Definition
Noodynamics is, according to Frankl, the dynamics of the spiritual dimension: the tension between being and ought, between what already is and the meaning waiting to be fulfilled. It shows itself as a feeling that “I am not realising something here”, that important values remain unfulfilled.
Tension is not illness
Frankl criticised the view that mental health consists in homeostasis - a tensionless state. In the spiritual dimension the absence of tension would rather mean stagnation. A person needs not peace at any price but a task worth striving for. (Carl Rogers shared a similar critique of homeostasis.)
Noo-dynamics in Poland
Fr. Prof. Kazimierz Popielski based his Noo-Dynamics Test on this concept.
In therapy
A sense of unfulfilment, even of unhappiness, can be a sign of noodynamic tension. The therapist's task is then not to remove the tension but to help read where it is leading.
Sources
V. E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning; The Will to Meaning; K. Popielski, Noetyczny wymiar osobowości (1994).