man-s-search-for-meaning

LOGOTHERAPY IN A NUTSHELL
A LOGODRAMA
I should like to cite the following instance: Once, the
mother of a boy who had died at the age of eleven
years was admitted to my hospital department after a
suicide attempt. Dr. Kurt Kocourek invited her to join
a therapeutic group, and it happened that I stepped
into the room where he was conducting a psychodrama.
She was telling her story. At the death of her
boy she was left alone with another, older son, who
was crippled, suffering from the effects of infantile
paralysis. The poor boy had to be moved around in a
wheelchair. His mother, however, rebelled against her
fate. But when she tried to commit suicide together
with him, it was the crippled son who prevented her
from doing so; he liked living! For him, life had
remained meaningful. Why was it not so for his
mother? How could her life still have a meaning? And
how could we help her to become aware of it?
Improvising, I participated in the discussion, and
questioned another woman in the group. I asked her
how old she was and she answered, "Thirty." I replied,
"No, you are not thirty but instead eighty and
lying on your deathbed. And now you are looking back
on your life, a life which was childless but full of
financial success and social prestige." And then I
invited her to imagine what she would feel in this
situation. "What will you think of it? What will you
say to yourself?" Let me quote what she actually said
from a tape which was recorded during that session.
"Oh, I married a millionaire, I had an easy life full of
wealth, and I lived it up! 1 flirted with men; 1 teased
them! But now I am eighty; I have no children of my
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