The Psychology Book (44 page)

actualization is the desire for self-

will be perpetually restless and

Motivation

fulfillment, and self-transcendence

unsatisfied. Each of us must

1954
Motivation and

is the need to move beyond the self,

discover our potential, and seek out

Personality

and connect to something higher

experiences that will allow us to

1962
Toward a Psychology

than ourselves—such as God—or

fulfil it—“What a man can be,

of Being

to help others realize their potential.

he must be,” proclaims Maslow. ■

140

SUFFERING CEASES

TO BE SUFFERING

AT THE MOMENT

IT FINDS A MEANING

VIKTOR FRANKL (1905–1997)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

V
iennese psychiatrist Viktor painful and possibly devastating

Frankl had already begun

situations and to move forward;

to specialize in suicide

these are the capacity for decision,

prevention and the treatment of

and freedom of attitude. Frankl

Logotherapy

depression when, in 1942, he and

stresses that we are not at the

BEFORE

his wife, brother, and parents were

mercy of our environment or events,

taken to a concentration camp. He

because we dictate how we allow

600–500 BCE
In India,

spent three years there and endured

them to shape us. Even suffering

Gautama Buddha teaches that

many horrors and losses before

can be seen differently, depending

suffering is caused by desire,

emerging as the only survivor of the

on our interpretation of events.

and can be alleviated by

group. In his book
Man’s Search for

Frankl cites the case of one of

releasing desire.

Meaning (
1946), written after these

his patients who suffered because

458 BCE
Ancient Greek

experiences, Frankl explains that

he missed his dead wife. Frankl

dramatist Aeschylus explores

humans have two psychological

asked how it would have been if

the idea that “wisdom comes

strengths that allow us to bear

the patient had died first, and he

alone through suffering.”

replied that his wife would have

found it very difficult. Frankl pointed

AFTER

out that the patient has spared her

1950s
French existentialist

this grief, but must now suffer the

philosophers, such as Jean-

grief himself. In giving meaning to

Paul Sartre, say our lives do not

the suffering it becomes endurable;

have a God-given purpose; we

A man who has nothing else

“suffering ceases to be suffering at

must find it for ourselves.

in this world may still

the moment it finds a meaning.”

know bliss.

Meaning is something we

2003
Martin Seligman says

Viktor Frankl

“discover rather than invent,”

a “full life” encompasses

according to Frankl, and we must

pleasure, engagement (flow),

find it for ourselves. We find it

and meaning.

through living, and specifically

2007
US psychologist

through love, creating things, and

Dan Gilbert explains that

the way we choose to see things. ■

people are unhappy because

of the way they think

See also:
Rollo May 141 ■ Boris Cyrulnik 152–53 ■

Martin Seligman 200–01

about happiness.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 141

ONE DOES NOT

BECOME FULLY

HUMAN PAINLESSLY

ROLLO MAY (1909–1994)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

I
n the mid-19th century,

enjoy our familiar environments,

philosophers such as Martin

and favor experiences that keep

Heidegger, Frederick Nietzsche,

the mental and physical senses

and Søren Kierkegaard challenged

in a state of balance and ease.

Existential psychotherapy

social dogma and demanded that

This tendency, however, leads

BEFORE

people expand their ways of

us to judge and label experiences

thinking to incorporate a fuller

as “good” or “bad,” depending

1841
Søren Kierkegaard

understanding of human experience,

only on the levels of pleasure or

claims that people misinterpret

in a movement now known as

discomfort they may bring. May

Christian ideology and misuse

existentialism. The notions of free

says that in doing so, we do

science to falsely defend

will, personal responsibility, and how

ourselves a disservice, since we

against the anxiety inherent

we interpret our experience were

are fighting against processes that

in existence.

all of interest to the existentialists,

lead to immense growth and

1942
Swiss physician Ludwig

who wanted to ask what it means,

development if we can accept

Binswanger combines

fundamentally, for a human to exist.

them as a natural part of life.

existential philosophy with

Psychologist Rollo May’s
The

May proposes an approach to

psychotherapy in his
Basic

Meaning of Anxiety
(1950) brought

life that echoes Buddhist thought,

Forms and the Realization of

this human-centered philosophical

where we accept all forms of

Human “Being-in-the-World.
”

approach into psychology for the first

experience equally, rather than

time, and May is often referred to as

shunning or denying those we

1942
Carl Rogers, a pioneer

the father of existential psychology.

judge to be uncomfortable or

of humanistic psychology,

unpleasant. We also need to accept

publishes
Counseling and

An existential approach

our “negative” feelings, rather than

Psychotherapy
.

May viewed life as a spectrum

avoid or repress them. Suffering

of human experience, including

and sadness are not pathological

AFTER

suffering as a normal part of life,

issues to be “fixed,” he says; they

1980
Irvin Yalom discusses in

not as a sign of pathology. It is

are natural and essential parts of

Existential Psychotherapy
the

self-evident that as human beings,

living a human life, and are also

four ultimate concerns of life:

we tend to seek experiences that

important because they lead

death, freedom, existential

allow us to be comfortable. We

to psychological growth. ■

isolation, and meaninglessness.

See also:
Søren Kierkegaard 26–27 ■ Alfred Adler 100-01 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■

Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■ Viktor Frankl 140 ■ Boris Cyrulnik 140

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Rational Emotive

RATIONAL BELIEFS
Behavior Therapy

BEFORE

CREATE HEALTHY

1927
Alfred Adler says that a

person’s behavior springs from

his or her ideas.

EMOTIONAL

1940s
The role of perception

in creating reality is

popularized by the Gestalt

CONSEQUENCES

Therapy movement.

1950
Karen Horney suggests

ALBERT ELLIS (1913–2007)

we escape from the “tyranny

of the shoulds.”

AFTER

1960s
Aaron Beck says that

depression is a result of

unrealistic negative views

about the world.

1980
American psychiatrist

David Burns gives labels to

cognitive distortions such as:

Jumping to Conclusions,

All or Nothing Thinking,

Always Being Right, Over

Generalizing, and

Catastrophizing.

E
pictetus, an ancient Greek

philosopher, proclaimed in

80 CE, that “men are

disturbed not by events, but by the

views which they take of them.”

This principle is the foundation of

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

(REBT), devised by Dr. Albert Ellis

in 1955, which asserts that

experiences do not cause any

specific emotional reaction; instead

it is the individual’s belief system

that produces the reaction.

Practicing as a psychoanalyst in

the 1940s and 50s, Ellis began to

realize that while many of his

patients gained an insight into

PSYCHOTHERAPY 143

See also:
Alfred Adler 100–101 ■ Karen Horney 110 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■ Carl Rogers 130–137 ■ Aaron Beck 174–177 ■

Martin Seligman 200–201

When
negative
things happen,

we can…

…react “automatically” and
irrationally
…

…take time to
consider a response
…

…which reinforces habitual ways

…and think about new, rational ways

of thinking that may be

to respond that may be
useful

unhelpful
and
not beneficial
to us.

and
beneficial
to us.

We become even more convinced that

We realize that our negative opinions

our poor opinions of ourselves

are unjustified and the world holds