Episode 10: Domestic Violence and Franklian Psychology

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Some current publications from the American Psychological Association are linked here:

The Mind of the Batterer.pdf

Partner Violence: What you can do

Statistics:

A United States Department of Justice study found that 22% of women and 7% of men had been physically abused by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. The study also found that 1.3% of the women and 0.9% of the men had been abused within the past 30 days. Of those abused, 39% of the women and 23% of the men were injured.

Effects on the victim:

Physical abuse is often accompanied by humiliation, manipulation, and economic control. The effects on the victim include fear, the belief that escape is impossible, post-traumatic stress symptoms and sometimes substance abuse.

The risk of death or serious injury increases once the decision to leave is made.

Key Issues for Franklian Psychology

1) Sophisticated victims of domestic violence may have read Frankl or been drawn to his works in response to their trauma. It is important to know that Frankl taught that meaning in suffering is found only if the suffering is unavoidable. Frankl repeatedly taught that If the suffering can be avoided, it should be avoided.

2) Some victims may believe that they remain in the relationship for the value of love. Frankl taught that the deepest love is an awareness of the potentials of the spirit of the other. In this, the loved one cannot be replaced. If the significant other in your life wishes to control you rather than to see your true abilities and talents made real, then that is not love.

3) Frankl wrote a great deal about value judgments. Value judgments can become easily confused during and after trauma. It is true that great figures of history have sacrificed themselves for loving or meaningful causes. None of those figures, however, sacrificed themselves to another person for the purpose of satisfying the other person's violent temper.

How to respond if someone tells you of domestic violence:

DON'T minimize the abuse
DON'T blame the victim
DON'T shift the focus (to alcohol or some other problem)

DO be empathetic
DO tell the victim it is not her fault
DO offer to get her help (if you can)

Important Phone Numbers:

As always, if you are in danger in the United States, dial 9-1-1

National Domestic Violence Hotline:
1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233)


Click here to download Episode 10: Domestic Violence and Franklian Psychology.

Thank you for listening. Please email any questions or comments to logotalk@pld.com and may you have a meaningful day.

Episode 9: Conscience and the Spiritual Unconscious

Of Interest to Logotherapists:

Radio National's podcast All in Mind has a fascinating portrayal of 1900 Vienna available here:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2009/2631888.htm

and here:

http://blogs.abc.net.au/allinthemind/

Definition of Terms:

Self: The core of our being, distinctly human, of an existential quality, associated with consciousness and responsibility. Cannot be reduced solely to the ego.

Conscience: Arises from the spiritual unconscious, of a transcendent quality, involves dialog with a transpersonal agent that we may or may not call God. Cannot be reduced solely to the superego.

Spiritual Unconscious: The unconscious aspect of the core of our being, the source of conscience, love, humor, artistic expression.


Unique Quality of Phenomena Arising from the Spiritual Unconscious:

Conscience: Acts as a compass, pointing us toward the one unique meaning that a concrete situation calls for.

Love: Allows us to see, or know, the potentials that are unique to the beloved, and to call forth the actualization of those potentials.

Artistic Conscience: Allows for the unique expression of meanings.

Click here to download Episode 9: Conscience and the Spiritual Unconscious.

Thank you for listening. Please email any questions or comments to logotalk@pld.com and may you have a meaningful day.

Episode 8: Toward a Meaning-Centered Cognitive Therapy

Today I would like to share with you an essay that I completed last month. It is an attempt to rehumanize Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy by using Franklian concepts.

"An ancient parable attributed to Aesop tells of a wager between the sun and the wind to determine which was stronger. A hapless passerby was to be the object of the dispute: whichever of them could make him remove his cloak was to be the winner. The wind began and blew harder and harder. Though flapping in the breeze, the cloak was not blown away as the traveler clutched it ever more tightly around himself. At last, the wind gave up. Then the sun came out and brightly warmed the traveler who immediately removed his cloak. This story demonstrates the relationship between cognitive psychotherapy, such as formulated by Albert Ellis, and the meaning-centered therapy of Viktor Frankl. Frankl considered most psychotherapy to be dehumanizing; the client was at the mercy of drives, conditioning, or biology. Frankl’s therapy was an attempt to rehumanize psychotherapy. I propose that cognitive therapy may be rehumanized by explaining Frankl’s meaning-centered therapy (Logotherapy) in the language of Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)."

Click here to download the full essay in PDF format.

Click here to download Episode 8: Toward a Meaning Centered Cognitive Therapy.

Thank you for listening. Please email any questions or comments to the address to the left and may you have a meaningful day.

Episode 7: Susan's Story

Today we are visiting with Susan, a charming woman who is exploring her emotions through a combination of Logotherapy and cognitive behavioral techniques. She is a native of Uganda, but fled that country along with her family during the reign of Idi Amin. She has also made her home in Kenya and the United States.

A keen observer, Susan would like to share what she has discovered so far in the hope that it may help others who are struggling with feelings of depression. "I need meaning. I know I need meaning in my life," she states. We will be checking in with Susan again in future episodes.

Click here to download Episode 7: Susan's Story.

Thank you for listening. Please email any questions or comments to logotalk@pld.com and may you have a meaningful day.

Episode 6: Reflections on the 17th World Congress

The Seventeenth World Congress on Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy was held June 17-21, 2009, in Dallas, Texas. The theme of this Congress was "Finding Meaning and Purpose in Times of Global Change, Crisis, and Chaos."

Over 200 persons representing 36 nations were present. Despite all our differences of culture and language, we were united in Spirit as we continue to bring the work of Viktor Frankl to the world.

LogoTalk.net blogged live each night from Dallas. Those posts were originally on this blog, but now are linked below:

Live Blogging, World Congress, Day 1
Live Blogging, World Congress, Day 2
Live Blogging, World Congress, Day 3
Live Blogging, World Congress, Day 4
Live Blogging, World Congress, Day 5

In general, these blogs represent the shownotes for LogoTalk Episode 6.

Mentioned in the podcast, but not on the blogs above, is the following information:



Dr. Emina Karamanovski has completed eModes: Tools for Emotional Health and Understanding just in time for the World Congress. This is a deck of 50 emotional message cards that will help you develop the ability to listen to your emotions in a completely different way. The cards will help you learn how to identify and understand your emotions so that you no longer feel the need to fight, suppress, or unconsciously react to your emotions. eModes are helpful alone, and also make a great companion to Dr. Karamanovski's successful book, Emotions Simplified.

Both are available at Emina.net.




Also mentioned in this podcast is the current situation in Iran. At the Congress, Hadi Asghari, a former Iranian military officer, talked about his years of imprisonment following the Iranian Revolution. Walking, and even running now, Mr. Asghari remains an enduring testament to the defiant power of the human spirit.

Videos currently coming from the election protests in Iran can be found here on YouTube:


Click here to download Episode 6: Reflections on the 17th World Congress.

Thank you for listening. Please email any questions or comments to the address to the left. And may you have a meaningful day.

Episode 5: Interview with Dr. Emina Karamanovski

LogoTalk.net is pleased to welcome Emina Karamanovski, MD, to the podcast. A native of Serbia, Dr. Karamanovski completed her medical training at the University of Belgrade. She is a diplomat in Logotherapy, a certified practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming, HeartMath techniques, and is coach certified.

Dr. Karamanovski is a pioneer in the field of using emotions to their fullest potential. Realizing the importance of emotions, Dr. Karamanovski studied many different methods of positive thinking and emotional management, personally testing each one, before developing her own unique approach to strengthening emotional intelligence. Her approach is innovative: emotions are messengers, and by understanding their messages we can improve our emotional intelligence. Her teaching is empowering. Once we learn the language of emotions, we gain the ability to deliberately choose our feelings and thus decide how to emotionally engage life.

More can be learned about Dr. Karamanovski by visiting her website:

http://www.emina.net/

Dr. Karamanovski's book Emotions Simplified is available at:

Amazon.com

and

Barnes and Noble Online

Click here to download Episode 5: Interview with Dr. Emina Karamanovski.

Thank you for listening, and may you have a meaningful day.