Man's Search for Meaning

What was the first selection?

"Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake."

"'Was Du erlebst, kann keine Macht der Welt Dir rauben.' (What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.)"

"The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom."

"It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future --- sub specie aeternitatis."

"under the aspect of eternity"

"...we can discover this meaning of life in three different ways: (1) by _________ a work or _______ a deed; (2) by _____________ something or ______________ someone; and (3) by the ________ we take toward unavoidable suffering."

(1) creating, doing (2) experiencing, encountering (3) attitude

"The odds of surviving the camp were no more than _____ ___ ______ ..."

1 in 28

"As Irvin D. Yalom of Stanford University states in Existential Psychotherapy: 'Of _______ consecutive patients applying for therapy at a psychiatric outpatient clinic ... ______ (30 percent) had some major problem involving _________ ..."

40, 12, meaning

What is, "A man who looks miserable, down and out, sick and emaciated, and who cannot manage hard physical labor any longer ..."?

A Moslem- a prisoner who seems unfit to work, sent immediately to be gassed

What is the "delusion of reprieve"?

Condition in psychiatry: a condemned person, at the last second before his execution, gets the illusion that he or she might be reprieved. The way Frankl felt when he say prisoners that he thought looked "well" and in "good spirits" when he arrived at the camp.

Curiosity often evolved into surprise.

Curiosity about what would happen to the prisoners in Auschwitz often evolved into surprise that they were still alive- ex: sleeping nine men to a bed with two blankets, but still getting sleep. standing stark naked in the cold after showering, and not catching a cold

What are the three facets of the mass neurotic syndrome?

Depression, aggression, addiction

What is one of the camps most imperative laws of self-preservation?

Do not be conspicuous. Do not stand out.

"There is only one thing that I dread: not be worthy of my sufferings."

Dostoevski; True

"__________, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it."

Emotion

"Yes, a man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how."

Frankl and other prisoners would say this in response to Dostoevski's statement that man can get used to anything

What is a capo?

Jews who worked inside the death camps. Their tasks including transporting victims of gassing to the ovens, cleaning the gas chambers of human excrement and blood, removal of gold from the teeth of the victims, shaving the heads of those going to the gas chambers; prisoner who acted as a trustee, with special privileges

"_________ is the only way to ________ another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential for him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true."

Love, grasp

"He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how."

Nietzsche; True

Could prisoners keep one small thing (e.g., ring, medal)?

No, everything was taken from prisoners.

Did Frankl work as a psychiatrist in the camp?

No. He was not employed as psychiatrist or even a doctor expect for the last few weeks. Mainly he worked digging and laying tracks for railway lines.

"Wie viel ist aufzuleiden!"

Rilke: "How much suffering there is to get through!" True

What is the first phase of the inmate's mental reaction to camp life?

Shock. During the period following his admission; sometimes may occur before admission. (ex): for many, the word Auschwitcz would send them into shock

Frankl felt the "best" prisoners did not survive the experience

True. "Only those prisoners could keep alive who, after years of trekking from camp to camp, had lost all scruples in their fight for existence; they were prepared to use every means, honest and otherwise, even brutal force, theft, and betrayal of their friends, in order to save themselves."

Frankl regarded discussions about food as dangerous.

True. While it might afford some psychological relief, ultimately is an illusion

What city did Frankl go through on the way from Auschwitz to Dachau?

Vienna

Did Frankl ever have a chance to escape?

Yes, he planned to escape a few times but didn't.

Was Frankl ever befriended by a Capo?

Yes, the Capo in his working party took a liking to him because he listened to him pour out his love stories and matrimonial troubles. Frankly diagnosed him and offered psychotherapeutic advice.

In the second stage of the prisoner's psychological reactions, there is ________ and a ___________ of emotion.

apathy, blunting

Frankl believes that the experience of __________ in nature can enable a prisoner to transcend his current miserable environment.

beauty

"... the perception of meaning, as I see it, ... boils down to becoming aware of a possibility against the background of reality or, to express it in plain words, to becoming aware of what ____ ____ _____ about a given situation.

can be done

"Since Auschwitz we know what man is ________ __. And since Hiroshima we know what is __ _______."

capable of, at stake

"Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life can not be ___________."

complete

"In concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on_________ but not on __________."

decisions, conditions

"... being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself --- be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one ________ himself --- by ________ himself to a cause to serve or another person to love --- the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself."

forgets, gives

Regardless of environmental conditions, all women and men have a _________________________ how to think about their situations.

freedom to choose

"Logotherapy focuses ... on the_________, ... on the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient in the future. (Logotherapy, indeed, is a meaning-centered psychotherapy.)"

future

Even in a concentration camp, Frankl believes that in-mates can have meaningful _________ and goals.

futures

"The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more --- except ____ ______."

his God

The most depressing influence on prisoners was not knowing ____ ________ his term of imprisonment would be.

how long

The categorical ___________ of logotherapy is: "Live as if you were living already for the ________ time and as if you had acted the ______ time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"

imperative, second, first

The majority of prisoners suffered from a kind of ___________ ___________.

inferiority complex

"The most painful part of the beatings is the ________ which they imply."

insult

The truth --- that _________ is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. ... The salvation of man is through love and in love."

love

"Logos is a Greek word which denotes '__________.'"

meaning

"But let me make it perfectly clear that in no way is suffering _______________ to find meaning. I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering --- provided, certainty that the suffering is unavoidable."

necessary

"The existential vacuum which is the mass neurosis of the present time can be described as a private and personal form of ___________; for __________ can be defined as the contention that being has no meaning."

nihilism

Prisoners literally became numbers.

numbers

Frankl always believed that boundaries between camp guards and prisoners (i.e., devils and angels) ______________.

overlapped

"Paradoxical intention is no _____________."

panacea (solution)

What is the logotherapy technique of "paradoxical intention"?

phobic patient is invited to intend, even if only for a moment, that which he or she fears

"...former ______________ often say, 'We dislike talking about our experiences. No explanations are needed for those who have been inside, and the others will understand neither how we felt then nor how we feel now.'"

prisoners

All suffering is ___________.

relative

"Life ultimately means taking the ______________ to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by _____________ _________________."

responsibility, sweeping statements

"... man is ultimately ________________. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment."

self-determining

"...the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the ___________ meaning of a person's life at a _______ ___________. ... One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. ... everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it."

specific, given moment

Frankl sensed that his ________ could transcend his hopeless and meaningless world.

spirit

"The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a _______ ___ _________."

state of boredom

"... mental health is based on a certain degree of ___________, the __________ between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become."

tension

The prisoners were not _________ _________ upon their first day of freedom.

totally pleased

"a tragic optimism": "...it means that one is, ..., optimistic in spite of the '______ ________,' as it is called in logotherapy, a triad which may be circumscribed by: (1) ______; (2) _______; and (3) _______."

tragic triad, pain, guilt, death

There was a woman who was about to die. She felt that her only friend was a ________.

tree

Frankl generally tried to answer all questions truthfully.

truthfully