I recently read the incredible book Man’s Search for Meaning by psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl. In the book, Frankl explains the psychotherapeutic field of logotherapy through the lens of his experience in Nazi concentration camps. Both his story and his psychological analysis impacted me tremendously. With the book fresh in my mind as I listened to Dr. Raper’s lecture, I made several connections between logotherapy and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Logotherapy is an approach that focuses on the future and finding personal meaning in one’s life, even in the face of suffering or hardship. This sense of purpose is different from the broad, cliche “life goal” that I often think of as a college student. Rather, Frankl describes purpose at a smaller scale, arguing that sustaining meaning can be found through the act of creating work, loving someone, or changing one’s attitude towards suffering from futility to persistence.
A large part of our class discussion with Dr. Raper centered around the ideas of helplessness, control, and resilience. We discussed personal strategies for combating feelings of distress and helplessness, such as listening to music or actively practicing gratitude. Turning to these tactics reflect the conscious choice to exert control over one’s emotions and motivations. Rather than giving up all personal agency due to some uncontrollable situation, Frankl would argue that we have the responsibility to exercise the choice to move forward.
It wasn’t difficult to feel hopeless during the pandemic, particularly in the early months of quarantine when the return to normalcy was nowhere in sight. Many people picked up new hobbies such as baking, sewing, and painting, and these projects to complete were often what fueled people to get out of bed in the morning. We can view this through a logotherapeutic lens, as these “creations of work” were attached to the individual’s daily sense of meaning. Additionally, logotherapy can be used to make sense of attitude changes towards quarantine. The COVID restrictions caused massive disruptions in routine life and led to an abundance of free time, which caused widespread distress and lack of motivation. The idea of “taking advantage” of all this time became the prevalent narrative to get through the emptiness. Now, people had a purpose: try new recipes, learn a new skill, start exercising, listen to that podcast you never had time for, etc.
While I find Frankl’s writing to be very applicable and inspiring, I do struggle with the notion of the simplicity of attitude-shifting. I recognize how significant of a challenge this can be and how reframing one’s situation does not happen overnight. I would love to hear any additional thoughts on this topic.
Hey Emily,
I actually heard about Frankl and his theory recently too. I haven’t read his book, so I could be a little off-base. But given the position he was in, I took his advice as ‘don’t let what you can’t change frustrate you to the point you stop doing the good things you can do.
I think I share your reluctance to simply attitude-shift in response to hardship. You don’t see it much from heroes in Shakespeare. Like the main guy in the Tempest, he didn’t right his wrongs by accepting being left stranded on the island. Or in movies. Simba didn’t defeat Scar by shifting his attitude to accept his exile. Then again, that’s exactly what the team did in Remember the Titans—shift attitudes about their teammates—and it ended pretty well for them. Whereas Othello sure ended up with egg on his face in the end.
It reminds me alot of that saying or prayer ‘Give me serenity to accept what I can’t change, courage to change what I can, and wisdom to know the difference.’ It’s great but not all that easy to apply.
Emily, I have researched this concept before and found it to be quite interesting. Frankl’s theory contends that finding meaning in life is the greatest motivational force for humans. Whether that is true or not has been questioned by subsequent scholars. As people’s reactions to isolation during the COVID pandemic illustrated, however, there is no doubt that finding purpose is a significant innate desire that cannot and should not be ignored.
As you discussed, feelings of hopelessness, isolation and depression directly correlated with a feeling of purposelessness during periods of quarantine. Naturally, people who questioned their purpose in life sought to find purpose. As a result, people took up hobbies that made them feel productive in at least some aspect. For example, some people increased fitness activity, others learned how to play and instrument, and some joined social groups. While these activities did not necessarily give people answers about life’s purpose, the productive output from them created a sense of self-worth and a desire to keep improving on those activities. Furthermore, by keeping occupied with these activities, people had less time to question their purpose in life, which at least in part explains why mental health has been improving as people become less strict with isolation procedures.
Thank you for your post Emily!
I read Man’s Search for Meaning years ago, and similarly struggled with the notion of attitude shifting as being so… easy? Not the best word to describe it, but I think even now that idea is especially challenging. I really wonder if human resiliency lies in this simple tactic, especially for someone to endure a concentration camp and come out the other side with this perspective. I would love to see research on logotherapy in the context of COVID.
I really enjoyed your post Emily! While I haven’t read this book, I was especially struck by the idea that finding and sustaining meaning in life can be something as simple as loving someone or creating something. I, too, have never been a big fan of the “just change your attitude” perspective because it feels similar to the bootstraps political school of thought, and just misses the complexity of hardships entirely. But I can fully get on board with finding meaning in the small and beautiful.
As of the last few years, I have pretty limited contact with my family, and while that is what’s best for me, it has been especially challenging feeling that loss of home during a very isolating global pandemic. Like you mentioned, to fill all the empty space in my life, I took up about a million new hobbies; embroidery, cooking, baking, hiking, writing, running. I don’t think an attitude shift could’ve fixed the pain of losing contact with family, but finding a place to put everything I was feeling made a huge difference for me. It always feels like there has to be such a grand answer for such a big question like how we find meaning in life. And we so often link it to productivity or some great, big accomplishment, but I have found a lot of peace in the idea that the small ways I can be kind to myself extends to those around me. Thank you for your post!
Great job motivating a ROBUST conversation with your topic choice Emily.