Man’s Search for Meaning

Reality dimmed, and all efforts and all emotions were centered on one task: preserving one’s own life and that of the other fellow. Apart from the already described reactions, the newly arrived prisoner experienced the tortures of other most painful emotions, all of which he tried to deaden. Is there no spiritual freedom in regard to behavior and reaction to any given surroundings? On the other hand, as soon as the patient stops fighting his obsessions and instead tries to ridicule them by dealing with them in an ironical way—by applying paradoxical intention— the vicious circle is cut , the symptom diminishes and finally atrophies.