Stillness and Concentration

Logotherapy Applied to Tinnitus and Chronic Illness

Elisabeth Lukas

Living fully with a chronic condition,
using tinnitus as an example.

Translated by Manfred Hillmann and John de Paor
Edited by Charles McLafferty, Jr.

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Published2020

Pages164

ISBN9781948523066

ISBN, hardcover9781948523264

SeriesViktor Frankl’s Living Logotherapy, book 3

About this book

Many people suffer from chronic conditions that affect their daily functioning. Each day they awaken to new challenges. In this book, Elisabeth Lukas presents a series of vignettes and stories interwoven with the concepts of meaning-centered living that help the individual deal with unavoidable suffering.

Chronic illnesses exact a toll—the symptoms are ever-present and whittle away at the individual’s life energy and experience. Tinnitus is an example of an ongoing series of symptoms that can create havoc in a person’s inner life. In this book, Lukas uses tinnitus as an example of a chronic illness that can be addressed by finding an inner point of stillness and concentration.

This volume contains the original text of Stillness and Concentration followed by an article on meaning and goals for those with chronic illness. Additional chapters address a psychotherapy with dignity, one that preserves our inherent freedom.

First published in German as Konzentration und Stille. Logotherapie bei Tinnitus und chronischen Krankheiten, Verlag Profil, München, in three editions between 2000 and 2005.

“You will have to acquire new hearing, not that of physical ears, but rather of the heart’s ears.”p. 5

From the book

I will never forget the day, at a conference in Kansas City (USA) when I was asked to demonstrate a therapeutic dialogue. Full of good spirits, I readied myself to do so. When the patient was finally brought into the room I found that she had only a few weeks to live, because she was suffering from throat cancer which was progressively blocking her breathing. In fact, for this very reason, she had to have an oxygen cylinder always at hand. My optimism soon vanished and gave way to a feeling of helplessness. What possible comfort could I give to this woman?
After mutual greetings, we sat together in silence for a few moments. During this time, while I was in a state of bewilderment, this credo came back to me, one that has so blessedly accompanied me throughout the decades of my professional work: Every human life is permeated with meaning, literally to its last breath! Like a wave out of an agitated sea it welled up from out of my reflections and feelings and gave me strength. I looked into the face of this doomed woman and began our conversation. […]
At this point, something suggested itself to my lips: “Did you say that, until now, none of your children or grandchildren was ever seriously ill? And that no major accident had ever happened in your family?” […]
“Suppose then that you could choose which one of the family it had to be who would fall ill in this way, which one would you choose? […]”
“Heaven forbid!” shouted the woman, with some of her former energy vibrating in her voice. She drew her upper body up to its full height. “No,” she explained firmly, and as she spoke she seemed in a strange way to gain in strength, “if one of us were to get ill, if one of us has to be the first to go, then I would like it to be me.”
“So then, if the choice had been yours….”
She would not allow me to finish speaking. She affirmed with total certainty: “If the choice had been mine I would have chosen what fate has chosen for us.” Thereupon, the whole group assisting at the conference broke into spontaneous applause. It was marvelous. Everyone present witnessed how a human being under mortal threat could say “yes” to fate.pp. 69–71

On Elisabeth Lukas

For Lukas, there is no human being who does not retain a chance to grow, no situation which does not have its spark of meaning.… To elucidate meaning possibilities is the art of Elisabeth Lukas and entirely in the tradition of logotherapy.
Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D.

[Dr. Lukas is] a compassionate logotherapist who understands that the personal/spiritual dimension of a given client has to be considered in order to give hope, purpose, and meaning to the windstorms of life.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D.Author of On Death and Dying

—Introduction: Listening to Silence3

Part A. Stillness and Concentration: Logotherapy Applied to Tinnitus and Chronic Illness

1A Fulfilled Life Despite Pain?7
2No One is Superfluous or Replaceable9
3Something Important Awaits Each Person13
4Yes, Wonders Do Still Happen!17
5Mind and Body Working Together21
6How to Let Go of Fears25
7Cheerfulness as a Philosophy of Life29
8How Can Anything Become Good Again?33
9Power and Responsibility37
10Self-Conquest out of Love41
11Uselessness—Appearance and Reality45
12Sending Them Back to the Deep49
13Sending Them Ahead to the Waiting Room53
14Time Brings Many Surprises57
15The “Aha!” Experience of Seeing Things From the Other Side61
16The House With the Golden Windows65
17A Question to Think About69
18Keeping One’s Eyes on the Lighthouse of Meaning73

Part B. Reflections on a Psychotherapy With Dignity

19Meaning and Goals in Life for People With Chronic Illness79
20The “Birthmarks” of Paradoxical Intention93
21A Validation of Logotherapy101
22Counseling Tactics and Personality Structure113
23Logotherapy on Hysteria137
24Logotherapy in the Practice of Clinical Psychology145

About Elisabeth Lukas

Elisabeth Lukas is one of the leading practitioners of logotherapy in the world. A former student of Viktor Frankl, she is a clinical psychologist and a licensed psychotherapist and supervisor with more than thirty years of professional experience. She has lectured at more than fifty universities and trained an entire generation of logotherapists. She has written fifty-four books, which have been translated into nineteen languages.