Logotherapy (Meaning-Centred Therapy)

Logotherapy was founded by Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist; "logos" is Greek for meaning. Frankl developed these ideas in Vienna before the Second World War, and his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, described in his famous book "Man's Search for Meaning", deepened them.

Logotherapy belongs to the existential and humanistic approaches, which address fundamental questions of life rather than only symptoms: freedom, responsibility, death, isolation and meaning.

Frankl had three central ideas. First, the "will to meaning": people seek not only pleasure or power but a meaningful life. When this need is unmet, an "existential vacuum" may follow, showing up as boredom, depression, or escape into addiction or busyness.

Second, freedom of attitude: even when we cannot change circumstances, we can choose our stance towards them. Third, meaning can be found in three ways: through what we do or create, through experiences and relationships such as love, nature or art, and through the attitude we take towards unavoidable suffering.

Two well-known techniques are "paradoxical intention", humorously wishing for what one fears to break the fear cycle, and "dereflection", shifting obsessive focus away from oneself towards something meaningful outside.

Logotherapy sessions use Socratic dialogue: rather than giving answers, the therapist asks questions that help you discover your own meaning. Meaning cannot be imposed from outside; it has to be found.

Imagine Sara, who lost her professional job after migrating and now does simple work, feeling that "everything is pointless". The therapist might ask: "Who or what have you stood up for in these years?" or "Looking back in ten years, what would you like to say about how you lived this period?" It may become clear that supporting her child and keeping her dignity are themselves sources of meaning, and next steps grow from there.

Logotherapy suits people facing a crisis of meaning, grief, serious illness, major life changes or a sense of emptiness. To be honest: there is far less research on logotherapy than on CBT or ACT, and many studies are small. Meaning-centred approaches, for example in cancer care, have shown promising results in reducing hopelessness.

So logotherapy is often used as a framework or complement alongside other approaches, not as the main treatment for conditions such as severe depression, OCD or PTSD, which have better-studied treatments.

There is no fixed length. Some people reach clarity about a specific decision or crisis in a few sessions; others work on deeper questions over several months. When combined with another approach, duration depends mostly on that approach.

Questions of meaning are deeply tied to language, culture and beliefs. Speaking Farsi lets you draw on familiar sources, from Persian poetry to spiritual beliefs or family experience, without the therapist imposing anything.

Migration often sharpens existential questions: "Who am I here?", "What was all this hardship for?", "Where do I belong?". For Iranians inside Iran living under social and economic pressure, finding meaning in circumstances beyond one's control is just as tangible. Online sessions make this conversation possible from anywhere.

If you are dealing with severe depression, suicidal thoughts, frequent panic attacks or trauma, logotherapy should not be your only treatment; a more strongly researched approach should come first. Talking about meaning helps most when there is some basic stability.

A close approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which also emphasises values and a meaningful life but has a broader research base and more practical tools. Many therapists combine the two.