Dr. Viktor E. Frankl--one of my revered fathers of psychotherapy--gave a talk in 1972 to a crowd in Toronto.
It's rare to see a master's lecture caught on video.
This is one of the few prized possessions that a therapist or anyone who works
with moulding people should have and watch.
As I
watched the video, I took time to transcribe what Dr. Frankl was saying. The
following is the geist, the core of this talk:
If we take man as he really is, we make him worse.
But if we overestimate him...if we seem to be idealist and are overestimating, overrating man and looking at him that high, you know what happens?
We promote him to what he really can be...If we take man as he is, we make him worse. But if we take man as he should be we make him capable of becoming what he can be.
So, if you don’t recognize a young man’s will to meaning, man’s search for meaning, you make him worse, you make him dull, you make him frustrated you and you still add and contribute to his frustration.
While if you presuppose...if this man, if this so called criminal or juvenile delinquent...there must be a spark of search for meaning.
Let’s recognize this, let’s presuppose it and then you will elicit it from him. IF you will make him become what he is capable of becoming.
