The Physician Leader As Logotherapist. (Physician Executive Leadership) (Viktor Frankl‪)‬

VIKTOR FRANKL DIED AT THE AGE OF 92 ON September 2, 1997. At that moment, the world was occupied with the funerals of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa, but let us consider how Frankl's life and teachings offer American medicine perhaps the best solution to the angst that presently threatens it. Frankl coined the term "existentialism" and developed an existential form of psychotherapy which he called logotherapy. (1) American medicine needs a big dose of logotherapy right now, and the most likely "therapists" to administer it are physician leaders. This article will consider the spiritual and moral troubles of American medicine, Frankl's answer to that affliction, and the implications of logotherapy for physician organizations and leadership. The emptiness of postmodernism