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    Logotherapy

    意义疗法

    Therapy
    Also called
    paradoxical intention, dereflection, existential analysis, meaning-centered therapy, will to meaning, Frankl’s logotherapy

    What is logotherapy?

    Logotherapy is the approach to psychotherapy founded by the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who held that the search for meaning is the primary human motivation.[1] It helps clients through crises of meaning, looking at what they create, what they experience and the attitude they take to suffering, so they reach their own answers.[2]

    Where meaning comes from

    Breaking the vicious circle

    Schematic, based on the Viktor Frankl Institute in Vienna, the APA Dictionary of Psychology and the European Insomnia Guideline (2023). Not data.

    Select any part for details.
    Schematic. On the left, the core of logotherapy, the will to meaning, and the three kinds of value listed by the APA Dictionary of Psychology: creating, experiencing and attitude. On the right, the vicious circle in which fear feeds a symptom, two techniques for breaking it, paradoxical intention as used for insomnia, and the state of the evidence. Select a part for details. Select a part for details
    Schematic. On the left, the core of logotherapy, the will to meaning, and the three kinds of value listed by the APA Dictionary of Psychology: creating, experiencing and attitude. On the right, the vicious circle in which fear feeds a symptom, two techniques for breaking it, paradoxical intention as used for insomnia, and the state of the evidence. Select a part for details. Save as image (PNG)

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    Key points

    • Frankl built on Freud’s psychoanalysis and Adler’s individual psychology, first publishing the approach in 1938. It is sometimes called the third Viennese school of psychotherapy.[1]
    • It rests on three ideas: freedom to take a stance toward any condition, the will to meaning as the main drive, and meaning found in each situation, not assigned by the therapist.[1]
    • Paradoxical intention has people deliberately exaggerate a feared symptom and use humor to gain distance.[1][2] For insomnia it means giving up trying to sleep; a European guideline lists it among cognitive techniques.[3]
    • Evidence is thin. A meta-analysis pooled 15 randomized trials of existential therapies; six of meaning therapy raised sense of meaning, but the authors note the studies were few and of low quality.[4]

    An example

    Since retiring, Ms. Wang feels her days are empty. Her logotherapy-oriented counselor does not tell her what her life should mean. Instead he asks what has felt worthwhile lately. She recalls how absorbed she gets tutoring a neighbor’s child each week, and they start from there: what else could she create or experience?

    Misreadings and limits

    Logotherapy is often taken as feel-good advice to look on the bright side and find meaning in every hardship. It offers no general meaning of life, and therapists must not impose their own values.[1] Nor is paradoxical intention a life rule that doing the opposite brings success; it is a technique for specific symptoms, used under a therapist’s guidance.[1][2]

    Sources

    1. 1 Batthyány, A. (n.d.). What is logotherapy/existential analysis?. Viktor Frankl Institut Wien. View source
    2. 2 American Psychological Association (2023). Logotherapy; Paradoxical intention. APA dictionary of psychology (entries updated November 15, 2023, and April 19, 2018). View source
    3. 3 Riemann, D., Espie, C. A., Altena, E., Arnardottir, E. S., Baglioni, C., Bassetti, C. L. A., Bastien, C., Berzina, N., Bjorvatn, B., Dikeos, D., Dolenc Groselj, L., Ellis, J. G., Garcia-Borreguero, D., Geoffroy, P. A., Gjerstad, M., Gonçalves, M., Hertenstein, E., Hoedlmoser, K., Hion, T., … Spiegelhalder, K. (2023). The European Insomnia Guideline: An update on the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia 2023. Journal of Sleep Research, 32(6), e14035. doi:10.1111/jsr.14035
    4. 4 Vos, J., Craig, M., & Cooper, M. (2015). Existential therapies: A meta-analysis of their effects on psychological outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(1), 115–128. doi:10.1037/a0037167

    Last checked against sources: October 28, 2026