satisfaction Scale, designed to assess an individual's own global judgment of his or her quality of life.4 


37 
The first four scales are instruments assessing mental health status in terms of manifest psychiatric symptoms. The last three are tools measuring mental health in terms of positive mental health criteria. 
Subjects and Procedures 
The subjects were 500 undergraduate student volunteers, recruited by trained research assistants. All subjects responded en masse to all instruments, taking 2 to 3 hours to complete. 
Resuhs 
Factor analyses identified two dominant and stable dimensions of the C-PIL that were highly comparable to the Quality of Existence (QEXIST) and Purpose of Existence (PEXIST) factors previously reported (coefficients of congruence = .87 and .92 for QEXIST and PEXIST, respectively). Reliability analyses showed that the C-PIL and QEXIST and PEXIST subscales had high reliability statuses (alphas= .86, .86, and .81, respectively) in the present study. 
The data showed that the total C-PIL, QEXIST and PEXIST scores correlated significantly with all other measures of psychological well-being (correlation coefficients ranged from .48 to .75 in absolute value). Correlations between total PIL, QEXIST and PEXIST scores and other measures of psychological well-being are presented in the following Table. 
Correlations between total C-PIL (Overall Purpose), QEXIST (Quality of Existence) and PEXIST (Purpose of Existence) scores and self-report measures of psychological well-being. 
Overall Quality of Purpose of Purpose Existence Existence 
General Health Questionnaire  -.48 ***  -.46 ***  -.39 ***  
Trait Anxiety  -.58 ***  -.63 ***  -.42 ***  
Depression  -.56 ***  -.60 ***  -.44 ***  
Hopelessness  -.73 ***  -.69 ***  -.68 ***  
Self-Esteem  .63 ***  .60 ***  .56 ***  
Existential Well-Being  .75 ***  .73 ***  .64 ***  
Life Satisfaction  .57 ***  .61  ***  .41  ***  
-------·-- 

*** p < .0001 
To further understand the relationships between the different aspects of life-meaning and psychological well-being, multiple regression analyses were 
38 
performed with measures of psychological well-being as the dependent variables and QEXIST and PEXIST as the independent variables. The QEXIST scores were found to be more predictive of all seven measures of psychological well-being. QEXIST predicted better than PEXIST the three positive mental health scores. QEXIST also predicted the four manifest psychiatric symptoms scores, while PEXIST was not significant for three of these scores. (The results of the multiple regression analyses are available from the author.) 
The impacts of different existential statuses on psychological wellbeing were examined by classifying subjects into different groups based on their QEXIST and PEXIST scores. High vs. low affective experience of lifemeaning was determined by regarding subjects with QEXIST scores at or above the QEXIST mean (Mean=48) as having high level of QEXIST, and those with scores below the mean as having low level of QEXIST. Similarly, high vs. low cognitive aspect of life-meaning was determined by considering subjects with PEXIST scores at or above the PEXIST mean (Mean=31) as high PEXIST subjects, and those with scores below the PEXIST mean as low PEXIST subjects. Thus, four groups of subjects with different levels of QEXIST and PEXIST were identified: a) subjects with high scores in both QEXIST and PEXIST (Group 1, N=208); b) subjects with high scores in QEXIST but low scores in PEXIST (Group 2, N=39); c) subjects with low scores in QEXIST but high scores in PEXIST (Group 3, N=78); and d) subjects with low scores in both QEXIST and PEXIST (Group 4, N=172). 
Several one-way ANOVAs were performed to examine the group differences. The results showed that there were significant differences in the psychological well-being between the four groups with different existential statuses. Generally speaking, the psychological well-being of subjects with high QEXIST and PEXIST scores (Group 1) was the best. This was followed by subjects in Group 2, Group 3, then Group 4, respectively. However Group 1 did significantly better than Group 2 in relatively few areas (i.e., only in hopelessness, self-esteem, and existential well-being). (The mean differences between subjects with different existential statuses on the various measures of psychological well-being are available from the author.) 
Discussion 
The total C-PIL and the two sub-scale scores (QEXIST and PEXIST) correlated significantly with all other measures of psychological well-being. The present data suggest that life-meaning and its dimensions are related to symptoms of the conventional forms of psychopathology (including general psychiatric symptoms, trait anxiety, depressive symptoms, and hopelessness) 
39 
as well as measures of positive mental health (self-esteem, existential wellbeing, and life satisfaction). In view of such findings, Frankl's proposal on the relationship between meaning and conventional forms of psychopathology is supported and deserves further emphasis and evaluation. Indeed, additional authors suggest that a loss of personal meaning might be related to a wide range of mental health problems. 11 •12 
Concerning the relationships between the affective and cognitive aspects of meaning and psychological well-being, the present data support the idea that the subjective feeling of whether life is meaningful is a more important determinant than the sheer presence of life-goals or purpose, if manifest psychiatric symptoms are the focus. However, both affective and cognitive aspects of meaning are determinants if indicators of positive mental health are under focus. This finding implies that different aspects of meaning need to be distinguished when addressing the relationship between meaning and psychological well-being. 
The data further show significant differences between subjects with different existential statuses. The observation that subjects in Group 1 had the lowest sense of hopelessness, best self-esteem, and highest life satisfaction was consistent with Shapiro's view that life-purpose plus meaning are important to full human existence.13 However, the data show that the impact of Purpose of Existence is more important for those with a low level of Quality of Existence than those with a high level of Quality of Existence. For those with low Quality of Existence, having a high sense of Purpose of Existence is associated with fewer symptoms and better positive mental health. In contrast, for those with high Quality of Existence, having a high sense of Purpose of Existence is associated only with better self-esteem and existential well-being and a lower sense of hopelessness. This observation is at odds with previous findings of Shek that subjects in Group 1 (i.e., high QEXIST and PEXIST) had the lowest level of psychiatric symptoms as well as the highest level of positive mental health.15 Perhaps further studies can clarify this issue, taking into account the possible effects of age. 
There are two contributions of the present data. First, they show that Frankl's proposal of an intimate relationship between meaning and psychopathology deserves further elaboration and refinement. In particular, studying the relationship between different aspects of meaning and psychological well-being may prove fruitful. Second, similar to the suggestion of Dutton and Perlman,5 the data demonstrate that different dimensions of the PIL test should be taken into account when PIL scores were used as indicator of meaning in life. 
40 
DANIEL T. L. SHEK is at the Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. This work was financially supported by the Research Committee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Madam Tan Jen Chiu Fund. 
References 
1. 
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 57-62. 

2. 
Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974). The measurement of pessimism: The Hopelessness Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 861-865. 

3. 
Crumbaugh, J. C. (1968). Cross-validation of Purpose-in-Life test based on Frankl's concepts. Journal of Individual Psychology, 24, 74


81. 
4. 
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 7175. 

5. 
Dutton, B. D., & Perlman, D. (1986). The association between religiosity and the Purpose-in-Life Test: Does it reflect purpose or satisfaction? Journal of Psychology and Theology, 14, 42-48. 

6. 
Frankl, V. E. (1955). The doctor and the soul. NY: Knopf. 

7. 
Frankl, V. E. (1960). Beyond self-actualization and self-expression. Journal of Existential Psychiatry, 1, 5-20. 

8. 
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

9. 
Paloutzian, R. F., & Ellison, C. W. (1982). Loneliness, spiritual wellbeing and the quality of life. In L. A. Peplau and D. Perlman (Eds.), 


Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy. 
NY: Wiley. 
10. 
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. NY: Basic Books. 

11. 
Reker, G. T., Peacock, E. J., & Wong, P. T. P. (1987). Meaning and purpose in life and well-being: A life-span perspective. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 44-49. 

12. 
Ruffin, J. E. (1984). The anxiety of meaninglessness. Journal of Counseling and Development, 63, 40-42. 

13. 
Shapiro, S. B. (1988). Purpose and meaning: A two-factor theory of existence. Psychological Reports, 63, 287-293. 


41 
14. 
Shek, D. T. L. (1986). The Purpose-in-Life Questionnaire under a Chinese context: Some psychometric and normative data. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 28, 51-60. 

15. 
Shek, D. T. L. (1992). Meaning in life and psychological well-being: An empirical study using the Chinese version of the Purpose-in-Life Questionnaire. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 153, 185-200. 


16. Shek, D. T. L. (1992, July). "Actual-ideal" discrepancies in the representation of self and significant-others and psychological wellbeing of Chinese adolescents. Paper presented at the 25th International Congress of Psychology, Brussels, Belgium. 
17. Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. C., & Lushene, R. F. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press. 
continued from page 25 
I am enclosing my book which attempts to present Frankl's philosophy. Freedom/responsibility is discussed in Chapter 8. At the end of that chapter, on page 127, I am quoting Dr. Frankl: "The torch [of the Statue of Liberty] that directs the 'poor (and)...huddled masses' toward freedom must be reinforced by an inner light that directs them toward a meaningful use of liberty--or the land of the free may become a land of the frustrated.· 
A Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast can become a foundation for the future of America. 
With my heartfelt wishes, 
Joseph Fabry 
PRESIDENT CLINTON RESPONSE TO JOE FABRY LETTER 
March 18, 1993 Dear Joseph: 
Thank you for sending me a copy of your book, The Pursuit of Meaning. and for sharing your ideas about responsibility. I appreciate your support and input. 
Sincerely, Bill Clinton 
42 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 43-50. 
MEANING AMIDST CHAOS: THE CHALLENGE OF THE 21st CENTURY 
Grace Kannady 
Since the publication of Man's Search for Meaning in the 1940's, the world has radically changed. The purpose of this paper is to explore: a) how the United States has changed, b) how the study of human behavior has changed, c) how humanity has not changed, and d) how logotherapy can meet the needs of individuals in the 21st century. 
The U.S. has Changed 
In the 1990's the U.S. is experiencing a profound restructuring of its society, institutions, and individual lifestyles. Of most importance in this restructuring are the aging of the population, the information revolution, the beginning of postmoclernism, and the speed of change itself. 
Aging of the Population 
In 1790 the median age in the U.S. was 16, today it is 33, and by 2030 it is predicted to be 40; since 1900 almost 28 years have been added on to the average life expectancy. 18 Historically, only one in ten could live to be 65; today over 80% of Americans will live past that age. 3 
In the past, individuals were lucky to see their grown children. Now they see their grown grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 
One consequence of the aging of the population is the increased number of adults searching through longer lifetimes for meaning. Few guidelines exist to help the present adults manage and find meaning in the gift of such an extended life. 

43 
Information Revolution 
As a result of new information technologies, the industrial society has now been replaced by the information society. It is projected that by the year 2000, two-thirds of all work will be information based.2 
This proliferation of instant information has accelerated and confused the lives of Americans today. They are bombarded with overwhelming amounts of information, much of which is trivial, irrelevant, or distorted; they are faced with the task of managing this overload. 
Clearly, an Information-based society needs individuals who can distinguish meaningful knowledge from relentless reams of data. Meaningoriented people become more and more crucial to the functioning of an information society. 
Postmodernism 
Postmodernism emerged in the latter part of this century. It encompasses the following assumption changes: a). reality is not simple but complex, 
b) the knower and the known are not separate but interactively entwined, c) an object should not be analyzed into parts but viewed within a system, d) the world is not so much orderly as uncertain, and e) facts are not value free but are accepted social meanings.1 
Frankl has long battled determinism and its dehumanizing effects. His concentration-camp experiences taught him the role of uncertainty and chance in the lives of the inmates. He discovered that individual behaviors could not be predicted and that individuals lived not in isolation but in interaction with each other. He realized that humans are much more complex than current theories proposed. "Man is by no means merely a product of heredity and environment. There is a third element: decision. Man ultimately decides for himself. "6' p.xix Frankl's awareness of attitudinal change to deal with unavoidable suffering was a strong indicator that reality per se did not impact so much as one's interpretation. Thus many of the tenets acceptable today as postmodernism were experienced and taught by Frankl since the 1940's. 
Speed of Change 
Change itself has expanded and accelerated. Education is no longer preparation for life but rather it is life-long. The mass society is increasingly becoming a mosaic society. Technology has transformed the U.S. from a manufacturing to a service orientation. Adults experience multiple career paths instead of one. Families have developed a wide diversity of structures. Women 
44 
have changed their societal status and roles. Globalization has turned other countries into next-door neighbors. 
Change has also accelerated from occasional to constant. Hudson states, 'What change has been to the twentieth century, chaos will be to the twenty-first."11 • P-203 
These changes have resulted in the obsolescence of past models for living. Personal meaning becomes a necessity to deal with such rapid change. Frankl states "the crumbling of universal values can be counteracted only by finding the unique meanlngs.8' P-120 
Changes in the Study of Human Beings 
The theories and methods of psychologists studying the human condition have changed in terms of: a) the perception of self, b) the perception of development, c) the perception of cognition, and d) the perception of learning. These changes echo a movement toward the teachings of Frankl. 
Perception of Self 
Kegan has developed a constructive-developmental approach to the understanding of the self.12 He theorizes that the distinction between self and other produces a meaning-making system that guides behavior. The self progresses through a hierarchy of meaning-making stages, each stage a reconstruction rather than just new acquisitions of behavior. He believes that individuals live their lives according to the particular stage of meaning-making they currently experience. His adult meaning-making stages reflect the growth of the self from "that I am" to "what I am" to "who I am". Kegan further believes that adults who share the same meaning-making level have more in common than individuals sharing the same age, intelligence, level of education, or socioeconomic level. 
Both Kegan and Frankl advocate a focus on meaning as the crucial focus of therapy. Both agree that meaning is personally prescribed to an experience and cannot be applied from external sources. Kegan relates, "We do not understand another's experiences simply by knowing the events and particulars of the other, but only by knowing how these events and particulars are privately composed." 12• P·374 Lastly, both Kegan and Frankl underscore the importance of the meaning-development toward self-direction. Kegan states, "Things no longer 'just happen' in the world; with the capacity to see behind the shadows, to 'come in' with the data of experience, the individual now has something to do with 'what happens'."12• P-375 This new constructive-develop
45 
mental approach in psychology seems to echo many of Frankl's basic concepts. 
Perception of Development 
The Life-Span Perspective Is one of the more recent developmental theories in psychology.5 It proposes that the entire life course must be used as the unit of analysis, that the changing individual in a changing world must be the context of study, and that development of individuals is diachronic in that earlier experiences interact with later ones. Of prime importance is the conception of the individual as the producer of his or her own development. 
The individual's environment is not simply present physically nor does it simply influence development and behavior in a mechanical way. Rather, the active individual also perceives and even constructs the environment; it Is this type of environment that becomes psychologically relevant and influential.5' p. 364 
Lukas said much the same. "Every person responds to life in an individual way, influenced by past conditions but also free to defy them.''14• P-21 
The life-span perceptive also perceives that the mechanistic paradigm that has dominated psychology for many decades is ill suited for developmental research. This perspective advocates more biographical knowledge emerging from intensive small-scale studies. Such methodology has been preformed by logotherapists for decades. 
Perception of Cognition 
Postformal theory has evolved over the last decade to supplement past theories of cognitive development. Postformal theory suggests that adults have the potential to develop a higher level of cognition than formal operational thought. Kramer has described postformal thinking to have the following three features: a) the realization of the relativistic nature of knowledge, b) an acceptance of contradiction, and c) an integration of contradiction into an overriding whole.13 
Frankl has repeatedly shown postformal thinking in the development of his theories. For example, he has shown relativism in his definitions of meaning. "Meaning is relative in that it is related to a specific person who is entangled in a specific situation"7' P-54 and "the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day, and from hour to hour."10• P• 131 
46 
Frankl deals with the contradiction of freedom and restriction. "To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions."10• P· 153 
The contradiction between relative values and absolute values is also synthesized by Frankl. He recognizes both by labeling relative values as meaning of the moment and labeling absolute value as ultimate or infinite meaning. In terms of absolute values he says: "Infinite meaning is necessarily beyond the comprehension of a finite being. •9• p.ea 
Postformal thinkers have endorsed the idea that the human knowledge system will always be incomplete. Wisdom, according to Sinnott, is the "realization of the limits of personal knowing."16' P-242 Likewise, Frankl states, "Wisdom is knowledge plus: Knowledge--and the knowledge of its own limits."8' 
p.142 
Perception of Learning 
In the 1970's and 1980's learning theory broadened its theoretical base by distinguishing different levels of learning. For example, Saljo delineated five levels of learning: a) increase in knowledge; b) memorization; c) acquisition of knowledge that can be utilized in practice; d) abstraction of meaning; and 
e) an interpretation process, aimed at understanding reality. 15 
The first three levels denote reproductive learning while the last two denote transformational learning. Frankl's logotherapy clearly represents this higher transformative level of learning. Logotherapy attempts to help clients create personal meaning and change their interpretation of reality to create a more fulfilled life. Thus logotherapy is reflected in the expansion of the ways in which learning is becoming conceptualized. 
Humanity Has Not Changed 
Change is found in the restructuring of our society today and in the new conceptualizations of the human condition. However, continuity is also found in the ageless themes of humanity: death, anxiety, choice, and responsibility. These themes frame each individual life and are echoed through time from generation to generation. 
Although our lifetimes have been greatly extended during this century, death will come. In fact, our longer lifespan gives us more time to ponder the eventuality of death. Logotherapy accepts death as a vital part of the human condition. "It is the very knowledge and acceptance of our mortality that makes life meaningful. •4• p.e 
47 
Acknowledgement that our existence is provisional and finite, that we will lose all we know in this world, that we could shift from being to nothing, results in irrevocable anxiety. Logotherapy does not try to dismiss or disguise such anxiety. Rather, it tries to balance anxiety with meaning. 
Logotherapy places great emphasis on our freedom of choice, even in the most despairing of environments. Frankl relates: 
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. 10• p.sa 
Choice is not an isolated variable; it is contextual. Choices that lead to higher levels of human consciousness are made within the framework of responsibility. Logotherapy defines responsibility as "response-ability" to the meaning potentials offered by life. "Being human is being responsible-existentially responsible for one's own existence."8' P-26 In logotherapy the clients are encouraged toward a perspective that includes choice and responsibility for their journey through life. 
How Logotherapy Can Help 
It is now the last decade of the 20th century. The chaos of social transformation, the emergence of supportive psychological theories, and the timeless questions of life all call for a renewal of Frankl's theory of meaning. 
In the past, Frankl developed a theory of logotherapy to supplement the narrow confines of psychotherapy. Frankl's ideas also have been translated into logoeducation. For example, Wirth writes about "how logotherapy can help restore a saving quality to the education and learning of our 
young...11. p.31 
Today, in the U.S. (and elsewhere) the challenge for logotherapy is to go beyond the helping professions and beyond the formal educational system to the expanding population of adults who are struggling through the peril of ordinary life. Most adults will not engage themselves in psychotherapy or formal education programs. Yet their quest for meaning is just as compelling as those who do. Who are the teachers and where are the learning environments that will help adults negotiate their lives amidst the uncertainty of the 
48 
times? Hudson relates, "there is currently no profession that serves the comprehensive developmental, transformational, and system needs of normal adults throughout the life span."11 • P-229 
Frankl's message of meaning and hope that emerged from the death camps of World War II need not be contained within the theory and practice of therapy and formal education. Logotherapy developed through the medium of ordinary people struggling through extraordinary times, thus it is highly relevant today. Eisenberg writes "Logotherapy is self-help through the discovery and recovery of the personal meanings of one's life. It is a positive, optimistic, and humanizing approach to the understanding of man. It is more than that; it is a way of life."4' P•57 The challenge for logotherapy, then, in the 21st century will be to expand Frankl's message to all adults who wish a meaningful philosophy of life. 
GRACE KANNADY, PH.D. [1613 Brittany, Olathe, Kansas 66061 U.S.A.] is Director of Education for the MidAmerica Institute of Logotherapy and has worked as a family therapist and college instructor. She is a candidate for Dip/ornate certification in Logotherapy. 
References 
1. 
Candy, P. (1991). Self-direction for lifelong learning. San Francisco: Jessey-Bass. 

2. 
Cleveland, H. (1985). Educating for the information society. Change, 17(4), 13-21. 

3. 
Dychtwald, K. (1990). Age wave. NY: Bantam Books. 

4. 
Eisenberg, M. (1982). Logotherapy--Prescription for survival. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 5, 67-71. 

5. 
Filipp, S., & Olbrich, E. (1984). Human development across the life span: Overview and highlights of the psychological perspective. In A. 


B. Sorensen, F. E. Weinert, & L. R. Sherrod, (Eds.) Human development and the life course: Multidisciplinary perspectives. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 
6. 
Frankl, V. (1955). The doctor and the soul. NY: Vintage Books. 

7. 
Frankl, V. (1970). The will to meaning. NY: New American Library. 

8. 
Frankl, V. (1975). The unconscious God. NY: Washington Square Press. 

9. 
Frankl, V. (1978). The unheard cry for meaning. NY: Washington Square Press. 

10. 
Frankl, V. (1984). Man's search for meaning. NY: Washington Square Press. 


49 
11. Hudson, F. (1991 ). The adult years: Mastering the art of self-renewal. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 
12. 
Kegan, R. (1980). Making meaning: The constructive-developmental approach to persons and practice. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 58, 373-380. 

13. 
Kramer, D. A. (1983). Post-formal operations? A need for further conceptualization. Human Development, 26, 91-105. 


14. Lukas, E. (1980). The best possible advice. The International Forum for Logotherapy, 3, 13-24. 
15. 
Saljo, R. (1979). Learning in the learner's perspective. /--Some commonsense conceptions. (Report No. 76). Sweden: Institute of Education, University of Gothenburg. 

16. 
Sinnott, J. D. (1989). Life-span relativistic postformal thought: Methodology and data from everyday problem-solving studies. In M. 


L. Commons, J. D. Sinnott, F. A. Armon, & C. Armon (Eds.), Adult development: Comparisons and applications of developmental models. NY: Praeger. 
17. Wirth, A. (1985). Education for a synthetic planet: Logotherapy and learning for responsibility. The International Forum for Logotherapy, B, 
34-40. 
18. Woodruff-Pak, D. (1988). Psychology and aging. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 
50 
The International Forum for Logotherapy, 1993, 16, 51-54. 
LOGOTHERAPEUTIC CRISIS INTERVENTION: A CASE HISTORY 
Elisabeth Lukas 
The following case history was told to me by Dr. Robert Barnes, head of the Department of Counseling and Human Development at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, one of the most knowledgeable logotherapists in the United States. 
Two families, both with little girls, living next to each other, were close friends. One morning one of the mothers, on her way to the supermarket, stopped at her friend's house, jumped out of the car, leaving the car door open and, without even turning off the motor, asked her friend, as she often did, if she could do any shopping for her. The other mother was pleased because she was preparing her four-year-old daughter's birthday party and needed some party snacks and decorations. The two women quickly made a shopping list. 
Meanwhile, the little girl saw the neighbor's car in front of her house. Mary often had been taken along in this car, and she climbed through the leftopen door. What happened next can only be presumed. The child probably released the parking gear and jumped out when the car moved. The car rolled over the girl and crushed her. 
The mother came out of the house at that moment. Terrified, she rushed to the child and scooped her up in her arms. Mary, who was still conscious, looked directly into her mother's eyes while blood flowed from her nose, mouth, and ears. Then she died. 
Time, in this case, was not a healer. The severe shock of the trauma was ever-present. Night after night the mother awakened, tortured by dream images in which she saw the girl's blood-drenched face, her breaking eyes focussed on her mother. A therapist brought no comfort--on the contrary, searching questions into the past (for instance, if Mary had been wanted) upset the mother to such a degree that she became hysterical in the doctor's office. The therapist quickly guided her out the back door, not wanting other patients in the waiting room to see the "scene.• Well-meanin2g, but not exactly tactfully, the therapist gave the woman the address of a suicide-prevention clinic, then returned to the office. 
51 
After this disappointing attempt at finding help, many wretched weeks passed. During the day the woman remained passive, paralyzed by fear of the nightmares that tortured her body and soul. Then her sister, on a visit, suggested she see Dr. Barnes. "He is a psychotherapist, working with a different method. Perhaps he can help." 
I am trying to reconstruct the words as Dr. Barnes told me the case: 
''The patient seemed numb, suffering from an inner conflict. What was It that stood between her and her ability to master her fate? One sentence which she repeated over and over again gave me a clue. 'Why did I have to watch my girl's dying? Why did I have to witness this horrible moment that I can never forget?"' 
Here was the core of the tragedy, the opening through which logotherapy could enter. "My dear Mrs. X.," I told her. "You have suffered unspeakable pain. But I am so glad that you took your daughter into your arms. That you didn't stop, half-way to your child, frozen with terror, covering your eyes at this unbearable sight. By hugging your little one you enabled her to truly say good-by to you. Otherwise the last thing she saw would have been the dirty tire that rolled over her. Your action allowed her to face the eyes of her mother and read in them the love that had surrounded her all her short life. We can be sure that the child didn't feel pain at that moment because such severe injury deadens all sensation of the nervous system. She felt safe and secure. There is no greater security on earth, especially for a child, than in the mother's arms. Your action enabled the girl, surrounded by motherly love, to slip from the safest shelter life has to offer to still another shelter--what a beautiful good-by! But you do have a price to pay for the gift you gave your child--the price of your memory of that terrible moment of parting." 
While I spoke, the woman listened attentively and seemed to find an inner peace. "You mean it was good what I did, good for Mary?" she asked, and I saw the dawn of a meaning behind the darkness of her pain. "It was the best you could do in your situation," I assured her. "No pain, and secure in my arms," she murmured, then she straightened up. "If this is so, then I can live with the memory of little Mary's blood-covered face." 
"When you see her in your dreams again, take her in your arms and cradle her once more," I told her when she left my office. My hopes were fulfilled when I learned in a subsequent follow-up session that she was able to sleep undisturbed by nightmares. 
52 
Discussion 
We hardly can know for certain what factors make psychotherapy effective. Because the above case presents a relatively simple brief therapy, we can try to trace the factors that may have been effective. 
Diagnosis 
The first step in any therapy is the diagnosis--and the danger of a misdiagnosis. Misdiagnoses can happen when the patient's situation is underor overvaluated which falsifies the true overall picture. 
In our case there was danger of overvaluating the traumatic event itself, because a child's death is pretty much the worst that can happen to a mother. But Mary's death, in itself, had not caused the pathogenic disturbance in the mother, as became evident during the session. On the other hand, the woman's first therapist undoubtedly undervaluated the trauma itself and searched her past for pathological elements. The therapist failed to see the real burden under which the mother broke. 
Professor Barnes avoided both mistakes. By asking the question, "What stands between the woman and the overcoming of her suffering?" he correctly assessed the situation. Her suffering {the death of her child) was surmountable, although it still was part of the pathogenesis because it had not been overcome. The correct evaluation of the situation enabled Dr. Barnes to hear the woman's crucial sentence. Therapeutic experience shows that most patients "know'' the essence of their problems. Not by strictly rational or emotional knowledge but an intuitive grasp of what is still unfinished business. Patients rarely can use this intuitive knowledge by themselves to find the problem's solution, but psychotherapists are trained to connect their professional knowledge with their patients' intuitions. 
Dr. Barnes, by correctly evaluating the situation, tuned in on the intuitive knowledge of the patient, and she presented it to him: "Why did I have to witness this horrible moment of my child's dying?" This is a pathogenic or neurotic reaction, of which Frankl has said that the neurotic existence punishes itself by a lack of self-transcendence. Here, a mother not so much grieved for her child, but a human being raged against her fate. And exactly here, at this point of fury, the wound does not heal. 
53 
Therapy 
When a person bewails a fate, the therapist can commit two mistakes. The first, rather common nowadays, considers it therapeutically necessary that patients give full vent to their pain. Unfortunately, as a consequence, the patients are often gripped by harmful self-pity. The other mistake is made when patients are aware of the vicious spiral in which they are burying themselves, but see as remedy only the stopping of their complaints, without coming to terms with their substance. 
Professor Barnes was safeguarded against both these pitfalls by his logotherapeutic background. With his statement, "I am so glad that you took your child into your arms," he abruptly ended the mother's spiral of self-pity and made transparent the meaning of the events she suffered from. "You made it possible for Mary to part from you in love." In finding a meaningful interpretation later, the hurtful event was not removed. It was allowed to remain hurtful, but it gained the positive aspect of a sacrifice. "If this is the way, I can live with it." Self-transcendence had overcome self-pity, the neurotic disturbance had gone. 
The grief was not gone, nor was it supposed to be, for grieving over a person we have loved and lost keeps that person somehow alive. But those who can grieve without rebelling are regenerated in their sleep with its fluid borders between this and another world, where the living and the dead may visit each other. 
ELISABETH LUKAS, PH.D. is director of the South German Institute of Logotherapy, Geschwister Scholl Platz 6, D-8080 FDrstenfeldbruck, Germany. 

Dr. Elisabeth Lukas Dr. Robert Barnes 
54 
ISSN 0190-3379 IFODL 16(1)1-64(1993) 
The International Forum for 
LOGOTHERAPY 
Journal of Search for Meaning