The Reactions by the Prisoners of the Concentration Camp in Works' Frankl Mans Search for Meaning - Book Report/Review Example

Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning was written by its a year after his release from Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi torture camp of the Second World War. In this book, Victor Frankl attempts to recount his experiences while incarcerated in the Nazi concentration camp and how his experiences can be put in the perspective of human life. While this is the case, one will note that Frankl does not attempt to show the atrocities, which took place in the camp, but he instead attempts to shed more light to his method of psychotherapy, which is best known as logo therapy. This is a means of psychological therapy where the patient is enabled to take control of their own situation instead of the more traditional forms of psychotherapy where the patient is normally told what to do and what to feel. The book also focuses on the means through which logo therapy can be used as a means of ensuring that individuals take control of their lives as opposed to being told what to do by their psychotherapists; an aspect that can be said to be the main lesson of the book (131). In the book, there is an identification of the various reactions by the prisoners of the concentration camp towards their experiences in one degree or the other. The first of these is the shock that they come to experience once they are admitted into the camp. The second of this is apathy, where the prisoners tended to protect their own interests in order to determine their survival; they often valued those things which would enable them and those that they cared about to survive. Finally, there is their reaction to the debasement of their humanity, where the moral values that they held dear are deformed, as well as the disillusionment as well as bitterness that is experienced when the individual survives and is set free from the camp. The author comes to the conclusion that what life means is based on every moment in which that life lasts. As a result, life always has meaning, no matter what the circumstances, even if the said circumstance is immense human suffering or the experience of death. Frankl gives the example of those individuals imprisoned in the camp who were forced into a mass fast by the Nazis because they were protecting a fellow inmate who was unknown. Frankl suggests that these individuals realized that despite that suffering that they were experiencing, they were still accountable to other people as well as the Supreme Being. It was this sense of accountability that kept the inmates going because to do otherwise would have meant experiencing the disappointment of not only their loved ones, but also of God. The author then comes to the conclusion that an inmate’s psychological reactions do not only rely on the conditions in which he is forced to live, but also in the freedom to make choices despite the fact that he is experiencing extreme suffering. In a situation such as the Auschwitz camp, what kept the individuals held there going was their having hope for a better future and as Frankl concludes, if they did not have an inner hold on their spiritual selves, it is possible that they would have been ruined. In the book, Frankl states that on the earth, there are only two types of human beings, and these include those who are decent and those who are not. Furthermore, he states that each society has each of these elements, so that at Auschwitz, there were those Nazi guards who were decent while at the same time there were those prisoners who were most indecent. An example is given of some inmates known as the kapo, who often tortured and abused their fellow inmates for their own benefit; a circumstance which many in the modern world would find deplorable. In the conclusion of the first part of the book, there is a description of the psychological reaction of the inmates at Auschwitz to their liberation; a circumstance that Frankl divides into three stages. The first of these if the former inmates experiencing depersonalization, which was a period when the prisoners attempted to readjust to the environment in which they used to live before they were taken to the concentration camps. These individuals, during their imprisonment had become so unconcerned about their environment that when they regained their freedom, they failed to understand what it meant, and this was because of the psychological trauma that they had experienced. Thus, they were completely unable to respond, on an emotional level, to the freedom that they had regained; some of them believing that it were an illusion which would eventually come to an end. Once they were outside the place of their incarceration, one of the things which the former inmates came to realize was that they could not experience any pleasure because the reality of their new found freedom that they has hoped for so long did not seem real. This, Frankl states, is because of their depersonalization, where the former inmates could not grasp the reality of their new circumstances. In such a circumstance, according to Frankl, the first part of the individual to recover tends to be the body, which responds to the free environment through the acquisition of a massive appetite as well as the need for more sleep. It is only through the partial satisfaction of the body that the mind of the inmate can be able to respond because some of the restraints set upon it will have been broken (111). This, he states, is the beginning of the second stage, which brings with it the danger of the deformation of the mind since, as the immense pressure that was put on it is suddenly released, it is possible that the mental health of the individual might be put in danger. As an example, Frankl gives the example of a friend, who was quite decent before being taken to the concentration camp, that develops an obsession with meting out the same violent behavior upon those who abused him had inflicted on him. Other experiences which the former inmates went through when they returned to their homes were a sense of bitterness as well as disenchantment which tended to put their mental health in danger. The final psychological development, which the former inmates went through, was the bitterness, which accompanied the lack of response by the outside world to their predicament that made some end up wanting to isolate themselves and no longer interact with their fellow human beings (113). In addition to this was the disillusionment which came with the realization that their suffering would not end just because they had left the camp, since it was a basic part of their lives as human beings. This is what the author of the book, among many others, came to experience when on returning to their homes, they found that none of their loved ones were alive to welcome them back. The basic hope that they had had during their imprisonment at Auschwitz; that their lives would get back to normal if only they survived was completely destroyed once they returned to their homes. This can be said to be the most difficult of the experiences that the detainees had to undergo in their lives after their detention. While this may have been the case, through the progression of the years, the experiences undergone by the inmates during their detention became a nightmare to be remembered because they had nothing to fear from their captors (115). It can therefore be said that this book is highly incisive concerning the means through which individuals, especially those who have gone through traumatizing experiences, can regain control over their lives. The form of psychotherapy that is suggested by Frankl is based on the belief that in an age where individuals are ignoring personal responsibility, all human beings have a responsibility for their actions. Through the application of logo therapy, individuals can be made to realize that they are indeed solely responsible for their actions and that only they can control what happens in their lives. In whatever circumstances that individuals have to undergo, however adverse these circumstances may be, it is only the individuals who can determine whether they let they put him down or not. Man’s Search for Meaning is a book which must be read by individuals from all walks of life because of its inspirational message concerning how to deal with the daily circumstances of life. The major opinion within the book is that people do not get the opportunity to advance mentally mainly because of the obstacles created by themselves, making them not responsible of themselves and instead to put their lives under the control of outside forces. Frankl provides an insight of how individuals can regain control over their lives through examples gained from his experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz and how, after these experiences, he was able to start his life afresh. Work Cited Frankl, Victor E. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. Print. Read More