---
title: "Paradoxical intention"
description: "A short-term technique for phobias and compulsions that cuts the loop between fear and symptom."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/paradoxical-intention/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Paradoxical intention

> A short-term technique for phobias and compulsions that cuts the loop between fear and symptom.

Viktor Frankl's framework, from Man's Search for Meaning, pp. 82 to 111.

Framework 3 of 4 from [Man's Search for Meaning](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/index.md) by Viktor Frankl. Category: Content and packaging.

## The steps

1. **Spot the anticipatory anxiety.** Find the fear that produces the very thing the person dreads, such as the fear of sweating causing sweating.
2. **Invite the opposite wish.** Ask the person to intend, even briefly, exactly what they fear, such as pouring ten quarts of sweat or writing the worst scrawl.
3. **Use humour to detach.** Self-detachment through laughing at the symptom takes the wind out of the anxiety.
4. **Dereflect toward a purpose.** Turn attention away from self and toward a task, a partner or a vocation so the loop does not restart.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: II, pp. 82–111

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/paradoxical-intention.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/paradoxical-intention-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/paradoxical-intention.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/mans-search-for-meaning/paradoxical-intention-dark.png