This Atelier page of the features selected articles by Alfried Längle, Viktor Frankl, and publications from GLE.
Enjoy your exploration!

Alfried Laengle

Alfried Längle was born in 1951 and holds doctoral degrees in medicine and psychology. A student of Viktor Frankl, he sought to develop an independent form of psychotherapy based on logotherapy, which he named existential analysis. He is the author of several books and numerous articles devoted to the theory and practice of existential analysis (GLE). President of the Society for Existential Analysis and Logotherapy in Vienna, he developed an original theory of existential motivation.

The First Fundamental Motivation: I Exist — Can I Be?

This is the first, basic question that lays the foundation for the feeling of life. It is not only about actual existence but about the existential experience: “I have the right to be.”
What matters is not how objectively safe the world is, but whether a person subjectively experiences security, reliability, and stability.

Existential Analysis

It is one of the schools of contemporary psychotherapy, rooted in the Western European philosophical traditions of phenomenology and existential philosophy. Modern Existential Analysis, developed by Alfried Längle, is a continuation and deepening of Logotherapy, founded by the eminent Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl (1905–1997). The central element of this approach is the question of the meaning of human life and the spiritual dimension of a person’s being-in-the-world (“logos” in this context denotes meaning).

This motivation is responsible for vitality, emotional engagement, and the ability to rejoice, suffer, and feel.
Am I able to enjoy the singing of birds? Cry over a film? Experience the pain of loss without being shattered by it?
Or am I frozen, feeling nothing at all?

The Second Fundamental Motivation: I Am Alive — Do I Like It?

Existentia

The concept of existence refers to a life imbued with profound feelings, actualized initiatives, and one’s own decisions — even if they turn out to be mistaken. In essence, it is a life that is complex, yet rich and meaningful. Existential-Analytical psychotherapy is aimed precisely at helping a person attain greater fullness in life. EA is a way to comprehend what constitutes an authentic, meaning-filled life, how it can be lived while remaining grounded in reality with all its difficulties and adversities, and what kind of assistance can be offered to a person who does not experience their life as fulfilled.

The Third Fundamental Motivation: I Am Myself — Can I Be True?

This motivation is connected with uniqueness, inner boundaries, and the ability to take one’s own stance — to be genuine rather than convenient or “improved.” Here is where fundamental inner freedom is born.

Profound respect

Existential Analysis approaches therapeutic work from a position of profound respect and attentive care toward each individual person. The patient or client is never regarded merely as “a person with a problem” or “a patient with a symptom,” but always as a unique, unrepeatable individual endowed with their own freedom. Therefore, the relationship between an existential-analytical therapist and their client is deeply human, going beyond the formal application of techniques in the process of working together on the issue.

The Fourth Fundamental Motivation: I Am Here — What Is My Purpose?

This is the last, but no less important, “yes” — an inner consent to the meaning of what is happening.
Not only in the global sense (“Why do I live?”) but also in everyday actions:
“Why am I going to this job?”“Why am I interested in the topic of a fulfilled existential life?”, “Why am I reading these articles?”

Existential-analytical dialogue

EA does not work with a problem by isolating it from the rest of life. Instead, it seeks to understand the problem from within the logic of the person’s concrete life: how it emerged, why it could not have failed to appear, and how it can now be addressed. The dialogue may touch on themes such as the right to live one’s own life while remaining close to oneself; to be more truly oneself; to live in one’s own style, in accordance with one’s essence and conscience; to make decisions freely and willingly take responsibility for them. In this way, finite and often difficult life comes to be experienced as fulfilled — a life to which one can wholeheartedly say “Yes!”

Wholeness of life

The timeless questions concerning the nature of human individuality, personality disorders, and a person’s ability to remain true to themselves are now relevant not only to professionals — psychotherapists and psychologists — but also to the wider public.

Viktor Frankl maintains that if a person draws from the situation at hand, without complaining about the lack of ideal conditions, and does what they consider to be the most right and the best possible under these circumstances, they are able to find meaning and experience the fullness of life. And what, then, is “right”? It is that which is true to me, to which my heart inclines, and which my conscience affirms.

This Atelier page of the features selected articles by Alfried Längle, Viktor Frankl, and publications from GLE. Enjoy your exploration!