I am teaching at a nursing university to foster nurses including Certified Nurse Specialists in cancer nursing. At the same time, I am engaging in a volunteer activity to give counseling to patient‘s family, though I cannot spend much time for it.

Nurses witness patients suffering from an incurable disease and their family have various pains and distress by facing fear of death and uncertainty over the future. In such cases, many nurses ask themselves what they can do as medical staff. When I was with such a question in mind, I encountered Frankl’s book. I thought “this is it.” and started a research on Frankl at the doctor’s course under guidance of Prof. Kunio Yamada of Osaka Prefectual University. This resulted in my attending at the Logotherapy Seminar.

When we see a fatal disease patient who accepts the situation and think and live positively, we, medical staff, are taught courage and greatness of human by the patient. However, not every patient has such strength. Most patients need support and help from somebody. It’s such a case where “standing by” or "Bei-sein” in Frankl’s term, is required to nurses. “Standing by” seems easy but is very difficult in fact, because our well-intended behaviors for others are prone to end as those for ourselves. On a more and more complicated medical front, nurses are required to play a more important role.

I will teach would-be nurses how nurses can relate with patients under affliction so to find meaning of their life by themselves, on the basis of logotherapy and Frankl’s ideas.