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fering from various forms ofneogenic neuroses. These are neuroses that originate in
the noetic or spiritual dimension of'humans. Logotherapy has developed methods for
dealing with clients who suffer from phobias in their sexual behavior, for those with
incurable diseases and for those who lead empty and meaningless lives.
It is especially for the last-mentioned, those suffering from "meaninglessness", that
logotherapy bas a word to say. The human capacity to transcend suffering, trauma,
and terror by finding meanings and meaning opportunities in suffering and tragic
circumstances, is a well-known logotherapeutic belief Logotherapy can also serve as
a complement and/or supplement to conventional methods ofpsychotherapy in cases
ofaddictions, victims ofaccidents, the physically disabled who have lost limbs and
those with other losses, especially in cases in which the losses are accompanied by
lack ofmeaning (Guttmann 1996:6). '7
4.2 Logotherapy and family therapy
In recent years the family group was understood as an excellent chance, opportunity
and basis for meaning awareness. An understanding ofthe meaning potentials in fa­
mily living and the importance ofhelping the family gain awareness (reflection) and
make use ofthese meaning potentials, was the central idea in the Franklian approach
to existential family therapy (Lantz 1993:x).
Logotherapy or "meaning therapy" has been devised as a treatment approach toward
helping people find meaning in their existence as human beings. Frankl's concentra­
tion camp experiences have been described as a laboratory in which logotherapy prin­
ciples were tested under the most severe conditions possible (Lantz 1993:3). These
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