Philosophical Counseling

Resumen: En el presente trabajo exponemos un resumen del desarrollo del curso «Introducción a la Filosofía Aplicada», impartido por el Dr. José Barrientos Rastrojo en Palma de Mallorca los días 15 y 16 de diciembre de 2016, así como algunas de las ideas que se generaron a lo largo de las sesiones. Posteriormente, realizamos una serie de observaciones referidas a la cuestión de la formación en Filosofía Aplicada, especialmente a la organización profesional y, sobretodo, a la deontología de la misma, basada en un compromiso con la libertad del consultante y con la verdad del discurso que se construye. Finalmente, examinaremos el aspecto educativo de la Filosofía Aplicada Experiencial precisando y caracterizando su carácter psicagógico y su dimensión moral. Palabras clave: Asesoramiento Filosófico, educación, Filosofía de la Educación, Filosofía Aplicada, Filosofía Aplicada Experiencial, formación, pedagogía, psicagogía. Abstract: On this paper we set forth a summary of the course «Introduction to Applied Philosophy», given by Dr. José Barrientos Rastrojo in Palma de Mallorca on 15 th and 16 th December 2016, introducing some ideas which appeared during its lessons. Later, we make some remarks concerning formation in Applied Philosophy, related to professional organization and, above all, professional ethics, which is grounded on the commitment to the consultant's freedom and to the truth of the constructed discourse. Finally, we examine the educative orientation of Experiential Applied Philosophy, specifying its psicagogical character and its moral dimension.

The article introduces discourse analysis as a fruitful approach to psychotherapy change-process research. Extracts are presented from a successfully resolved, client-specified, problematic theme that was selected from a successful 8-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The study offers a heuristic demonstrating (a) how resolution of the client's problem evolved from implications raised by the client's own description of her predicament and involved the therapist's legitimation of a morally defensible account of the client's actions and (b) how cultural meanings can be brought into the consulting room as intimately personal problems. The implications of studying therapeutic change as a discursive activity comprising the use and negotiation of sociocultural meanings are discussed.

In this essay, which is a summary of the main ideas in the author’s Ph.D. research (still work in progress), the author proposes a method to justify philosophical practice philosophically. Such a justification is necessary for the sake of the connection with academic philosophy and to avoid philosophical bungling. The author connects to Socrates’ skeptical and maieutic legacy, as well as to Husserl’s perceptive/experiential and Wittgenstein’s descriptive and ordinary language legacies. He explains his hypothesis that a philosopher might be aware of his epistemic premises and able to test these premises in the practice of philosophizing. He discusses his methodic and epistemic hypotheses, the latter being experiential and semantic questioning.

L’obiettivo di questo contributo è di analizzare e discutere le finalità e la portata pedagogica di alcune significative applicazioni in ambito lavorativo della cosiddetta “consulenza filosofica”, cioè a dire di quella disciplina teorico-pratica che, da trent’anni a questa parte, è impegnata nel ripensare il concetto di filosofia in stretta connessione con la nozione di educazione secondo un approccio di tipo etico-formativo.

Using social capital theory as a framework, the authors examined data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002) to examine how student contact with high school counselors about college information and other college-related variables influence students’ college application rates. In addition to some college related variables, the number of school counselors, and student contact were significant predictors of college application rates.  Implications for school counselors and counselor training are included.

This study is based on the analysis of narratives during counselling sessions of two clients facing the problem of stuttering. Though the two cases were quite different with regard to their demographic characteristics, but during counselling sessions, both the clients reported emotionally devastating and stressful home environment during childhood. Both the clients had reported undergoing childhood traumatic experiences of being abused and mistreated by their parents, especially by their father. The clients were clearly of the opinion that their father’s abusive behaviour infused in them a sense of acute fear, insecurity and mistrust regarding relationships. After initial few counselling sessions the clients narratives made it clear that their stuttering was more acute when they had to face their father.  These revelations suggested a strong relationship between traumatic childhood experiences /child abuse and stuttering. Parents are the key source of strength and confidence for a child. Parents are like the boat through which the child explores the vast ocean of life and develops his own personality. He/she looks towards his parents whenever he finds himself/herself in trouble perceived or real. But when the same source of strength and confidence becomes a source of fear or anxiety, it has a detrimental impact on not only the overall development of personality but also on the other cognitive capabilities including the fluency of speech.
The earlier studies in the field have primarily focused on the role of genetic factors in the aetiology of stuttering. On the basis of the analysis of narratives of the clients, we strongly believe that it will be misleading to lay overemphasis on genetic factors and to undermine the role of early childhood traumatic experiences in the aetiology of stuttering. Since chronic stress has been found to have a detrimental effect on various cognitive abilities, including the processing of speech and language, it has been argued that stress generated by early childhood traumatic experiences plays a key role in aetiology of stuttering. The effectiveness of CBT in significantly minimizing the problem of stuttering is indicative of the role of psychological factors.

Therapy can be confusing: two people converse in a private room, one in distress, the other described as a helpful expert. At least one of the two is likely to express thoughts and feelings usually kept secret. In other circumstances, the exchange of such intimacies may herald a more physical relationship. For therapists, however, the professional relationship explicitly precludes such contact. The BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy,1 for example, requires that practitioners must not abuse their client’s trust in order to gain sexual, emotional, financial, or any other kind of personal advantage. Sexual relations with clients are prohibited, along with sexualised behaviour.

While psychotherapists and counsellors generally acknowledge that sexual attraction is a common and often ordinary human response to another, they also recognise that acting on such feelings in therapy will quickly become problematic. The early psychoanalytic community had to confront and respond to such instances as Jung’s relationship with Sabina Spielrein.2 Rosie Alexander’s3 description of the times she sat on her therapist’s knee and felt his erection, elicits a mixture of emotions in the reader, not least shock, and the narrative is saturated with a sense of betrayal.

There have been several types of research investigating boundary breaches and sexual boundary violations.4 In spite of these, however, there is little certainty about how common sexual boundary violations are, as the sources of information about them (confession, client reporting, complaints to organisations, and knowledge of colleagues’ conduct) are all vulnerable to error. Further studies have attempted to identify characteristics of transgressing therapists and the factors that contribute to such events (see Moggi et al5 for an example), and to understand the effects on clients who have experienced therapist-client sex.6 If sexual feelings are ubiquitous and sexual attraction a real possibility in the context of the therapy relationship, how are these managed in therapy? Complaints about sexual boundary violations form a small proportion of complaints about therapists and health professionals.4, 7, 8 Is it the prospect of opprobrium from colleagues or the threat of sanctions from regulatory agencies that contains the relationship within professional boundaries? Do reported violations represent only a small proportion of actual sexual boundary violations? .......

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Il Libro Rosso viene pubblicato in un momento in cui, con la diffusione della consulenza filosofica, vengono riscoperti i legami profondi che uniscono psicologia e filosofia. In effetti, oltre che un lavoro di psicologia, il testo di Jung può essere considerato anche come un’opera filosofica. Il suo richiamo a Così parlò Zarathustra è evidente, ma a differenza di Nietzsche, che constatava la morte di Dio, il padre della psicologia analitica esprime il messaggio positivo di un rinnovamento radicale e di una riscoperta dell’anima. La via dell’anima da lui tracciata diventa l’unica risposta possibile alla crisi delle ideologie politiche e religiose. Di qui il significato profetico del Libro Rosso, che in un certo senso disturbava il suo autore ma che pure si trova annunciato già nel titolo: Liber Novus. Jung v’intraprende un itinerario di ricerca che è al contempo personalissimo ed universale, perché incentrato sulle immagini che affiorano dall’inconscio. Nel suo percorso il padre della psicologia analitica non trova tanto dei valori nuovi, quanto piuttosto trasfonde sotto una nuova luce ciò che la saggezza mitologica e religiosa aveva già scoperto sotto varie forme. L’universo immaginifico che prende vita nelle pagine del Liber Novus ha le sue radici nelle Upanishad, ne Libro dei morti tibetano, negli antichi miti nordici e in una pluralità di altre fonti che attestano la vastissima cultura del suo autore. Jung riscopre tutto questo materiale alla luce della centralità dell’individuo e del suo destino personale, e lo presenta quindi sotto una veste effettivamente nuova, rendendolo accessibile all’uomo contemporaneo e consono alle sue esigenze spirituali. A differenza dello Zarathustra di Nietzsche, quindi, il Libro Rosso è un testo di continuità con la tradizione, e non di rottura. La sua ricerca si condensa nell’affermazione “in noi è la via, la verità e la vita”, che fa eco ai versetti di Giovanni: «Gesù gli disse: “Io sono la Via, la Verità e la Vita. Nessuno può venire al Padre se non attraverso di me”» (14.6). Nell’articolo cerco di mettere a fuoco in che modo si può ritrovare in Jung l’eredità del cristianesimo e del marxismo, cioè del sistema religioso e del sistema politico che maggiormente hanno segnato la storia dell’Occidente .
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Il piacere e il dolore sono sensazioni soggettive che sperimentiamo nel corpo e nell'anima e che hanno una grandissima importanza nella nostra vita: secondo Aristotele, per avere una esistenza felice è fondamentale saper gestire con saggezza piaceri e dolori, poiché la virtù e il vizio si misurano proprio su questo.
In linea di principio il piacere in tutte le sue forme è un bene per noi, perché la tendenza al piacere e alla soddisfazione interiore è intrinseca alla nostra natura. Il piacere è un atto istantaneo e compiuto della nostra anima, che accompagna e perfeziona in modo inseparabile ogni nostro atto vitale, fisico o psichico; e quanto più l’atto vitale è perfetto, tanto più è piacevole.
Ci sono varie specie di piacere, e poiché ciascuna di esse ha un suo diverso valore etico ai fini della nostra felicità, si tratta di capire, guidati dalle virtù e in particolare dalla saggezza pratica, quali siano i piaceri da ricercare e quali invece da rifuggire.
Con ogni atto che compiamo noi perseguiamo un bene che personalmente ci ‘appare’ buono e piacevole, ma che non sempre è un piacere ‘vero’,  buono e piacevole in assoluto e secondo natura; se quel bene è realmente buono e piacevole, l'atto è virtuoso, e se invece non lo è affatto, l'atto è vizioso. Atti che mirano a beni dell'anima (come ad esempio le virtù o la contemplazione) ci danno piaceri di alto valore etico, e con essi non c'è mai la possibilità di eccedere; invece atti che mirano a beni del corpo (come il cibo o il sesso) o a beni esteriori (come ad esempio la ricchezza o il potere), pur essendo anch’essi beni assoluti e naturali, ci danno piaceri di minor valore etico ai fini della felicità, e con essi può esservi eccesso se andiamo oltre le nostre naturali necessità fisiche e psichiche. Dobbiamo perciò, agendo secondo virtù, perseguire nella giusta misura piaceri relativi a tutte le tre categorie di beni, dando però priorità ai piaceri relativi ai beni dell'anima. 
Aristotele afferma che la felicità risiede nella “attività secondo virtù”, quindi quanto più compiamo azioni virtuose perfette ed eccellenti tanto più piacere ne ricaviamo, e tanto più ci avviciniamo alla felicità; e se esse sono massimamente perfette (cioè se sono compiute per esse stesse, senza alcun altro fine ulteriore) ne ricaviamo sommo piacere. Tuttavia, anche se sommo, il piacere non è il bene supremo, il fine ultimo della nostra vita: tale fine ultimo è la felicità, di cui comunque il più elevato piacere dell'anima è uno dei componenti principali.
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This e-book is a compilation of eight essays I wrote in the years 2011-2016 in the field of philosophical practice. They all have been published in Journals of philosophy and philosophical practice, or in the proceedings of a conference (see the acknowledgment at the end of the book).
The title “Skeptical Interventions” refers to both the Socratic nature of the dialogical philosophy I practice, and the nature of these essays as critical interventions in discussions about philosophical practice.
Actually the texts are preparatory studies for the dissertation project I am currently working on.

El siguiente texto define de manera general la consultoría filosófica como una forma peculiar de práctica filosófica que se encuentra, en cuanto a su formato y el ideario actual, relacionada a las psicoterapias, lo cual genera inquietudes acerca de qué le es propio y qué la distingue de estos abordajes, ya sean éstos de orientación psicosocial o clínica. Durante el artículo enmarcaremos a la consultoría filosófica dentro del modelo de prácticas filosóficas para posteriormente definir sus elementos constitutivos según diversos autores, así como lo peculiar y lo distinto de ésta en relación de otros abordajes interpersonales no filosóficos.

The following article defines philosophical consultancy as a peculiar form of philosophical practice that is, in terms of its format and the current ideology, related to psychotherapies, which generates concerns about what is its own and what distinguishes it of these approaches, whether psychosocial or clinical. During the article, we will frame the philosophical consultancy within the model of philosophical practices to later define its constituent elements according to different authors, as well as the peculiar and the different of this in relation to other non-philosophical interpersonal approaches.

Aim: To identify therapists’ views on sexual boundaries and the strategies they employ to manage them in therapeutic practice. Method: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of 13 accredited, experienced practitioners of psychotherapy or counselling. A grounded theory approach, informed by principles from Free Association Narrative methodology, was employed, in which team members used debriefing sessions for extending depth of understanding of the interviews. Findings: There is consensus about boundaries at the extremes, but variability about fantasy, flirtation and touch. A core process was generated from accounts of successful management of sexual attraction. We identified four problematic ways of reacting to boundary pressure, each with potential to harm clients and therapy. Discussion: A participant-observer stance was conceptualised as essential for managing threats to boundaries, consistent with the empathic stance. Minor boundary crossings were viewed by interviewees as both potential precursors of more serious transgressions, and as opportunities for understanding the client's difficulties. Implications for practice: These span training, accrediting organisations, supervision and therapy practice.

This paper aims to show the connection between beginnings of Plato's dialogues and activity which can be presented as part of philosophical practice done with individuals or groups. There are certain repetitions in Plato's dialogues at the beginnings where Socrates and other characters walk together at some point or sit together to discuss the topic of the dialogue. If we were to mimic this kind of behavior in modern day philosophical practice, we can organize interesting public gatherings and activities and call it a Socratic walk. This paper will investigate how Plato's characters conducted these walking dialogues and later present a proposition on how Socratic walk can be done with individuals and groups.

It is often said today that we live in the “Age of Rage.” This article explores
the phenomenon of modern rage through an analysis of the psychic conflicts
of Dostoevsky’s “underground man,” as he tries to reconcile the newly
imported values of modernity with his own needs and desires. By interpreting
rage through the classic Greek notion of the daimonic, the author examines
how the modern attempt to rationally control and suppress rage actually
exacerbates the underground man’s destructive, cruel, and self-defeating
behavior and cuts him off from the possibility of emotional connectivity
and wholeness. He concludes by pointing to some therapeutic possibilities
within the tradition of existential psychotherapy that might have allowed the
underground man to better understand and heal himself by recognizing the
daimonic roots of his own rage.

Opgaven er en undersøgelse af, hvordan elementer fra eksistentiel pædagogik og filosofiske vejledning kan bruges i socialt arbejde med voksne udsatte.
Herunder undersøges det, hvordan inddragelsen af en eksistentiel dimension i det sociale arbejde kan benyttes til at nuancere og kvalificere socialarbejderens/pædagogens respektive menneskesyn, samt hvordan det kan bidrage til mindskelse af udsathed.

We have two ways of knowing. Our mind knows forms, things, both subtle and gross. Faces, hands, buildings, trees, math formulas, mind knows subject and the mind knows otherness. The mind knows dualities, the mind knows me and you, us and them, and this and that. Mind knows time, mind knows the past, the present and the sense of the future. The mind knows things and entities, the mind knows beings, infinite numbers of beings and things. The mind knows difference. The mind thinks conceptually, feels affectively, imagines through imagery, the mind has sense and the mind has memory. The mind knows dualistically.

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf] 
Once thought pure entertainment akin to magic acts, hypnosis is now a growing field being practiced by psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors. Across all ages—from children to adults and the elderly—patients are finding professional, therapeutic hypnosis can help them recover from mental maladies ranging from addiction to depression and psychosis, and from physical illnesses from chronic pain to obesity and skin disorders. Studies show hypnosis can even speed healing from broken bones, burns, and surgery. These unprecedented volumes, including some of the best-known experts in the field hailing from Harvard, Stanford and other top universities, cover the newest research and practice in this intriguing arena. Edited by a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, this set explains developments in hypnosis, from its colorful if misguided inception with Anton Mesmer, across clinical techniques developed for health care in the 20th century, to emerging research showing new potential applications to aide mental and physical health. Chapters also highlight what psychologists, neurologists, physicians, and scientists have discovered about how personality, cognition, and brain functions affect, and are affected by, hypnosis. An appendix explains how to tell the difference between an entertainer or charlatan and a practitioner who is trained, credentialed, and practicing research-backed hypnosis. Universities with hypnotherapy programs and courses are also included.

Timeless awareness is the essence of Dzogchen. Time experienced within timeless awareness is also an expression of the essence of Dzogchen. Dzogchen is an ancient form of Tibetan mystic humanism. Dzogchen makes the essential distinction between mind and awareness. A person can be located in mind alone and locked in time. As a person shifts from being located in mind alone (mindfulness) and goes beyond mind alone (mindfulness), one becomes aware of their own awareness. As we focus our awareness on our own innermost awareness, vast dimensions of awareness begin to open and self-reveal its nature to us. Awareness is a multidimensional experience and this awareness is infinite in its horizons. The innate qualities of awareness are spaciousness or openness or emptiness. Another quality of our awareness is luminous radiance and still another is awareness as energy. Awareness is alive and is both vast stillness and unceasing movement. The Union of Mind and Awareness When a person is able to experience the union of their mind and their awareness, then the person has a simultaneous experience of being in time and in timeless awareness. The mind is the place of thinking, feeling, sensation, memory and imagination and the mind is the mode of knowing singularity and difference in the world. This is the realm of ordinary knowingness and this is the realm of duality. Our mind is the realm of time. This time bound knowing is the knowing of you and I, us and them, this or that in time and place.

In the summer of 2013 at the Tibetan Center in Poolesville, Maryland the great Lama YangThang Rinpoche gave instruction on the practice of the great compassion, or as he described the practice, as being the practice of Absolute Compassion. The instruction was to extend the light of awareness into the world and into the cosmos. Extending the light of awareness into the present moment of a person, extending the light of awareness into the past time of the person and extending the light of awareness into the future time of the person. This truly is the great practice of the great compassion and everyone can practice this extension of the light of awareness. This very proactive praxis brings forth the light within us and fills us with the light of the field of awareness. It is great to practice this vast practice. Of course it takes a boldness of intention and passion of heart. Extending the light of our innermost awareness into the present of those we love, and into the past of those we love, and then extending the light into their future of those we love is self-liberating. The light of awareness illuminates experience, metabolizes experience, opens us into un-bound awareness, undoes fixated-ness, and brings forth luminous intensity. The light of awareness is pure potentiality. The same practice can be used with those whom we hate or dislike or whom disgust us. This practice of extending the light of awareness deepens our own experience of becoming aware of awareness. As we practice extending the light of awareness, awareness itself completely opens up for us and deepens our experience in depth and breath. In time we begin to experience the true secret of this praxis. Timeless awareness begins to be experienced by us and sustained by us. Timeless awareness is the

This paper presents insights for philosophical counseling rooted in the thought of Jiddu Krish-namurti, a modern Indian thinker. This paper does not suggest that Krishnamurti was a philosopher or philosophical counsellor, even though his words inspired many towards personal transformation. Rather, the attempt here is to suggest that a cogent approach to philosophical counseling may be rooted in the thought of Krishnamurti. To develop this proposition, this paper explicates the ideas of illusory self, images and experience from Krishnamurti's thought as these hold relevance to the practice of philosophical counseling. Krishnamurti believes that self is an illusion created of mental images that tend to become so powerful over time that they hinder our genuine engagement with people and the world. This genuine engagement with others and the world is possible only through a non-judgmental state of mind which Krishnamurti calls 'choiceless aware-ness'. This state of mind involves observation devoid of the usual psychological processes, such as, comparing, contrasting, and evaluating. The paper further elaborates on the proposition of mental images being at the core of psychological suffering. Subsequently, the paper explicates the underlying assumptions of the system of philosophical counseling based on the thought of Krishnamurti followed by a detailed discussion on the implications and practical considerations. This discussion is centered around the possibility of using philosophical counselling in deconstructing the images and discovering one's true self to give a direction to one's life. This paper ends with some concluding remarks that highlight the special relevance that Krishnamurti's ideas may hold when applied to philosophical counseling in present times.

In this essay I argue that a comprehensive understanding of addiction and its treatment should include an existential perspective. I provide a brief overview of an existential perspective of addiction and recovery, which will contextualize the remainder of the essay. I then present a case study of how the six-step philosophical practice method of Logic-Based Therapy can assist with issues that often arise in addiction treatment framed through an existential perspective.