I integrate philosophical thinking with evidence-based psychotherapy models and draw from an eclectic toolkit of techniques. The most widely used and studied form of psychotherapy is cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT). It is an umbrella for many models of therapy that acknowledge that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. The philosophical origins of CBT – and many of its techniques – come from Stoic philosophy.
Philosophy
The word philosophy means the love of wisdom. The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek words φίλος (philos) ‘love’ and σοφία (sophia) ‘wisdom’ or ‘knowledge’, combining to form φιλοσοφία (philosophíā), which means the love of wisdom or the pursuit of knowledge.
It is not just the love of an academic subject but also the pursuit or activity of studying existence, meaning and purpose, the natural world, metaphysics, and human behavior. The study of philosophy offers insight and assistance in making sense of the human experience.
Philosophy teaches us the basic principles of human nature; how to practice correct thinking as animals who can be rational and irrational; what is morality and how to be moral agents; how to lead a good life and prevent emotional disturbances; and to better understand how we think about our place in the world.
If philosophy is the love or pursuit of wisdom, then what is wisdom?
Wisdom
Wisdom is applied practical knowledge. It is about gaining knowledge of the natural world through rational evaluation and then applying that knowledge to different aspects of life that allows one to act in a way that is appropriate.
For the Stoics, the important thing regarding wisdom was to practice rational reasoning and cultivate knowledge through continuously examining the natural world and reflecting on one’s thoughts and actions to ensure that they were acting within their control and in alignment with nature. Wisdom, for them, was a way of being.
Stoicism
Stoicism is an applied philosophy for the real world. It is the art of living in harmony with oneself, others, and the world; in accordance with nature; from a rational approach; with the ultimate goal of excelling at being human by maintaining virtue.
Stoics were pragmatic philosophers, and for them, Stoicism was a form of psychological therapy that approached emotional and psychological distress through reflection, practical exercises, and disciplined training. As a result, one would alleviate psycho-emotional suffering; build emotional resilience; and take right action.
Rational Animals?
Aristotle, as well as the Stoics, viewed the ability to reason as what separated humans from other animals. The Stoics defined the nature of the good as acting in accordance with nature. They saw the distinctive part of humans was their ability to reason – it is human’s nature. So, to live according to nature, humans ought to use their reasoning well and to work to perfect it. To excel in this area one ought to live according to virtue, which they viewed as human excellence and the only true good. To do this they outlined an applied philosophical system (Stoic Theory) for self-improvement which included the practice of psychological exercises that focused on virtue. The view of the Stoics was that the ultimate goal of life for humans was to excel at being human.
Philosopher Bertrand Russell came along and said that “Man is a rational animal – so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favour of this statement, but so far I have not had good fortune to come across it… On the contrary, I have seen the world plunging continually further into madness.” He saw people as being irrational with sparks of rationality. At odds with the Stoics who saw humans as fundamentally rational, and that irrationality occurs when one is ignorant or fails to align themselves with reason. Dr. Albert Ellis built an entire psychotherapy model on this idea that when one falls out of alignment with reason, they become irrational, and that leads them to experiencing distress.
Rational Psychotherapy
Dr. Ellis, who created rational psychotherapy (aka REBT), viewed humans as having the capacity to be both rational and irrational and that it was our thinking that made it so. He did not view people as inherently good or bad because the labels of a ‘good person’ or ‘bad person’ is a value judgement based from the individual or other people. Likewise, he asserted that there is no such thing as self-worth. Dr. Ellis brought aspects of Stoic psychology into his rational psychotherapy, such as the idea that it is the individual who creates what they are feeling based on how and what they judge, evaluate, and believe about themselves, others, a situation, and the world. Ellis said that “We disturb ourselves”, meaning, we create our own discomfort and distress. His therapeutic model was based on this and prescribing the remedy of disputing people’s irrational beliefs and guiding them to sound reasoning with how reality works in the natural world and recognizing what is and is not within one’s control. This last concept is a central component of Stoic Theory.
Stoic Philosopher Epictetus said, “People are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them.”