Editing Logotherapy (section)

==Basic principles==
The notion of ''logotherapy'' was created with the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''[[logos]]'' ("meaning"). Frankl's concept is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find meaning in life. The following list of tenets represents basic principles of logotherapy:
* Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
* Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
* We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stance we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.<ref name="Marshall2012" />

The human spirit is referred to in several of the assumptions of logotherapy, but the use of the term spirit is not "spiritual" or "religious." In Frankl's view, the spirit is the will of the human being. The emphasis, therefore, is on the search for meaning, which is not necessarily the search for [[God]] or any other supernatural being.<ref name="Marshall2012" /> Frankl also noted the barriers to humanity's quest for meaning in life. He warns against "...affluence, [[hedonism]], [and] [[materialism]]..." in the search for meaning.<ref name="FranklInstitute">{{Cite web |title=About Logotherapy |url=http://www.logotherapyinstitute.org/About_Logotherapy.html |access-date=22 May 2012 |publisher=Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy}}</ref>

[[Telos|Purpose in life]] and [[Meaning of life|meaning in life]] constructs appeared in Frankl's logotherapy writings with relation to [[existential vacuum]] and will to meaning, as well as others who have theorized about and defined [[Positive psychology|positive psychological]] functioning. Frankl observed that it may be psychologically damaging when a person's search for meaning is blocked. Positive life purpose and meaning were associated with strong religious beliefs, membership in groups, dedication to a cause, life values, and clear goals. Adult development and [[maturity (psychological)|maturity]] theories include the purpose in life concept. Maturity emphasizes a clear comprehension of life's purpose, directedness, and intentionality which contributes to the feeling that life is meaningful.<ref name="Adler1997">{{Cite web |last=Adler |first=Nancy |date=November 1997 |title=Purpose in Life |url=http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/psychosocial/purpose.php |access-date=2011-11-03 |website=Psychosocial workgroup |publisher=MacArthur Foundation}}</ref>

Frankl's ideas were operationalized by Crumbaugh and Maholick's Purpose in Life (PIL) test, which measures an individual's meaning and purpose in life.<ref name="Adler1997" />  With the test, investigators found that meaning in life mediated the relationships between religiosity and well-being;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dufton |first=Brian |date=Spring 1986 |title=The association between religiosity and the Purpose-in-Life test: Does it reflect purpose or satisfaction? |url=http://journals.biola.edu/jpt/volumes/14/issues/1/articles/42 |journal=Journal of Psychology and Theology |publisher=Biola University |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=42–48 |doi=10.1177/009164718601400105 |s2cid=149288526|url-access=subscription }}</ref> uncontrollable stress and substance use; depression and self-derogation.<ref name="Adler1997" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harlow |first1=Lisa L. |last2=Newcomb, Michael D. |last3=Bentler, P. M |date=Sep 1987 |title=Purpose in Life Test assessment using latent variable methods. |journal=British Journal of Clinical Psychology |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=235–236 |doi=10.1111/j.2044-8260.1987.tb01355.x |pmid=3664045}}</ref> Crumbaugh found that the Seeking of [[Nous|Noetic]] Goals Test (SONG) is a complementary measure of the PIL. While the PIL measures the presence of meaning, the SONG measures orientation towards meaning. A low score in the PIL but a high score in the SONG, would predict a better outcome in the application of Logotherapy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crumbaugh |first=James C. |date=July 1977 |title=The seeking of noetic goals test (SONG): A complementary scale to the purpose in life test (PIL) |journal=Journal of Clinical Psychology |publisher=Wiley |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=900–907 |doi=10.1002/1097-4679(197707)33:3<900::AID-JCLP2270330362>3.0.CO;2-8 |pmid=893732}}</ref>

===Discovering meaning===
According to Frankl, "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering" and that "everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances".<ref name="Frankl2006" /> On the meaning of suffering, Frankl gives the following example:

{{blockquote|"Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now how could I help him? What should I tell him? I refrained from telling him anything, but instead confronted him with a question, "What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive without you?:" "Oh," he said, "for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!" Whereupon I replied, "You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it is you who have spared her this suffering; but now, you have to pay for it by surviving and mourning her." He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left the office.<ref name="Frankl2006" />{{rp|178–179}}}}

Frankl emphasized that realizing the value of suffering is meaningful only when the first two creative possibilities are not available (for example, in a concentration camp) and only when such suffering is inevitable{{spaced ndash}}he was not proposing that people suffer unnecessarily.<ref name="Frankl1986">{{Cite book |last=Frankl, Viktor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_qiURM2r2MC |title=The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy |date=12 October 1986 |publisher=Random House Digital, Inc. |isbn=978-0-394-74317-2 |access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref>{{rp|115}}