Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 31;17(3):233-242.
doi: 10.5964/ejop.5439. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Searching for Meaning in Chaos: Viktor Frankl's Story

Hanan Bushkin  1 , Roelf van Niekerk  2 , Louise Stroud  3
Affiliations

Searching for Meaning in Chaos: Viktor Frankl's Story

Hanan Bushkin et al. Eur J Psychol. .

Abstract

The existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) lived an extraordinary life. He witnessed and experienced acts of anti-Semitism, persecution, brutality, physical abuse, malnutrition, and emotional humiliation. Ironically, through these experiences, the loss of dignity and the loss of the lives of his wife, parents and brother, his philosophy of human nature, namely, that the search for meaning is the drive behind human behaviour, was moulded. Frankl formulated the basis of his existential approach to psychological practice before World War II (WWII). However, his experiences in the concentration camps confirmed his view that it is through a search for meaning and purpose in life that individuals can endure hardship and suffering. In a sense, Frank's theory was tested in a dramatic way by the tragedies of his life. Following WWII, Frankl shaped modern psychological thinking by lecturing at more than 200 universities, authoring 40 books published in 50 languages and receiving 29 honorary doctorates. His ideas and experiences related to the search for meaning influenced theorists, practitioners, researchers, and lay people around the world. This study focuses specifically on the period between 1942 and 1945. The aim is to explore Frankl's search for meaning within an unpredictable, life-threatening, and chaotic context through the lens of his concept of noö-dynamics.

Keywords: Holocaust; Viktor Frankl; existentialism; noö-dynamics; psychobiography.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

    1. Adler, H. G. (2017). Theresienstadt 1941–1945: The face of a coerced community. London, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
    1. Alexander, I. E. (1990). Personology: Methods and content in personality assessment and psychobiography. Durham, NC, USA: Duke University Press.
    1. Burnell, B. (2013). The life of Beyers Naudé: A psychobiographical study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
    1. Du Plessis C. (2017). The method of psychobiography: Presenting a step-wise approach. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 14(2), 216–237. 10.1080/14780887.2017.1284290 - DOI
    1. Du Plessis C. F., Du Plessis G. A. (2018). Editorial. An easy alliance: The relationship between phenomenology and psychobiography. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 18(Special Edition), 1–4.

LinkOut - more resources