Viktor Frankl proposed a theory based on his own experiences and those of other prisoners in a concentration camp. Frankl took these reactions and classified them into phases of psychological reactions. This theory is divided into three phases that we know today. Phases one, two and three reflect what is happening in the minds of the prisoners and we are able to follow the prisoner's psyche. In The Night of Elie Wiesel, he recounts his personal experience in the camps. Comparing his story with Frankl's theory, we can see his cognitive health regressing as his story continues.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Frankl concluded that the first phase began and ended at specific times. The first phase began even before the person became a prisoner. The first distinguishing symptom is shock. The first phase of Elijah begins in the ghettos. Arriving in the ghettos, everyone was full of uncertainty and fear. The idea of ​​the Nazis taking over their city was still surreal. “Little by little, life returned to “normal”.” Life in the ghettos will never again be the same as that in Transylvania. After Wiesel and the rest of his community were taken to Birkenau, they became more hostile. Elijah, however, never seemed hostile. Instead, he longed for the rest of his family. He and his father were separated from his mother and sisters during the first selection into the camps. He says: "I had no time to think and I already felt my father's hand pressing against mine: we were alone." One of the telltale signs of a prisoner moving from the first phase to the second is emotional death. Elijah's emotional death was the death of his god. “Where is he?” There’s where to hang on the gallows.” Elijah's faith was one of the only things that connected him to his past life, and without it, he had no reason to live except for his father. The boy, Pipel, is described in the novel as an "angel with sad eyes." When the young boy is mentioned in the novel, he usually knows about God and angels, and when he is hanged, Wiesel loses all faith in his god. After the prisoners severed all ties to their previous lives, they moved into the second life. phase. The second stage usually begins with a feeling of apathy, a dulling of emotions. Staying in the camp for more than a few days was enough to transform the prisoner into a completely different person physically, mentally, and emotionally. On Yom Kippur, Wiesel had difficulty fasting. His father forbade him to fast; since his God was dead, he had no reason to please him. “Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening.” Wiesel no longer felt emotional or physical pain. He recounts the time Kapo beat him: “It was over. I didn't realize that..." Since he no longer felt emotional pain, he could suppress the physical pain. Because he was free from his suffering, he achieved negative happiness. Negative happiness was when a prisoner met the opposite conditions for being happy, for example, they had a strong relationship with depression rather than happiness. Frankl once said: “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise image of it. » Finally, after liberation, the prisoners experienced the third phase, the final phase. After their release, they experience their emotions in a flood of euphoria. Once recovered from their trauma, they relax. After Elijah's father died, he admitted.