This is one of the first questions that folks ask me when they learn I’m a philosophical counselor. I’ve had my own ideas about this for some time (having spent plenty of time myself in both philosophical and psychological discussions, and having written a bit about it in a deep dive into the question “What is Philosophical Counseling” some years ago). But after practicing philosophical counseling for some years, I’ve started asking my clients who have experienced both to tell me what they think the difference is. So, I’m writing some updated thoughts on the matter based on what I’ve learned from them, hoping to give curious newcomers a sense of how the experience of philosophical counseling might be different from psychotherapy.
Philosophical Counseling Is Non-Diagnostic
First of all, philosophical counselors do not diagnose mental illnesses or behavioral disorders, as (most) psychotherapists do. We focus on the philosophical dimensions of life problems, such as struggles surrounding meaning and purpose, core beliefs and values, sense of identity, alienation and injustice, freedom and authenticity. We approach these struggles not as signs of mental illness or behavioral disorder, but as the basic difficulties of the human condition that we all face.
This means that the relationship between a philosophical counselor and their client is not like that of doctor and patient, but of collaborators working through life’s biggest existential and ethical questions together. The relationship is non-hierarchical, and both parties share experiences, perspectives, lines of reasoning, and philosophical ideas with each other. The counselor poses an array of questions that helps the client and counselor to unpack the client’s life struggles together, think critically together about operating assumptions and patterns of reasoning, consider alternative perspectives, and creatively develop new insights that can enhance a life of purpose, integrity, and empowerment. Then, we deliberate about ways to put those new insights into practice.
Clients have remarked that the non-diagnostic and non-hierarchical character of philosophical counseling really makes a difference in their experience during sessions. They sense that the philosophical counselor is taking what they say seriously, as an important contribution to the discussion underway, as opposed to listening to what they say as an expression of an illness or disorder and searching to identify or confirm a diagnosis. Clients report that they can feel rather pigeon-holed when diagnosis is the focus, and they can feel as if they are being looked at as a “specimen” determined to feel and act in problematic ways due to some “cause” from childhood.
I think this means that clients can definitely sense when they are being pathologized, and it can reproduce the sorts of alienation and objectification they have felt in their lives that they are going to counseling to overcome. Clients can also sense when they are being seen as a unique, irreplaceable individual with valid experiences, interesting perspectives, powers of critical and creative thinking, and freedom of choice to change their lives. This is a humanizing experience. One client remarked, when asked what he thinks is different about philosophical counseling after having seen a string of psychotherapists: “You treat me like a human being, not a walking diagnosis.”
The non-hierarchical approach in philosophical counseling also means that the counselor tends to share much more about their own life-experiences, what they’ve learned in life, their own questions and struggles they’ve dealt with, and different ideas that have inspired and empowered them… when, of course, these things are relevant to the client’s problems. The counselor might also reveal that they’ve been affected in their own thinking by considering what the client has to say. Though sessions are focused on the client’s concerns, the relationship has more of a two-way feel about it and is closer to a philosophical friendship. One client described it as a “thought partnership.”
Having said all this, I have some caveats: First, I have personally worked with psychotherapists who did not take a pathologizing approach. In my experience, they tended to come from an existential tradition in psychotherapy and did not work with health insurance companies (so there was no external pressure to report a diagnosis or pre-defined treatment plan in order for our work to continue). Second, there are times when there is a medical issue (possibly or definitely) at play, and getting a diagnosis and treatment plan is needed. When I see a sign of that, I recommend (as any good friend or colleague would) that the client consult with their doctor.
What’s important, here, is that philosophical counselors and psychotherapists beware of falling into the old bias of seeing every life problem as best solved by their tool. (We recall the old saying, “If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It’s important to avoid that bias). Not all life problems are signs of mental illness or can be solved with psychological methods and/or medication. And not all life problems can be solved, as hard as one might try, with changes in one’s philosophical thinking and corresponding action-plans. It’s good to have more than one kind of intervention available for people. And it’s good to know the limitations of one’s own discipline. I am personally glad to have had more than one approach available in the world when I needed it.
Philosophical Counseling Focuses on Ways of Thinking
So, what do we do in philosophical counseling? What does the activity look like? In philosophical counseling, we start off by discussing the client’s life problems in such a way that we (client and counselor) can begin to identify old assumptions that have been driving their self-understanding, habits of action, and general ways of approaching the world, and then we examine those assumptions together… just like Socrates. While the client is telling their story of what they are struggling with, and the philosophical counselor is asking questions to learn more, old assumptions that orient the client’s life start to emerge from the background. These assumptions may have to do with things like what constitutes human flourishing, what you can and can’t control, what true love looks like, what constitutes good work, who you are as a unique being, what you’re capable of, what’s worth striving for, what your duties are to others, and what change, loss, and death mean in your life. Old assumptions about these things are likely to connect with cultural messages, family expectations, religious upbringing, or professional norms that a person has adopted over time… possibly without much thought.
Once we start to identify operating assumptions and foreground them in the conversation, we can question them: Are they true? Partly true? Too narrow? Too rigid? Context specific? Are they stifling you? Are they keeping you from pursuing your highest aspirations? As we critically analyze old assumptions, we can consider alternate perspectives and ways of thinking, drawing on philosophical wisdom traditions for inspiration, and we can work to clarify your own values, find your own voice, and begin to creatively articulate a worldview that can act as your guiding light in building a life that is truly your own. We can also talk through power relationships that may have curtailed your ability to live authentically in the past, and we can find practical steps toward empowerment.
A big difference that many of my clients notice between psychotherapy and philosophical counseling is that, whereas psychotherapists tend to focus quite a lot on emotional life in conversation, asking questions about how you feel, how you feel about how you feel, when those feelings began, and how you want to feel in the future, a philosophical counselor tends to focus more on questions of why you feel that way and asks questions about the ways of thinking (the assumptions, judgments, lines of reasoning, perspectives, interpretations, values) that inform those feelings, then move to questions like: what does it mean, is it true, is it good, is it fair or just? And ultimately, what do you choose going forward and why?
Philosophers do tend to focus quite a lot on ways of thinking because our assumptions, judgments, perspectives, values, etc. are so foundational in our lives and affect everything else we do — like the way we feel, act, choose, create, relate with others, and generally exist in the world. Changes in our ways of thinking – in our understanding of human life, in our worldview — can change our experiences dramatically and the very character and quality of our ways of living.
It is not that philosophers don’t care about feelings. We do. They are a central part of your individual life story and experience, and an important part of the empathetic bond that counselor and client form with each other as they grow a philosophical friendship. But ideally, if we are to live an examined life, our passions and actions will need to be guided by understanding. Too often, we feel good about things that are bad for us because we lack understanding. We might be operating on auto-pilot bad habits, we might have adopted cultural beliefs without ever questioning them, or (in more extreme cases) we might have been manipulated by others. So, we’ve got to work on our understanding first to give our passions and actions a guiding light — i.e., the north star of the truths and values that we have deliberated carefully about. This is what “the examined life” or “living deliberately” — which is the cornerstone of the philosophical life — is all about.
The Goal of Philosophical Counseling is Not Necessarily “Feeling Good”
There’s another point, here, about philosophical approaches to feeling. Philosophers tend to be skeptical that “feeling good” is the ultimate end or goal of life, or even of counseling. The ultimate goal might be something more like deeper understanding, integrity, purpose, enhanced freedom, or authenticity. Even “happiness” as an end goal cannot be reduced to “feeling good” or “pleasure” for most philosophers (though there are a couple of exceptions). For the ancient Greeks, happiness involved excellence of soul, virtue, self-mastery, and wisdom. And in plenty of wisdom traditions, feeling bad is not necessarily a bad thing, but can accompany a deeper understanding of the human condition and its tragic side. Not all truths are pleasurable to know or experience. Not all duties are particularly pleasurable to carry out. But we may need to understand those truths and do those duties if we are going to live as best as we can as human beings.
So, philosophical counselors tend to use discussions about feelings as a starting point to investigate the thoughts, values, interpretations, and judgments that inform those feelings, and broaden the conversation to include questions about truth, meaning, freedom, goodness, and justice. In this way, the emotional is situated in the cognitive, existential, ethical, and political aspects of life.
Philosophical Counseling Tends to Be Present- and Future-Oriented
This brings us to further differences between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy that clients often mention to me. Whereas psychotherapy tends to be predominantly oriented on the past, retrospectively tracing the origins of current emotions and behaviors, philosophical counseling tends to be more present and future-oriented, considering what you think and value now, what makes sense now (given your current experience, knowledge, and analysis), what you are ready to change now, what choices are available to you, what power relationships exist in your current situation, what your future aspirations are, and how you can create a life that aligns with your new understanding and highest values. So, clients notice that whereas psychotherapy tends to be rather retrospective and oriented toward the past, philosophical counseling tends to be more prospective, and focused on your life as a forward-looking, open-ended work in progress.
Philosophical Counseling Recognizes the Political Dimensions of Life Problems
Another difference clients bring up is that in philosophical counseling there tends to be a quick recognition of the social-political situation a person is in and its relationship to a person’s life problems. There is a tendency in psychotherapy to treat life problems as “personal problems”— problems of how you are reacting emotionally to things going on in your life, and solutions for how you can change yourself to better adapt to the world you’re living in. But many times, life problems are not something the individual can solve just by changing their own self-talk, feelings, breathing patterns, or mindsets. There are systemic abuses of power, injustices, and cultures of dehumanization at work that are seriously influencing their problems, which are shared by many others. Changes in the context of power in which they live are needed. As second-wave feminists famously taught us, “The personal is political.” There are times when figuring out how to manage a life problem is not about learning to adapt emotionally or behaviorally to the status quo, but analyzing the power relations at work, examining what is just and unjust, building solidarity, and figuring out how to resist, change the situation, or leave it.
Perhaps it is becoming obvious that philosophy can be a rather subversive activity that calls into question cultural norms, rather than takes what’s normal as a standard into which we need to integrate ourselves. It’s engaged in cultural critique as well as creative thinking and deliberate practical action for change. Such a subversive tendency is why Socrates was seen as a threat to the cultural-political “powers that be” of Athens. This may be one of the key elements that attracts certain people to (and deters others from) a philosophical approach to dealing with life problems.
Philosophical Counseling Draws on Philosophical Wisdom Traditions and Tools
Another difference that clients notice between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy is the sources that practitioners draw from.
Whereas psychotherapists tend to draw on the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders), studies in the social sciences that talk about normal and abnormal patterns of emotional and behavioral life and what their causes might be, and different therapeutic modalities used to treat those disorders (learned in the field of counseling psychology), philosophical counselors draw in conversation on an array of philosophical wisdom traditions (e.g., ethics, existentialism, political philosophy, feminism, ancient Greek philosophy, Buddhism, and Taoism) to help analyze experiences, question norms, open up different perspectives, and compare different worldviews and ways of life. Philosophical counselors may bring up insights from Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Sartre, Beauvoir, and more, depending on their influences.
When considering life problems, for instance, philosophers are likely to pause and ask questions about what it means to be a human being, what it means to live as a being that is a “who” not a “what,” what it means to flourish in this life, and what it means to respect and care for others. Drawing on long philosophical traditions (for instance, in ethics) can help us (clients and counselors) to think through different potential answers and supporting reasons in deep and critical ways that move the conversation beyond pop culture assumptions.
But whether or not the theories of other philosophers are explicitly discussed in a particular philosophical counseling session, the dialogue itself is a philosophical activity of critical and creative thinking together about beliefs and values and their practical application. The tools of critical and creative thinking allow us to both analyze and create worldviews that can serve as guides to a more meaningful, deliberate, and fulfilling life for the client.
Some psychotherapeutic modalities have their roots in philosophical wisdom traditions, especially cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, existential psychoanalysis, and mindfulness (which draw from philosophical traditions of logic, Stoicism, existentialism, and Buddhism), and may overlap in noticeable ways with philosophical counseling. But programs of study in philosophy and psychology cover different terrain (philosophy being in the humanities and psychology in the social sciences), even if they intersect at different points. Most clients find that philosophers and psychologists look at life problems through different lenses and use different strategies. I can see the strengths and weaknesses of both fields and, in most circumstances, think there is no harm in trying both to better understand your own life and human struggle.
Conclusion
In conclusion, clients often remark that philosophical counseling has a rather flexible feel to it and that it is an organic, non-dogmatic kind of conversation, in which pretty much anything can be called into question. I have noticed that it is the “deep thinker,” “big questions” types that are drawn to it — those that find the life of the mind to be an important part of their experience, who know the power of thinking and its effects in their life, and who want to deepen and broaden their understanding in order to live more intentional and empowered lives. Philosophical counseling aims to oblige with a humanizing experience focused on thinking together, the practical application of new insights, and creating a life that is truly one’s own.
