Man’s Search for Meaning

Outline

Man’s Search for Meaning (1946) recounts Viktor Frankl’s experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and what they taught him about survival. Frankl observes that those who held on to a sense of purpose, whether a loved one, unfinished work, or their dignity in suffering, were better able to endure. The book then introduces logotherapy, his approach to psychotherapy, which holds that the search for meaning is the primary force in human life and that meaning can be found even in unavoidable suffering.

• Frankl draws on his own imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, to understand what makes survival possible.
• Prisoners who held on to a sense of purpose were better able to endure the camps.
• Purpose can take many forms: a loved one, unfinished work, or one's dignity in the face of suffering.
• Logotherapy, Frankl's approach to psychotherapy, holds that the search for meaning is the primary force in human life.
• Meaning can be found even in suffering that cannot be avoided.

Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) was an Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, and Holocaust survivor who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy centred on the human search for meaning. After surviving several Nazi concentration camps, he returned to Vienna, where he led the neurology department of the Vienna Polyclinic Hospital and taught at the University of Vienna. His work has influenced psychology, philosophy, and countless readers seeking purpose in difficult circumstances.