ABSTRACT

Therapy & the Counter-tradition: The Edge of Philosophy brings together leading exponents of contemporary psychotherapy, philosophers and writers, to explore how philosophical ideas may inform therapy work. Each author discusses a particular philosopher who has influenced their life and therapeutic practice, while questioning how counselling and psychotherapy can address human ‘wholeness’, despite the ascendancy of rationality, regulation and diagnosis. It also seeks to acknowledge the distinct lack of philosophical input and education in counselling and psychotherapy training.

The chapters are rooted in the Counter-Tradition, whose diverse manifestations include humanism, skepticism, fideism, as well as the opening of philosophy and psychology to poetry and the arts. This collection of thought-provoking essays will help open the discussion within the psychological therapies, by providing therapists with critical philosophical references, which will help broaden their knowledge and the scope of their practice.

Therapy & the Counter-tradition: The Edge of Philosophy will be of interest to mental health professionals, practitioners, counselling and psychotherapy trainees and trainers, and academics tutoring or studying psychology. It will also appeal to those interested in psychology, meditation, personal development and philosophy.

part I|58 pages

The threshold experience

chapter 1|14 pages

Changelings

The self in Nietzsche's psychology

chapter 3|11 pages

John Keats and Negative Capability

The psychotherapist's X-factor?

chapter 5|7 pages

Tears of Joy

Pascal's ‘Night of Fire’

part II|40 pages

Ethics and politics

chapter 6|9 pages

Who Am I? You Tell Me

Desire and Judith Butler

chapter 7|14 pages

The Liberation Psychologist

A tribute to Jean-Paul Sartre

chapter 9|7 pages

A Metaphysical Rebellion

Camus and psychotherapy

part III|40 pages

Self, other, world

chapter 10|10 pages

Desire-Delirium

On Deleuze and therapy

chapter 11|12 pages

A Poetry of Human Relations

Merleau-Ponty and psychotherapy

chapter 12|8 pages

This Culture of Me

On singularity, secrecy and ethics

part IV|46 pages

Therapy, language, metaphysics

chapter 14|9 pages

Under Arrest

Wittgenstein and perspicuity

chapter 16|10 pages

Lifting the Curse

Wittgenstein, Buddhism and psychotherapy

chapter 17|12 pages

Amor Fati

Suffering to become the person one is