08-24-2008, 12:00 AM
From a book on Logotherapy , by Psychiatrist and Auschwitz survivor, Viktor E. Frankel.
"...in the same way that fear brings to pass what one is afraid of , likewise a forced intention makes impossible what one forcibly wishes....pleasure is,
and must remain , a side-effect or by-product , and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself."
CASE: "A young physician consulted me because of his fear of perspiring...this anticipatory anxiety was enough to cause excessive sweating. I advised
the patient...to resolve deliberately to show people how much he could sweat. "
The result of this practice was that he was able to free himself permanently , within one week , of his problem.(my paraphrase)
"...this procedure consists of a reversal of the patient's attitude...by a paradoxical wish. (ie: not-doing) Such a procedure, however , must make
use of the specifically human capacity for self-detachment inherent in a sense of humor."
"...in the same way that fear brings to pass what one is afraid of , likewise a forced intention makes impossible what one forcibly wishes....pleasure is,
and must remain , a side-effect or by-product , and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself."
CASE: "A young physician consulted me because of his fear of perspiring...this anticipatory anxiety was enough to cause excessive sweating. I advised
the patient...to resolve deliberately to show people how much he could sweat. "
The result of this practice was that he was able to free himself permanently , within one week , of his problem.(my paraphrase)
"...this procedure consists of a reversal of the patient's attitude...by a paradoxical wish. (ie: not-doing) Such a procedure, however , must make
use of the specifically human capacity for self-detachment inherent in a sense of humor."