... as soon as the patient stops fighting his obsessions and instead tries to riducule them by dealing with them in an ironical way by applying paradocial intention the vicious circle is cut, the symptom diminished and finnaly atrophies. In the fortunate case where there is no existential vacuum which invites and elicits the symptom, the patient will not only succeed in ridiculing his neurotic feat but finally will succeed in completely ignoring it. – Viktor Frankl Man's Search for Meaning, logotherapy in a Nutshell
- Paradoxical intention is employed primarily to overcome fear by anticipating the very object of one’s fear. For instance, with humor and ridicule, one may wish for the very thing one is afraid of, in order to remove fear from one’s intention. This practice would likely result in reducing the symptoms as well.
- anticipatory anxiety results from hyper-intention which is a focus on preventing or achieving a particular outcome.
- which for the undesired to overcome
