CRISIS OF MEANING IN CONNECTION WITH MENTAL DISTRESS OF A MODERN MAN

• Published in: Informatologia
• Main Author: Kristovič, Sebastjan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: logotherapy; mental distress; holistic approach; Frankl; crisis of meaning; existential crisis; logoterapija; duševni poremećaj; holistički pristup; kriza smisla; egzistencijalna kriza; Ner; sami
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/262336; https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/381531

In contrast with the contemporary spirit, which directs a person towards their own needs, satisfactions, and desires, logotherapy views the person and its life as an assignment. Man is not an individual "for himself" (according to Freud, the main internal motivational force is "the will of pleasure" and "the will of power" according to Adler), but a being of sense or a being for someone or something. According to Frankl, the purpose is defined as tasks, which life sets us in a precise moment and in a precise situation. These are tasks requiring a responsible reaction and a specific realisation of values. Each of them is unique. Each individual is responsible for a task, and only he can respond to it in a responsible man-ner. In this sense, life can be seen as a chain, whose links are the tasks themselves. Each in-dividual is unique, with a unique goal in life, which consists of individual, equally unique tasks. The centre of logotherapy is future - tasks and meanings. The founder of logotherapy is Viktor E. Frankl, who was a doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy, and a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna. The third psychotherapeutic school in Vienna - logotherapy - is based on a holistic approach to an individual, which means that it analyses a person on a physical, mental, and spiritual level. Spiritual dimension is, among others, a place of realisation of responsibility and freedom or space of realisation of actual possibilities and tasks. Existential crisis, exis-tential vacuum, and noogenic neuroses are issues and mental problems, which originate from the spiritual dimension. This means failing to perceive and failing in life as an assignment. The empirical part of the research, which is based on the psychometric instrument LOGO-test, performed on two hundred re-spondents, gave us the results that even 24 percent of respondents are in various mental distresses and seriously existentially endangered. The paper highlights the most problematic areas and causes for such mental distress. The COVID-19 pandemic only deepened and revealed this crisis of meaning. Sažetak Za razliku od suvremenog duha, koji usmjerava osobu prema vlastitim potrebama, zadovoljenjima i željama. Logoterapija promatra osobu i njezin život kao zadatak. Čovjek nije pojedinac "za sebe" (prema Freudu, glavna unutarnja motivacijska snaga je "volja zadovoljstva" i "volja moći" prema Adleru), već biće smisla ili biće za nekoga ili nešto. Prema Franklu, svrha je definirana kao zadaci koje nam život postavlja u točan trenutak i u preciznoj situaciji. To su zadaci koji zahtijevaju odgovornu reakciju i specifično ostvarenje vrijednosti. Svaki od njih je jedinstven. Svaki pojedinac odgovoran je za zadatak i samo on može na njega odgovoriti na odgovoran način. U tom smislu, život se može promatrati kao lanac, čije su karike sami zadaci. Svaki pojedinac je jedinstven, s jedinstvenim ciljem u životu, koji se sastoji od pojedinačnih, podjednako jedinstvenih zadataka. Središte logoterapije je budućnost - zadaci i značenja. Utemeljitelj logoterapije je Viktor E. Frankl, koji je bio doktor medicine i doktor filozofije, te profesor neurologije i psihijatrije na Sveučilištu u Beču. Treća psihoterapeutska škola u Beču - logoterapija - temelji se na holističkom pristupu pojedincu, što znači da analizira osobu na fizičkoj, mentalnoj i duhovnoj razini. Duhovna dimenzija je, između ostalog, mjesto realizacije odgovornosti i slobode ili prostor ostvarenja stvarnih mogućnosti i zadataka. Egzistencijalna kriza, egzistencijalni vakuum i noogene neuroze pitanja su i mentalni problemi koji potječu iz duhovne dimenzije. To znači ne shvatiti i propasti u životu kao zadatak. Empirijski dio istraživanja, koji se temelji na LOGO-testu psihometrijskom instrumentu, provedenom na dvjesto ispitanika, dao nam je rezultate da je čak 24 posto ispitanika u različitim psihičkim tegobama i ozbiljno egzistencijalno ugroženo. Rad ističe najproblematičnija područja i uzroke takvih psihičkih tegoba. Pandemija COVID-19 samo je produbila i otkrila ovu krizu smisla.