Quotes About Psychology

He was the only man I ever encountered in my whole life whom I would dare to call a Mephistophelean being, a satanic figure.

It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds. … The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living. Yet it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent.

The prisoner passed from the first to the second phase; the phase of relative apathy, in which he achieved a kind of emotional death.

es el sufrimiento en sí mismo el que madura o enturbia al hombre, es el hombre el que da sentido al sufrimiento.

Logotherapy bases its technique called paradoxical intention on the twofold fact that fear brings about that which one is afraid of, and that hyperintention makes impossible what one wishes. In German I described paradoxical intention as early as 1939. In this approach the phobic patient is invited to intend, even if only for a moment, precisely that which he fears.

If someone now asked of us the truth of Dostoevski's statement that flatly denies man as a being who can get used to anything, we would reply, 'Yes, a man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how.

T?pk? çok büyük bir atmosfer bas?nc? alt?nda bulunduÄŸu dalg?ç hücresinden birdenbire ayr?lmas? halinde, dalg?c?n fiziksel saÄŸl???n?n tehlikeye girmesi gibi, ruhsal bask?dan birdenbire kurtulan bir insan?n, ahlaki ve ruhsal saÄŸl??? da hasar görebilir.

We had literally lost the ability to feel pleased and had to relearn it slowly.

There is nothing conceivable which would so condition a man as to leave him without the slightest freedom. Therefore, a residue of freedom, however limited it may be, is left to man in neurotic and even psychotic cases. Indeed, the innermost core of the patient's personality is not even touched by a psychosis.

How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?

El deseo sexual ni siquiera aparecía en los sueños de los prisioneros, lo que contradice el postulado del psicoanálisis que asegura que «los deseos inhibidos» se manifiestan de forma especial en el sueño.

Daba una conferencia sobre la psicología de los campos de concentración! Al delimitar científicamente los hechos, lo que me oprimía cobraba relieve y una cierta perspectiva. Con ese método conseguía distanciarme de la situación y superar de algún modo el sufrimiento, contemplándolo como si ya hubiera sucedido. Mis problemas se transformaban en el objeto de un estudio psicocientífico que yo mismo estaba realizando.

As soon as the patient stops fighting his obsessions and instead tries to ridicule them by dealing with them in an ironic way - by applying paradoxical intention - the vicious circle is cut, the symptom diminishes and finally atrophies.

Both I and my troubles became the object of an interesting psychoscientific study undertaken by myself. What does Spinoza say in his Ethics?—Affectus, qui passio est, desinit esse passio simulatque eius claram et distinctam formamus ideam. Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.

An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior

He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how," could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic

Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor E. Frankl

statement is an oversimplification; yet in logotherapy the patient is actually confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life. And to make him aware of this meaning can contribute much to his ability to overcome his neurosis.

meaning is possible even in spite of suffering—provided, certainly, that the suffering is unavoidable.

I think it was Lessing who said, There are things which must cause you to lose your reason or you have none to lose. An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour.

We had literally lost the ability to feel pleased and had to relearn it slowly. Psychologically

Considero una concepción errónea y peligrosa para la psicohigiene dar por supuesto que el hombre precisa ante todo equilibrio interior, o como se denomina en biología «homeostasis»: un estado sin tensiones, en equilibrio biológico interno. El hombre no necesita realmente vivir sin tensiones, sino esforzarse y luchar por una meta o una misión que le merezca la pena.

we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it.