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Victor's contribution to psychotherapywas thathe, strongerthan anyone else before,
emphasised that each person bas the abilityto choose his or her attitude in a given set
ofcircumstances and that each must accept the responsibility ofhis/her own choices
(Allport 1964:xi). He believedthat man is responsible for his/her choices in given
circumstances and thathe/she alone can decide how he/she is goingto deal with it.
He saw the issue ofresponsibility as one ofthe central tenets ofpsychotherapybe­
cause he believedit is the patient/clientwho bas to decide wliat he/she is responsible
for, and how he/she perceives life's demands from himlher at a given moment
(Guttmann 1996:4). Logotherapy was Frankl's way ofempbasisinga meaning
centered approachto psychotherapy. He said that in the concentrationcamps some
men behaved like swines while others acted like saints. Man bas both potentialities
"withinhimself,
which one is aetualised depends on decisions but not on conditions.
Inother words, whateverthe circumstances, some freedomofchoice remains.
However, one must decide what one's attitude is going to be in that particular set of
circumstances (Frankl 1962:134-135; Guttmann 1996:5).
Frankl's approachto man bas a certain philosophical color; thatman bas the ultimate
choice to decide what he/she is and what he/she will become. He believed that
anyone can transcend the circumstances in which he/she finds himself/herself, and
thatit is up to the individual to choose whether heJshe is going to be influenced by
environmental affairs or not. The differentlogotherapeutic techniques ofFrankl and
his adhetents are inter alia based on thisanthropomorfic-psychological assumption,
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