Stoic defusing
4. Stoic practices to reduce unproductive negative rumination
We have in previous blogs in this series examined the Stoic conception of philosophy. We’ve also charted five core theoretical ideas which should give counsellors a more rounded view of the philosophy than in the pop versions.
Stoicism, we’ve seen, doesn’t just do “defence”. It is an affirmative philosophy of how to life a fulfilled life, with a “smooth flow”. At its basis is a Socratic call to self-examination, and basing one’s actions on our core beliefs, despite the distractions and challenges of life.
It remains to see what immediately useful tools Stoicism can provide counsellors today. We saw how Stoicism underlay CBT, to some extent; the founders of CBT like Albert Ellis explicitly drew upon it. But today, it is worth considering whether Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) is as good or better fit for Stoic insights and exercises.
Just as CBT involves the behavioral (B) component, certainly, so Stoicism involves what Hadot called “spiritual exercises” to change, by rehabituation, adherents’ beliefs, actions, and impulses (Hadot, 1995, pp. 88–125; egs Sellars, 2009; Sharpe, 2018).
Although there are many more of these exercises, we’ll in this series over coming days and weeks showcase five: