Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl

Cover of Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning
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Psychology#meaning#resilience

Man's Search for Meaning

Portrait of Viktor Frankl
Written byViktor Frankl

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl describes his time in Nazi concentration camps and what it taught him: people can endure great suffering when they have a reason to live.

  • Published1946
  • GenrePsychology
  • Key ideas6
  • Summary1 min read

Read it if you…

  • are going through something hard

The summary

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  1. 01Meaning helps us survive

    Those who held on to a purpose, a person or a task to return to, often found the strength to go on.

  2. 02The last freedom

    Even when everything else is taken, we can still choose our attitude.

  3. 03Suffering can have meaning

    Pain we can't avoid becomes bearable when we find meaning in how we face it.

  4. 04Logotherapy

    Frankl's approach to therapy is built on helping people find meaning in their lives.

  5. 05Three sources of meaning

    Meaning can come from work we do, people we love, and the courage we show in hard times.

  6. 06Look outward

    Purpose is found by giving yourself to something or someone beyond yourself.

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Meaning helps us survive

Those who held on to a purpose, a person or a task to return to, often found the strength to go on. Pick one small way to put this into practice before tonight.

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“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, to choose one’s own way.”

— Viktor Frankl

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