Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 91 No. 3, 2021.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.91.3.6
Logotherapy and the Psychological State in Crisis Situations
Mirna Sisek-Šprem
; University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The crisis is a very difficult state after which either a resolution or catastrophe is expected. In a crisis situation, a person faces dangers that cannot be resolved in already familiar ways of solving problems and this can lead to difficulties on the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and physiological levels. The article discusses the influence of crisis situations on the psychological state of individuals, with an emphasis on the crises that have hit Croatia (pandemics and earthquakes) in 2020, as well as therapeutical possibilities offered by logotherapy in crisis situations. Whether a crisis situation will lead to a psychological illness depends on the characteristics of a crisis and of an individual who has been exposed to that crisis. In a society in which many suffer from the feeling of meaninglessness of life, crisis situations can easily lead to a psychological illness. Logotherapy, a psycho‑therapeutic technique that focuses on the striving for meaning as the driving force of human life, encourages an individual to embrace life as a task and emphasizes its spiritual dimension. As such, it can be of preventive and curative importance in the current situation of crises.
Keywords
crisis; psychological state; psychological disturbance; logotherapy; need for meaning; meaning of life.
Hrčak ID:
273599
URI
Publication date:
2.2.2022.
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