Letters to the Editor

Plato not Prozac
BY CHRISTINA VALHOULI
(08/20/99)

As a former philosophy major, I wholeheartedly approve of the application of philosophical self-examination as a most useful tool in confronting life's disturbing questions. But as a person diagnosed with atypical bipolar disorder, stronger on the depressive side, I understand firsthand what poor relief the clarity of metaphysical thought offers to a brain in the throes of a chemical imbalance.

Marinoff dutifully distinguishes between what might be termed "the blues" and the existence of a chronic mental/emotional disorder, but the point should be underscored. The comforts that the Socratic method may bring to the mind are vastly mitigated when such illumination remains shrouded in the pall cast by neural dysfunction, and no tool necessary to the maintenance of equilibrium should be advanced at the expense of another.

-- David Seppa

Neither writer Christina Valhouli nor philosopher-therapist Lou Marinoff seem to know very much about modern-day psychotherapy. "Plato Not Prozac" describes a new movement that "uses philosophy instead of Freud as a basis for therapy." Few psychotherapists today base their practice on Freud or, as Valhouli suggests, have their clients lay on couches. (For the record, Freudians and other psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrists are probably the least likely to embrace Prozac and other psychotropic medications.)

Despite a lot of media attention on therapists zealously ferreting out real or imagined childhood traumas, for the last 20 years or so mainstream psychotherapy has increasingly emphasized personal responsibility and coping with the here-and-now rather than dwelling on the past. Improving critical thinking skills is a core component of cognitive-behavioral therapy and other common therapeutic techniques.

Valhouli reports that the "course of treatment for philosophical practice is usually short, a few sessions or a few months." Guess what? That's also the case with conventional psychotherapy, unless you have deep pockets. In the era of managed care, insurers put strong pressure on therapists to wrap up treatment in six sessions or less. Even in pre-HMO times outpatient psychotherapy was covered sparingly if at all, so the kind of endless, ruminating therapy Marinoff complains about has usually been available only to a privileged few -- the same few who can afford Marinoff's $100-per-session fees.

To be sure, there's no shortage of bad therapists and banal psychobabble in the mental health field today, and Marinoff's approach sounds interesting, perhaps even worthwhile for some individuals. But Valhouli and Marinoff do readers a disservice with their misinformed take on how psychotherapy is really practiced today.

-- Curt Wohleber
Columbia, Mo.

Notre Dame psychologist George Howard notes, "If someone is decomposing in front of your eyes, you really need a skilled clinician, not a philosopher, to deal with it." By this I suppose that he means a psychologist or psychiatrist. On the contrary, though, if the patient is "decomposing," he needs a priest, undertaker or gravedigger. Psychologists and psychiatrists can only be helpful if the patient is decompensating.

-- Rev. Francis J. (Skip) Flynn, M.M., Psy.D.

As a philosophical counselor I would like to dissociate myself from what is sold by Lou Marinoff as "therapy for the sane" or philosophical counseling. One of the basic statements of the philosophical practice movement was, and still is, that philosophical practice and counseling is not therapy. Philosophers should not play therapist if they don't have formal training as such -- see the constitutions and codes of ethics of several philosophical practice organizations.

To be sure, the majority of philosophical counselors also do not stand behind the attempted legislation of philosophical practice. Marinoff's is the only one that has as its aim to limit professional philosophical dialogue as counseling to those professionals approved by them. It would be highly regrettable and moreover plainly wrong, if the majority of philosophical counselors and practitioners would be associated in the mind of the public with the Marinoff "therapy" and legislation.

-- Shlomit Schuster

Love those chips!
BY LIZ KRIEGER
(08/16/99)

Liz Krieger needs counseling for her addictive behavior, not anti-Olestra legislation. Contrary to her assumption, I believe most people can keep themselves from eating entire bags of Doritos, especially when to do so risks serious illness. Krieger's problem is along the lines of an alcoholic who can't resist having a drink too many rather than that of an insufficiently protected consumer. Get the woman some help, and let the rest of us who can control our eating choose what we want to put into our bodies.

-- Christine Hoff

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