ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how Greek philosophy employed the medical model and conceptualized itself as a psychological therapy, particularly with reference to Pythagoras and Socrates. The Hellenistic schools of Epicureanism and Stoicism increased this therapeutic dimension of philosophy and Stoicism came to be the school most associated with philosophy as a therapy. Hellenistic philosophies adopted various metaphors to conceptualize themselves. In addition to the medical metaphor, the notion that philosophy resembles a medicine for the mind, the role of effort and training in psychological exercises, in philosophical schools, was compared to athletic or military training.
