What is Philosophical Counseling?

Philosophical counselors, therapists or practitioners, (called Consultants by the NPCA) help their clients deal with issues of living that people face in the course of everyday life, through a variety of discussion based modalities of talk therapy and bibliotherapy.

I am personally specialized in the following issues:

• Moral issues

• Identity issues

• Values disagreements

• Ethics of eating and consuming

• Political issues and disagreements

• Writers block

• Time management issues

• Procrastination

• Aging

• Midlife issues

• Parenting issues

• Friendship issues

• Academic or school-related issues

• Free-will and volition

These issues include but are not limited to:

• Career issues

• Job loss

• Problems with coworkers

• Disability issues

• Financial issues

• Retirement

• End of life issues

• Adult children of aging parents

• Problems with family

• Family planning issues

• In-law issues

• Breakups and divorce

• Becoming a parent

• Sibling rivalry

• Finding out one is adopted

• Falling in and out of love

• Loss of a family member

• Loss of a pet

• Peer pressure

• Rejection

• Discrimination

• Religion and race-related issues

• Entertainment-related issues

• Technology-related issues

Before getting to how I will answer this question with a bit of history for context. Philosophical counseling, (also known as philosophical practice, applied ethics, philosophical therapy, or simply practical philosophy) is a mode of therapy that has been around for approximately 2,500-years with roots in the Pre-Socratic, Hellenic, Stoic, Hedonistic, and Enlightenment philosophical traditions. Towards the end of the 20th Century a movement started with the likes of Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, and Robert Nozick to make academic philosophy more accessible and practically applicable to the uninitiated. The German’s under the direction of Gerd Achenbach were the first to pioneer contemporary philosophical practice in the 1980’s. Then in the late 20th and early 21st Century philosophers of the likes of Ran Lahav, Lou Marinofff, Elliot Cohen, Vaughana Feary banded together to layout the foundations of contemporary philosophical counseling in the US and Canada. The APPA and NPCA were formed to recruit, train, and certify academically trained and qualified philosophers to administer therapy, counseling, and consulting to the public. These pioneers also conducted studies through the IRB and various institutions to demonstrate the effectiveness of philosophical practice in addressing clients problems.

The practice itself is a modality of discussion based talk therapy and counseling that starts with the assumption that the client/student is not sick, or ill. But rather, that the nature of existence gives rise to certain philosophical problems, which could be met with unpleasant sensations in the mind and body. We practitioners hold that many philosophical problems are misdiagnosed, or more putatively over-diagnosed as medical conditions, and so treated in a medical fashion that is Insufficient to the cause. Philosophical therapy targets the philosophical problem that the client is facing, and attempts to help them analyze, contextualize, and evaluate it. It is our belief and evidence shows that in many cases being given the philosophical tools to address these philosophical problems will alleviate the clients suffering.

More so, we hold that the complications of philosophical reasoning and discussion are an intrinsically valuable experience that has the capacity to help the client contemplate and achieve “The Good-Life” and thereby happiness.

That said philosophical therapy is not only for people who are suffering from philosophical problems, but also those who are simply curious about philosophical discourse and inquiry that weren’t able to explore the discipline at school or career. Perhaps you wonder whether or not morals can be justified without gods or powerful institutions, or you wonder whether or not you are truly free to do otherwise. A consultation with a philosopher can help you get clarity on these issues and develop the personal tool-kit to answer future philosophical issues on your own or with friends and loved ones.

So then, Philosophical Counseling is sometimes process driven, learning the skills necessary to live an examined, reflective, and principled life, and sometimes goal oriented, helping to treat and resolve philosophical problems through dialogue, meditation, reading, and constructive evaluation.

Book a session today and ask Counselor Cecil about how philosophical therapy can help you.

How does philosophical therapy differ from psychological and psychiatric therapy?

In a sentence philosophical therapy assumes that you are well. Our clients have problems separate from themselves that they need help resolving.

Philosophical therapy

• Non-diagnostic

• Non-medical

• Educational

• Logic-oriented

• Clarifies thinking

• Identifies and eliminates biases and fallacies

• Ultimate goal is self-knowledge and principle formation

Psychological Counseling

• Diagnostic

• Medicalized

• Affective and Behavioral

• Emotion-Oriented

• explores feelings

• identifies abnormal emotions and behaviors

• Ultimate goal is coping with abnormality

Although the distinction is not overtly obvious to the client. Yet, there is a vast difference. Psychological and psychiatric counseling is based in the premise of medicalization. That is, that the patient is ill and in need of a cure. Conversely, philosophical therapy starts with the assumption that the client has a problem, which they are capable of resolving via cognitive skills that do not require medical interventions, like medicine or hospitalization.

This means that your philosopher will focus on the abstract and concrete elements of the problem that you are facing, rather than diving into your medical and personal history, which may or may not have contributed to your problem.

Psychology and psychiatry absolutely have their respective merits and are the appropriate solution for clients whose problems are indeed medical or affective, resulting from past traumas. For instance, prolonged depression, debilitating acute anxiety, hallucinations, uncontrollable urges and the like are clearly medical, affective, or behavioral issues, but not every problem clients face fall into these categories. Using a medical solution for a non-medical problem will have effects ranging from spotty to disastrous. Here a philosopher may provide a more complete and in some cases complementary resolution.

The next distinction is that a philosopher is in no-way offering a medical service. Your counselor will help you contextualize, evaluate, and resolve problems that prevent you from leading the best possible life, as long as those barriers are not medical. On top of that, philosophical counseling will help you postulate, justify, and defend the principles that support your conception, and hopefully a more objective conception, of “the-good-life.”

Your philosophical therapist can and will disagree with and argue against your conceptions, and solutions to problems. This is because the methodology and teleology of argumentation helps clients form strong justified principles, which is ultimately the goal of practical philosophy. That said, your therapist does not have a vested interest in cloning their worldview onto their clients. On the contrary difference of opinion are celebrated in philosophical practice provided that there are justifications for the difference. Your philosophical therapist is not, and has no interest in criticizing, diagnosing, or judging you or your beliefs. To clients who are accustomed to psychological practice this may initially feel like the counselor is not affirming your worldview and beliefs. But, no principle that is worth holding fails the test of scrutiny. The goal of philosophical practice is not to change your mind, but rather, to help you understand fully what your expressions, beliefs, and thoughts actually mean. This gives you the opportunity to accept or reject these noetic elements as you see fit.

Book a session today and ask Counselor Cecil about how philosophical therapy can help you.

Does Eu:PhORIC Services accept insurance, FSA or HSA cards?

No.

While philosophical and run coaching services are covered by some insurances and are deemed acceptable expenses for some FSAs and HSAs, Eu:PhORIC services does not bill directly to any insurance provider and does not process FSA or HSA cards through our PoS. That said, we will gladly provide any documentation of the services provided so that you could process these claims on your own.

If I have a psychological, psychiatric, or medical diagnoses can I use Eu:PhORIC Services?

Yes.

Provided that you are currently under the care of an appropriate medical professional to treat the diagnoses, and that the clinician, whose care you are under, has cleared you for the activity in question, and is willing to work with a philosopher or coach to help advocate for your philosophical and physical well-being during the process of your care and recovery.

All clients are taken on a case-by-case mutually self-selected basis and Eu:PhORIC Services reserves the right to discontinue or deny providing services at any point that the therapist or coach believes that the services are no longer mutually beneficial to the client and counselor. In these cases referrals will be offered to ensure the continuity of your care.

Book a session today and ask Counselor Cecil about how philosophical therapy can help you.