Long thought to be one of the least practical of all academic disciplines, philosophy is finally starting to gain public recognition—as something that serves a legitimate purpose! Inspired by an ancient tradition dating back to Socrates, a small group of Canadian, American and European philosophers have made reason and logic the centrepiece of a new approach to psychological healing.

Mysteriously unable to inspire herself to paint, Julie, a computer programmer by day and an artist by night, walked into the office of philosopher Petra von Morstein. Like so many of us, she was looking for a solution. And like a growing number of people in the United States, Germany, Britain and France, she decided to enlist the help of a philosopher in guiding her through her troubles.

Having retired from her position at the University of Calgary's philosophy department, Petra von Morstein is now the first therapeutic philosopher working in Canada. For $60 an hour she'll help you work through relationship, family or existential problems.

While therapeutic philosophy might, at first glance, seem like nothing more than an easy way of separating people from their money, Louis Marinoff, the president of the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy, will tell you that it's the modern day incarnation of a perfectly legitimate, time-honored healing method.

"Socrates used to discuss peoples' problems in the town square in Athens in 400 B.C," he reminds us. "And it's worth adding that peoples' 'bugs' haven't changed much through the centuries either. Since the writings of Seneca, Plato and Kant contain infinite reserves of wisdom, why not draw on them for some answers?"

"Thanks to philosophical tools," explains Petra von Morstein, "we help clients to deepen their self-knowledge, to solve their internal dilemmas and to strengthen their ability to help themselves." Whether treating a lack of motivation, a bout of depression, or feelings of anxiety and loneliness, the philosophical approach, von Morstein claims, can be of tremendous benefit.

The twilight of idols

According to both von Morstein and Peter Match, a philosophy professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax, philosophy is experiencing something of a re-birth. In order to illustrate his point, Match tells us that he's started hosting an informal philosophical discussion group at a local shopping mall. Similarly, von Morstein has founded Epeiron, a discussion group of her own that brings together people from diverse backgrounds (artists, public servants, homemakers, etc.) united by their common interest in philosophy.

In spite of the rapidly growing interest in philosophical therapy, psychologists have been slow to recognize the legitimacy of this "new" discipline. According to Louis Marinoff, this is at least partially because "philosophy encompasses psychology" while "psychology doesn't include philosophy. In the 1940s and '50s," he continues, "this was in fact one discipline. But the contrary has never been true: philosophy has never been recognized as a part of psychology. Psychologists work with rigid model of thought," Marinoff argues. "If your problem doesn't fit within these models, they cannot help you. Philosophers don't have any models. Each person is a new case."

Adding to Marinoff's criticism of the psychological method, Petra von Morstein goes even further. "In psychology," she reasons, "a dilemma is seen as the clinical symptom of pathology. The person struggling with a dilemma therefore ends up considering himself to be sick, thus becoming passive and putting himself in the hands of the therapist. He loses any sense of self-determination and isn't able to solve his own problems."

Discourse on method

When it comes to philosophical therapy, there isn't one dominant, universally recognized method that must be followed. During the developmental stages of this discipline each therapist takes his own approach. Confronted with a patient who was grappling with the loss of a loved one, for example, Marinoff thought it would be helpful to relay a bit of wisdom passed down through the Buddha.

"There was a woman who had just lost her baby and she was inconsolable," he says. "Buddha told her, 'Go to each family in the village and ask everyone who's lost somebody to give you a mustard seed.' When the woman came back, she had gathered as many mustard seeds as there were houses in the village. She understood that everyone shared her problem. It didn't eliminate her pain, but she realized that losing a loved one is part of human life."

While the field philosophical therapy is still without a great deal of formal organization (and without much governmental recognition), this is slowly starting to change. In order to be recognized as a fellow by the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy, for example, a Ph.D in the field s required.

If Louis Marinoff has his way, philosophical counseling will soon be recognized by the public, the government, and the insurance companies as a legitimate discipline. This way, he adds, "our services would be covered by private insurance."

While philosophical therapy is still very far from being recognized as legitimate (at least in the eyes of mental health professionals) it is gaining popularity as the treatment of choice for large numbers of people.

According to Marinoff, this is due—at least partially—to the spiritual void at the centre of Western culture. "It's the decline of Western culture," he argues, "the spiritual failure that's at the heart of our popularity. In the old days, religion used to provide all the answers. Now, fundamentalism, which demands that people stop thinking, is coming back to the surface."

Given the choice between blindly following a fundamentalist creed and sorting through problems for themselves, many people are restoring their faith—and their mental health—through philosophy.

For more information

Essays on Philosophical Counseling, edited by Ran Lahav and Maria Tillmanns