The whole time he was imprisoned in concentration camps, Frankl thought about his beloved wife. He writes that

nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts, and the image of my beloved.

His hope of seeing and being with her again helped to give Frankl hope and purpose while he was enduring the cruelty, suffering, and brutality of the camps. Frankl makes the point in the book that what keeps people alive and happy is a sense of purpose in life. He argues that it is not, as Alfred Alder asserted, a "will to power" or, as Freud asserted, a "will to pleasure" that drives humans but a "will to meaning."

Frankl found a reason to stay alive through having the goal of being reunited with his wife. At the same time, while he was at the camps, thoughts of her sustained him every day. He felt her presence, and he talked to her in his mind. Even though she was not there, she offered him love and companionship.

Frankl later found out that she had died in the camp of Bergen-Belsen, so they never had any hope of being reunited. However, Frankl's sense of a spiritual bond with his wife and the hope of seeing her, even if false, kept him going and helped him survive.