Concept · Library
Concept · Psychology · 1940s to present
Logotherapy and the will to meaning
Also known as what's the point · looking for meaning · feeling empty · life feels pointless · want more meaning in life · why am I doing any of this
A model, framework or clinical approach that has been studied. Presented as a model, with what the research behind it actually found.
Viktor Frankl's approach, which holds that the search for meaning is a primary human motivation and that meaning can be found through work, through love and experience, and through the attitude taken towards suffering that cannot be changed. Later research measures meaning in life and finds strong associations with wellbeing. The clinical evidence for logotherapy itself is thin, and the meaning research is largely correlational.
Entries in this library keep the tradition label and the editorial state the source gave them. A record marked as awaiting scholarly review is offered as a lead to study, not as settled teaching.