Philosophical Counselling & the Unconscious


Book Description

This book addresses the topic of the unconscious from three different perspectives: philosophy, clinical psychology, and personal mental health. It is therefore relevant to a variety of individuals, such as students and philosophers studying philosophy of psychology and philosophy of mind, and students and practitioners in the field of mental health for whom the formal definition and description of the unconscious has undergone radical changes. In addition, it is informative and helpful in a practical way to individuals for whom a consideration of the unconscious has played a role in dealing with their own mental health. As the title suggests, this book is also meant as a resource for practitioners in the field of philosophical counselling. Philosophical counselling consists of a trained philosopher helping an individual deal with a personal problem or an issue that is of concern to that individual. The topic of the unconscious has been largely ignored in the philosophical counselling literature because the unconscious has been so strongly associated with psychology. But philosophical counsellors often find themselves seeing individuals who have previously undergone some form of psychotherapy. This means that not only must the philosophical counsellor be prepared to offer the client a perspective on personal problems that is removed from the psychotherapeutic medical model of distress as 'mental illness, ' but the counsellor must also be able to offer assistance free from the influence of the popular misconception that the unconscious is a controlling but ultimately incomprehensible entity buried deep within the mind. The chapters in this book are intended to help the philosophical counsellor achieve those ends.




The Unconscious


Book Description

Weaving together state-of-the-art research, theory, and clinical insights, this book provides a new understanding of the unconscious and its centrality in human functioning. The authors review heuristics, implicit memory, implicit learning, attribution theory, implicit motivation, automaticity, affective versus cognitive salience, embodied cognition, and clinical theories of unconscious functioning. They integrate this work with cognitive neuroscience views of the mind to create an empirically supported model of the unconscious. Arguing that widely used psychotherapies--including both psychodynamic and cognitive approaches--have not kept pace with current science, the book identifies promising directions for clinical practice. Winner--American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize (Theory)




Philosophical Counseling


Book Description

Annotation Critiques existing theoretical approaches and practices of philosophical counseling and presents a new model.




Freud and Philosophy of Mind, Volume 1


Book Description

This book consists of a focused and systematic analysis of Freud’s implicit argument for unconscious mental states. The author employs the unique approach of applying contemporary philosophical methods, especially Kripke-Putnam essentialism, in analyzing Freud’s argument. The book elaborates how Freud transformed the intentionality theory of his Cartesian teacher Franz Brentano into what is essentially a sophisticated modern view of the mind. Indeed, Freud redirected Brentano's analysis of consciousness as intentionality into a view of consciousness-independent intentionalism about the mental that in effect set the agenda for latter-twentieth-century philosophy of mind.




Philosophy's Role in Counseling and Psychotherapy


Book Description

In this book, Raabe argues that philosophy can effectively inform and improve conventional methods of treating mental illness. He presents clinical evidence showing that mild and so-called clinical mental illnesses can be both prevented and alleviated with philosophical talk therapy. Raabe offers concrete case examples that support his findings.




Philosophy in Philosophical Counseling


Book Description

"This book discusses the philosophical questions asked by counselees and the philosophical dilemmas faced by counselors in philosophical counseling. It illustrates the role of tacit philosophical assumptions in the creation and resolution of problems, as well as the contribution of philosophical dialogue in overcoming presuppositions"--




Issues in Philosophical Counseling


Book Description

Raabe examines some of the most perplexing problems a client may present to a counselor and how a philosopher would deal with them. He provides a detailed philosophical discussion as well as illustrative case studies of some of the most important issues encountered in any counseling practice. The first six chapters discuss philosophical counseling in general terms, while the following 15 chapters deal with specific life issues such as the differences between how men and women communicate and how this is relevant to a counseling discussion, the role of medication in therapy, the concept of normalcy, the meaning of life, the motivation behind suicide, dream interpretation, and religious beliefs. An important resource for professionals, students, and scholars involved with philosophical counseling and applied/practical philosophy.




Women in Philosophical Counseling


Book Description

With contributions from eighteen professional women counselors from twelve different countries, this book is the first to provide an overview of new-born philosophical practices from an entirely female perspective. It gives voice to women's thoughts and brings to the reader a living portrait of philosophy as a service to people and a training for those in search of a fully lived existence. As the authors draw on first-hand experience, their philosophical analyses intertwine with changes in attitudes and real-life stories, unearthing that forgotten soul of philosophical thought which our ancestors referred to as the Anima. The book provides a lively, sprightly and vivacious picture of how philosophy is used in practice, a long way from the rigidness and stereotypical severity of its traditional image. It will not fail to inspire readers to live their thoughts and think their lives.




Essays on Philosophical Counseling


Book Description

In the first book written in English on this growing field of applied philosophy, Essays on Philosophical Counseling is a collection of 14 articles by leading philosophical counselors from five countries. The book presents the reader with the major approaches to philosophical counseling, by combing theoretical discussions with a large number of case studies. Divided into three parts, Essays on Philosophical Counseling first discusses the theoretical and historical background of philosophical counseling, then deals with the relationship between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy and last, focuses on specific types of problems and predicaments and how they are addressed philosophically. Contents: Philosophical Counseling: The General Picture; A Conceptual Framework for Philosophical Counseling: Worldview Interpretation, Ran Lahav; Philosophical Counseling in Holland: History and Open Issues, Ida Jongsma; The Training of a Philosophical Counselor, Dries Bole; Philosophical Counseling: The Arts of Ecological Relationship and Interpretation, Barbara Norman; Philosophical Counceling and Psychotherapy; Philosophy, Philosophical Practice, and Psychotherapy, Gerd A. Achenbach; Philosophical Counseling as a Critical Examination of Life-Directing Conceptions, Michael Schefczyk; Some Reflections on Philosophical Counseling and Psychotherapy, Ben Mijuskovic; Meaning Crisis: Philosophical Counseling and Psychotherapy, Steven Segal; Philosophical Counseling: Some Roles of Critical Thinking, Elliot D. Cohen; Specific Topics for Counseling; Philosophy in Marriage Counseling, Anette Prins-Bakker; Philosophical Practice, Pastoral Work, and Suicide Survivors, Will A.J.F. Gerbers; The Philosopher in the Business World as a Vision Developer, Ad Hoogendijk; On the Emergence of Ethical Counseling: Considerations and Two Case Studies, Louis Marinoff; Supplement: The Legal Perspective; Legal Issues in Philosophical Counseling, Barton Bernstein and Linda Bolin.




Deleuze and the Unconscious


Book Description

By the end of the twentieth century, it had been almost forgotten that the Freudian account of the unconscious was only one of many to have emerged from the intellectual ferment of the second half of the 19th century. The philosophical roots of the concept of the unconscious in Leibniz, Kant, Schelling and Schopenhauer had also been occluded from view by the dominance of Freudianism. From his earliest work of the 1940s until his final writings of the 1990s, Gilles Deleuze stood at odds with this dominant current, rejecting Freud as sole source for ideas about the unconscious. This most 'contemporary' of French philosophers acted as custodian of all the ideas that had been rejected by the proponents of the psychoanalytic model, carefully preserving them and, when possible, injecting them with new life. In 1950s and 60s Deleuze turned to Henri Bergson's theories of memory and instinct and to Carl Jung's theory of archetypes. In Difference and Repetition (1968) he conceived of a 'differential unconscious' based on Leibnizian principles. He was also immersed from the beginning in esoteric and occult ideas about the nature of the mind. Deleuze and the Unconscious shows how these tendencies combine in Deleuze's work to engender a wholly new approach to the unconscious, for which active relations to the unconscious are just as important as the better known pathologies of neurosis and psychosis.