Tender Beginnings: The Unscathed Human Spirit

Abstract

The first phase of the logotherapy journey is set out in this chapter: the need to believe in the unconditional worthiness of our person. This is where every therapy should start: to provoke from the clients their will to triumphantly emerge from their suffering and victimized state. No-one can develop and grow if there is a lack of self-esteem and sense of worthiness. The need to experience a “Yes!” from life in an affirming and loving acknowledgement of its person is the first enlivening experience in an infant’s life. The chapter challenges readers to consider where their lack of confidence in themselves and in the meaning of their lives came from. In therapy there is a need to find the client at the point where that inherent sense of innocence and the goodness of life became lost. Frankl’s view of the unscathed spirit of the person hidden behind the façade of the problems and anxieties the client presents in therapy, is discussed as the potential for healing.