It is
the memoir of a Jewish psychiatrist who survived several years in various Nazi
death camps. He uses his experiences there to illustrate his ideas about the psychological
(and/or spiritual) importance of finding a reason to live (i.e. meaning). He
also writes some about the psychoanalytical therapy technique based on this
principle that he developed and calls “logotherapy”.
I
really like the way he thinks, and his ideas are extremely consistent with my
own (especially since my “epiphany”, which in a real sense was no more than my
own personal realization that all my suffering was for a reason – i.e. I found
the exact kind of “meaning” that Frankl writes about in this book). My only
real critique is that he doesn’t acknowledge the fact that while everyone has a
choice in how they respond to injustice and suffering, not everyone REALIZES
that they have a choice; and this realization is NOT a choice, but a kind of
gift (in the same sense that good health is a gift).
