Fed up with Freud? Give Philosophy a Try

By Mary Johnson

The woman came to Lou Marinoff with a dilemma. She was in her early 30s and had a lucrative career in finance, but her dream had always been to go to medical school. She had to decide whether becoming a doctor was worth disrupting a well-established life.

Marinoff, a pillar in a growing area known as philosophical counseling, suggested that the woman consult the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text that uses a system of coins and hexagrams to offer answers to life’s puzzles. The book helped her determine that life as a doctor would be worth the trouble. So she quit finance and embarked on a career in medicine.

That woman did not have psychological problems, Marinoff said. “To begin with, our clients are functional and rational,” he said. Philosophical counseling, he continued, is “therapy for the sane,” when the sane need a little help with day-to-day life.

While the theories of Sigmund Freud have dominated the mental health arena for the past century, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates are gaining in popularity among those burned out on psychoanalysis or put off by its stigma. The expanding client base includes ordinary people as well as high-powered businessmen, doctors and lawyers.

Lou Marinoff takes time in between classes at the The City College of New York. Marinoff wrote "Plato, Not Prozac!", which aims to teach people how to use philosophy in their daily lives. (Photo by Mary Johnson/CNS)

Marinoff, 58, the chair of the philosophy department at The City College of New York, wrote the seminal work on the subject in 1999. “Plato, Not Prozac!” has gone on to be translated into 27 languages and has sold almost 1 million copies worldwide. The same year his book was released, Marinoff and several colleagues established the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, which offers voluntary certification programs and now claims to have more than 300 certified philosophical counselors in 32 states and 17 countries. That number doesn’t come close to the 110,000 licensed professional counselors in the United States alone, but adherents contend that growth has been steady.

Philosophical counselors are generally academics who see a practical application for the thoughts of Friedrich Neitzsche or Immanuel Kant. These practitioners can’t prescribe medication, and they shun open-ended therapy that dredges up the past, in favor of short-term goals that focus on the present and future. “We’re not excavating,” Marinoff said. “It’s got less to do with childhood and more to do with how you see the world now.”

Another important distinction lies in semantics: Practitioners don’t like the word “patients.”

“Clients!” admonishes Lauren Tillinghast, when a visitor drops the p word. The preference goes beyond the personal; philosophical counselors aren’t recognized in any state as mental health professionals.

Lauren Tillinghast, 41, launched her own practice in 2006 and says she now sees about 15 clients a week. Most are women in their 20s and 30s seeking greater assertiveness and self-confidence, for whom Tillinghast espouses “thinking well.” She analyzes beliefs and actions, and helps to solidify moral values. She supplements her philosophical probing with the words of 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas or early 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Christine, a client who requested to be identified by first name only, is particularly fond of one quote by Geoffrey Warnock, the late British philosopher, who said: “To be clear-headed rather than confused; lucid rather than obscure; rational rather than otherwise; and to be neither more, nor less, sure of things than is justifiable by argument or evidence. That is worth trying for.”

A bad breakup had driven Christine, a 46-year-old golf professional, into traditional therapy. But after four months, she grew tired of “going and telling the same God-awful story and having them stare at me and tell me it’s OK.”

So Christine tried Tillinghast and has since radically changed how she approaches romance. Now she analyzes why she likes someone and whether that person is good for her. “It’s been such fun thinking about morals and values, and I realized they were all over the map, and they were never really defined,” Christine said. “She’s good at opening the mind.”

Sometimes, however, philosophical dilemmas are more complex than a relationship gone sour, says Samuel Zinaich, a philosophy professor at Purdue University Calumet about 30 miles outside Chicago. Zinaich offers philosophical counseling to inmates at the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Ill., where he employs Aristotle’s practical syllogisms to help prisoners make decisions that will enhance self-control or self-worth. “It’s been quite an eye-opening experience,” said Zinaich, who claims that several clients have made significant progress.

Across the Atlantic, Dr. Richard Levi, a physician and the chair of rehabilitation medicine at Umeå University in Sweden, has been using philosophical counseling for patients with spinal cord injuries. To help them cope with the emotional distress of physical devastation, Levi and his team offer individual counseling and a philosophical “cafe,” which allows for group discussions on topics such as what freedom or health means for the wheelchair-bound. “We know that life is not like Disneyland. Now what can you do with this insight?” Levi asked. “It’s not psychological. It’s not psychiatric. It’s a fact of life.”

However, not everyone shares his enthusiasm. David Kaplan, the chief professional officer of the American Counseling Association, warned that anyone who fails to meet the group’s exigent accreditation requirements cannot claim the title of counselor. Kaplan added that state certification, currently elusive across the nation for the philosophical set, is a lofty goal. “There are dozens of groups that want official recognition from the state,” he explained, adding that the process can take up to 20 years to receive a first state license and then 40 more years to gain recognition in all states. The American Art Therapy Association, for example, has been trying to get a license for decades, with no luck.

Plus, Kaplan added, many counselors who have received the accreditation of his group already employ philosophy in their work. “How is what they’re doing different?” Kaplan asked.

But Libby, another of Tillinghast’s clients, argues otherwise. “I probably would have been better off talking to the walls than to the psychologist,” she recalled of her experience in traditional therapy.

In contrast, 10 months with Tillinghast have helped her conquer issues related to sexuality, self-confidence and anger. “She works with me to help me to learn and look at things in a new way,” Libby said.