International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology

Logotherapy: Infusing Counselor Education with a Meaningful Spirit

Trace Pirtle, Ed.D.

Associate Professor of Counselor Education, Department of Professional Programs, Texas A&M International University

Abstract

Our world is increasingly complex. Technological advances in modern weaponry, instant communication systems, and environmental, political, and theological instability have all resulted in vicarious suffering on a global scale. Suffering is no longer confined to the boundaries of the somatic and psychic dimensions of human existence. Instead, traumatic reverberations are shaking humans to the core of who they are as meaning-centered persons. Counselors of the future must be educated to address clients’ issues related not only the soma and psyche, but the noös as well. Logotherapy is the only theoretical approach that places emphasis on all three dimensions. Thus, this paper serves as a call for meaningful change in counselor education and identifies key Logotherapy concepts on which to base counselor education programs.

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