Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl (1905-1197) was born and educated in Vienna. He founded the Youth Advisement Centers there in 1928 and directed them until 1938. From 1942 to 1945 Frankl was a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau, where his parents, brother, wife, and children died. He vividly remembered his horrible experience in these camps, yet he was able to use them in a constructive way and did not allow them to dampen his love and enthusiasm for life. he traveled all around the world, giving lectures in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the United States.

Frankl received his M.D. in 1930 and his Ph.D. in 1949, both from the University of Vienna. He became an associate professor at the University of Vienna and later was a distinguished speaker at the United States International University in San Diego. He was a visiting professor at Harvard, Stanford, and South Methodist universities. Frankl'sworks have been translated into more than 20 languages, and his ideas continue to have a major impact on the development of existential thereapy. His compelling book Man's Search for Meaning (1963) has been best-seller around the world.

Although Frankl had begun to develop an existential approach to clinical practice before his grim years in the Nazi death camps, his experiences there confirmed his views. Frankl (1963) observed and personally experienced the truths expressed by existential philosophers and writers, including the view that love is the highest goal to which humans can aspire and that our salvation is through love. That we have choives in every situation is another notion confirmed by this his experiences in the concentration camps. Even in terrible situations, he believe, we could preserve a vestige of spiritual freedoom and independence of mind. He learned experientially that everything could be taked from a person but one thing: "the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way" (p.104). Frankl believed that the essence of being human lies in searching for meaning and purpose. We can discover this meaning through our actions and deeds, by experiencing a value (such as love or achievements through work), and by suffering.

I have selected Frankl as one of the key figures of the existential approach because of the dramatic way in which his theories were tested by the tragedies of his life. His life was an illustration of his theory, for he lived what his theory espouses. Although others have written about existential concepts, they have not met with the popularity of Frankl.