Research on "hollow disease" of Chinese university students based on the perspective of logotherapy

Abstract

With the rapid development of human civilisation in the turn of the twentieth century, the spiritual crisis and an existential vacuum gradually become almost universal. Frankl's logotherapy, from the early twentieth century, is centred on helping people discover the meaning and value of living. It is an effective complement for treatment of neurosis. In recent years, a phenomenon known as "hollow disease" has gained widespread attention in China. Its causes are inseparable from the general environment of global change and the inevitable crisis of faith brought about by the rapid development of China's compressed space and time. From the perspective of logotherapy, this article analyses the causes of "hollow disease" amongst Chinese university students, focusing on the premise that "human existence is meaning-driven" and is an "encounter with the world to realise the value of life". Causes of hollow disease are as follows: the two-fold loss of both instinct and tradition during the social transformation; the impediments to "encountering others" during growth; and dependence on material things that obscures the integrity of human nature. In addition, the author offers advice on individual, organisational, and social levels to help young people to awaken to meaning in their spiritual lives and to fill the void of their internal emptiness.