Meaning and trauma. from psychosocial recovery to existential affirmation

a note on V. Frankl's contribution to the treatment of psychological trauma

Georges-Elia Sarfati

pp. 237-243

in: Alexander Batthyány (ed), Logotherapy and existential analysis, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

This chapter proposes considering the contributions of logotherapy and existential analysis to the treatment of psychological trauma. This involves reflecting on the manner by which psychotraumatology deals with the problem of meaning within the context of the traumatic experience on the one hand, compared with the manner by which logotherapy envisages the stimulation of redefinition of the existential dynamic after a traumatic event on the other hand.The hypothesis, which orients this reflection, is the following: We think that traumatic neurosis is accompanied in most cases by what V. Frankl calls a noogenic neurosis.The question, which arises in this context, is which concept of meaning is implied by the traditional therapeutic models, in view of the logotherapeutic concept of meaning.

Cited authors

Frankl Viktor