dr, viktor frankl’s “man’s search for meaning” describes his time in concentration camps. he wrote how the prisoners survived inhumane conditions. he discussed the forced labor, improper clothing, torture, extreme temperature, sickness, death and the lack of proper nutrients.
dr. sigmund freud, who lived prior to the world war ii atrocities derived a psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. this notion suggests that humans are driven by their psycho-sexual drives.
dr. frankl, in “man’s search for meaning,” observed, however, that that sexuality became non-existent with the horrible camp conditions. when one is stripped to the bare basics of humanity, their “sexual drive” is gone. their true drive, as he described, was “survival.” the true element of “survival” was food. prisoners dreamed and talked of the food that they would never see at the camp. they treasured their mere morsels that they had to consume. commonly the extent of their food consisted of a piece of bread and soup. their bodies became ravaged and they lost mass as the calories were provided did not cover the expenditure performing hard labor.
had dr. freud been able to experience and study what dr. frankl witnessed, perhaps there would be an additional theory on development; one in which a “survival” analysis would supersede sexuality as a primary base concern.
in sum, dr. frankl’s writing perhaps offers a layer of human drive beyond that of mere sexuality. concentration camp horrors may have revealed an issue beyond that of freud’s theory.
be well!!
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