Logostherapy
Words are my world.
The power of words has captivated my interest for years and is the focus of my professional work. After studying communication, rhetoric and philosophy, I developed my own theory of logostherapy, which means "attending to words."
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Logostherapy, which I developed in the early days of my 30-year teaching career, is primarily constructed from these influences:
1. From the study of rhetoric, I understand that all communication is persuasive.
2. From the study of philosophy, I understand what the word logos meant "the generative power of spoken word" to an ancient Greek. Or more simply, words create worlds.
3. From teaching Frankl’s logotherapy, I found that providing students the etymology of the parts of Frankl’s system (love, work, and suffering) builds a much deeper understanding of the theory.
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Frankl’s theory of logotherapy places the focus on meaning, whereas my theory of logostherapy focuses on words because one cannot have or find meaning if one see words as meaningless.
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My passion for the concept of logostherapy stemmed from my observation that people are not attending to words, meaning:
1. The etymology of words is no longer studied, understood or appreciated
2. One does not understand the meaning of one's own words
3. One does not understand the meaning of words from others
This lack of attention has dangerous consequences, yet it is within our control. We can infuse our lives with meaning by attending to words.
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While familiarizing themselves with logostherapy, readers and listeners will understand the power of words and how words are creating worlds within one's social spaces (i.e. interpersonal, family, relationships, medical, educational, and political).
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Once the principles are understood, the content is applicable to any communication situation. Through my resources, such as articles and books, as well as dynamic and interactive presentations, I can quickly shed light on inviting the individuals to understand the consequences of their speech choices (in some cases, repetition of speech habits) while offering alternative ideas on how audience members can create communication situations that are more in line with their intentions and create more meaningful interactions.
Logostherapy in Action: Quotes and Referrals
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From a Physician on
The Doctor Still Knows Best
I have just finished your latest book and very much liked reading it, although it is a collection of horror stories. It should be recommended/compulsory reading for med students and trainees. Thank you for writing about this topic. I do hope that it gets a big readership. Most of what you are talking about should not be hard and should not even need to be taught, although it clearly does.
Andrew Watkins,
MD Clinical Director,
Pediatrics Mercy Health, Australia
2
Colleague
Critical thinking and reflective thinking are educational buzzwords. A laser focus on these skills has, in some cases, led to assignments that are easily assessed with a rubric to prove that the skills have been learned. In this class, however, critical and reflective thinking is introduced and developed over many weeks, in every session, through the act of questioning. In doing so, students are empowered academically and in their personal lives.
Fran Gulinello, Ph.D. Professor, Communications Classroom Observation
3
Student
As I said in class, at some point in the last few years I began to lose my way. My effort and motivation became inconsistent at best, and although I wasn't failing school by any means, it had just lost its charm. I would often ask what the point was and do lots of complaining, which (retrospectively) I now see just how damaging my words were with my newfound knowledge regarding the power of the word.
Andrew Kiphart,
Student
Logostherapy in Context: Books & Articles
I began to notice how uniform our language became during Covid and how we had acquired several speech habits. It was as if we were handed a script that we all followed. This book identifies eleven speech habits we acquired, invites the reader to think about what the consequences were for each speech habit and offers ideas for constructing alternative language.
As the title suggests, this book is based on my teaching career spent introducing undergraduate students to the work of Frankl. In this book, I point out the deeply Stoic roots of Frankl’s work which are not stated within his book. Additionally, I showcase how my own theory of logostherapy was formed both from inspiration from both Frankl and the ancient Stoics who inspired him. I frequently state that all ideas have both roots (come from somewhere) and wings (go on to create something new). This book is an exploration of both.
This book is based on my journey to make sense of medical culture both as someone who understands the power of spoken word and as the mother of a child with disabilities. Throughout my second book on medical communication, I identify the rhetorical tropes that the medical community uses to construct medical paternalism and portray these tropes in prose, as well as using the genre of graphic medicine (cartoons).