Stoicism as a model of psychotherapy

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Issue Date
2020-04
Authors
Mukesh, Aditi
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the philosophical origins of modern day psychotherapeutic practice, specifically the Hellenistic philosophy of Stoicism. Philosophical counselling engages the client in existential discussions and empowers the client to form their own opinions. The Stoic doctrines address many of the issues that frequently come up in therapy. This thesis examines the topics of death, responsibility, meaning and purpose, anger, and resilience. Each topic is explored through comparison of perspectives from Stoicism and contemporary models of therapy. This thesis examines Stoicism's contribution to major mainstream models of therapy including existential therapy, logotherapy, CBT, and REBT. This paper argues that Stoicism can be useful as a stand alone model of therapy, and future research is needed in order to develop its use in therapeutic practice.
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Keywords
stoicism , stoic , Hellenistic , philosophy , existential , psychotherapeutic practice
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess
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