VFI

1. VFI VIKTOR FRANKL ARCHIV WIEN VIKTOR FRANKL CHAIRFORPHILOSOPHYOFPSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAMat VIENNA UNIVERSITY

4. The Two-FoldRevolutionofLTEA • FreedomofWill • Image of Man Motivation Theory • Frankl: Nous vis-a-vis Freud: Libido • Adler: SelfEsteem • Behav.: Learning history

5. Tracinghistoryofideas in Frankl‘sworks 1925-1942 Psychodynamics 1945-1955 + Collectivism(s) / Biologism 1955-1970 +Behaviorism 1970-1985 +Transpersonalism 1985-1997 +Psychologism

6. 1925-1942 Individual Past 1943-1955 +Biology /Collective Past 1955-1970 + Environment 1970-1985 + Feeling 1985-1997 + The Self(cf: Vitz: The CultoftheSelf) = toomany variables explainingtoomuch = thephilosophical paradox ofoverdetermination

7. AnotherOverdeterminationExample: Nature vsNurture and Human Intelligence Genetic Studies: Pedigree and Twin Studies (MonocygoticTwinsRaised Apart) MolecularGenetics Social Studies: Support Programs (Malleabilityof IQ), etc. Adoption Studies Cognitive Training

8. Overdetermination Genetic Studies: 72 % Social Studies: 70 % Total: 142 % Zimbabwe

9. Overdetermination: Whentoomanycauseshidetheeffecttheyshouldexplain

10. 1925-1942 Individual Past 1943-1955 +Biology /Collective Past 1955-1970 + Environment 1970-1985 + Feeling 1985-1997 + The Self(Vitz: The CultoftheSelf) After 1997 Contemporary behaviouralsciences: find thebigTOE

11. Logotherapyas a disciplineofdialogue The Contemporary Challenge? 1925-1942 Individual Past 1943-1955 + Biology /Collective Past 1955-1970 + Environment 1970-1986 + Feeling 1986-1997 + The Self 1997- = The Brain Under-determinitation = Reductionismtothecore

12. The Contemporary Face ofReductionism Individual Past Biology Environment Neurophysiology Feeling The Self

13. The Contemporary Face ofReductionism Individual Past Biology Environment Neurophysiology Feeling The Self The Noetic Person Frontal Cortex

14. You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviourof a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. […] You’re nothing but a pack of neurons. Crick 1994:11

15. Forthefirst time in theirapprox. 150 years, thebehaviouralsciences not onlytellushowwefunction (mechanicsofthemind), but also whoweare(architectureandsubstanceofthemind).

16. Somecontemporaryviews on thesoul

17. The materialist‘sproblem Think back to the time before matter had collapsed into the first stars. Since the universe at this time consisted of simple particles randomly scattered through vast reaches of spaces, it seems unlikely that there was experience anywhere to be found. If the universe in this condition was wholly experience-free, how can simply rearranging the same elementary particles have given birth to something fundamentally new and different: consciousness? How can the bringing to­gether of non-experiential things ever produce an experience? Even the simplest experience seems to be something wholly other than a collection of physical atoms.

18. A newEMPIRICAL challengeforlogotherapy: Nolongermotivationtheory but imageof man. And nolongeras a philosophicalissue, but as an empiricalproblem.

19. Logotherapyas a continuingidealistrevolution againstreductionism ?

20. Logotherapyas a continuingidealistrevolution againstreductionism Who will acceptthenewchallenge? Elisabeth Lukas: Not who, but when will you do it. ?

21. n(nous) Noetic Person y y y Psycho- physical Organism f f f

22. Noetic Person Organism expressesitself i.e. affects Experience & Behaviour Measurable (Tests, Observation, etc.)

23. Batthyany & Guttmann (2006) 620 peer-reviewedstudies 1975-2005 Batthyany (2012) Follow-upreviewarticle 91 peer-reviewedstudies 2005-2012

24. Noetic Person Organism expressesitself i.e. affects Experience & Behaviour Measurable Reducible

25. Noetic Person Organism expressesitself i.e. affects Experience & Behaviour Measurable Reducible

27. Frankl‘s Core Ideas on theNoetic Person (Soul) (1950) • 1. Psychotherapeutic Credo • The belief in the ability of the soul within the human under all conditions and circumstances to pull back and separate itself from its psychophysical dimensions and to assume a productive distance from it. • 2. Psychiatry Credo • The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness.

28. How do wetestthe Credos vis-a-vismind-brainreductionism? SeekFrontierSituations and Conditionswhichmayloosenthecloselyknitstructureofthe human person Enablesusto do finegrainedanalysisoftheontologicalstructureofthe human person Useinterdisciplinarymethodology Test predictionsofmaterialismvsdualism

29. Perfect Case 1: Obsessive CompulsiveDisorder, OCD Kidnapsthe will Robs patientsoffreedomdespitebetterknowledge & intentions Affectsall dimensionsofthepatient. As disorderofthefreedomof will, itistheparadigmaticcaseforourresearchproject.

30. Neuronal Causes (Jeffrey M. Schwartz et al., Los Angeles) (Scott Rauch et al., Boston)

31. Brain Differences – persons with OCD use different brain circuitry in performing a cognitive task than people without the disorder – (Rauch et al. J. of Neuropsychiatry, 1997)

32. Orbitofrontal Cortex- the error detector Functions of the self-control are implemented by OFC-amygdala circuitry Evolved to temper pursuit of pleasure (limbic system) with consideration of context and risk Basal Ganglia Caudate: the “thought gear shift” Anterior Cingulate - gut feelings Appropriate response to internal and external stimuli Projects to autonomic, visceromotor and endocrine systems

33. Glucose Metabolism in theOrbitofrontal Cortex

34. OCD and thePredictionsofthePsychotherap. Credo • Differencebtw. symptom and person • Soul/noeticcorecannot fall ill and therefore • candistanceitselffrompsy-phydimensions • isfree not fromconditions, but freehowto deal withthem • 5. Causalefficacyofthesoul on brain? • EmpiricaltestofPsychotherap. Credo (i.e. Soul Hypothesis): • ApplythistoOCD= 4 Steps (J. Schwartz, UCLA)

35. (J. Schwartz, UCLA) Foronemonth, whenobsessionscome, then: It’snot me, it’sOCD, a brain disorder. • Relabel • Reattribute • Refocus • Revalue I feel an urge againstmywill. Itisnotmywill, but a mis-firing brain. I decide againstmykidnappedwill and do whatisreallymeaningful. Itworks. And the urge isgettinglower in comparison to the result of mymeaningful work.

36. Self-distancing • Relabel • Reattribute • Refocus • Revalue Self-Distancing Self-Transcendence Insight

37. I. Soft Prediction: Psychotherapeutic Credo shouldwork, i.e. symptomreduction: TherapeuticResults after onemonth(only!) II. Strong Predictionofthe Soul Efficacy Hypothesis: Shouldaffectbrainmechanics, i.e. nous-matter interaction.

38. I. Weak/soft Prediction: Confirmed! • TherapeuticResultsafter onemonth (only!) • 87% patientsare symptom-free • thisisevenbetterthanparadoxicalintention (usually 75%)

39. PredictionsofthePsychotherap. Credo • Differencebtw. symptom and person • Soul/noeticcorecannot fall ill and therefore • candistanceitselffrompsy-phydimensions • isfree not fromconditions, but freehowto deal withthem • 5. Causalefficacyofthesoul on brain? P P P

40. Core Predictionofthe Soul Hypothesis: • Differencebtw. symptom and person • Soul/noeticcorecannot fall ill and therefore • candistanceitselffrompsy-phydimensions • Soul/noeticcoreismeaning-oriented • 5.Causalefficacyofthesoul on brain? P P P

41. Core Predictionofthe Soul Hypothesis: • Differencebtw. symptom and person • Soul/noeticcorecannot fall ill and therefore • candistanceitselffrompsy-phydimensions • Soul/noeticcoreismeaning-oriented • 5.Causalefficacyofthesoul on brain? P P P

42. 5.Causalefficacyofthesoul on brain? n ? y y ? f f f

43. Glucose Metabolism in the Orbital Cortex: Same patient, severeOCDfor > 20 yearsbefore and after fourweeks „treatment“

44. Credobecomes an empiricalfact There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process. For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating in order to resist that change. And the force represents the essence of what the words activeand purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to tell us one thing, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”. (Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

45. Credobecomes an empiricalfact There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process. For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating in order to resist that change. And the force represents the essence of what the words activeand purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to tell us one thing, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”. (Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

46. Credobecomes an empiricalfact There is one particularly key point, both clinically and philosophically, to comprehend about what occurs at the interface of the conscious mind and brain activity in the course of treatment–those moments always involve an active process. For at the moment when the man with OCD summons the mental strength to exert his will and physically actualize his new understanding by adaptively changing his meaningful behaviour, he will be overcoming tremendous biological forces that are operating in order to resist that change. And the force represents the essence of what the words activeand purposeful really mean. In brief, these findings seem to tell us one thing, and they do so very loudly: “You are not your brain”. (Schwartz 1999, J Clin Neuropsychiatry)

47. Replications: Pure O-Subtype OCD Social Phobia Generalized Anxiety Disorder Histrionic Subtype Borderline … Keyword: Intentional Neuroplasticity (similar to, but going beyond Pathoplastics)

48. Frankl‘s Core Ideas on theNoetic Person (Soul) (1950) • 1. Psychotherapeutic Credo • The belief in the ability of the soul within the human under all conditions and circumstances to pull back and separate itself from its psychophysical dimensions and to assume a productive distance from it. • 2. Psychiatric Credo • The belief in the persistence of the noetic person (soul) even behind the foreground symptoms of psychotic or neurological illness. P

49. Challenge and Methods: SeekFrontierSituations and Conditionswhichmayloosenthecloselyknitstructureofthe human person Psychosis, Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, and Death

50. Psychosis, Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, etc. The strongest form ofthebraindeterminism Patientsforgetwhotheyare, whattheyare, bizzarebehaviour, disinhibition, violence, aggression, catatonia, etc. Death: Depending on yourviewofthe human person: Either: An evenstronger form ofbraindeterminism: decidesaboutyourexistenceor non-existence Orthestrongest form ofself-distancingfrom a diseasedbrain.