Further Clarification - Scope of practice:

Philosophical counseling is not a substitute for psychiatric or psychological therapy. Philosophical counseling is intended for clients who are rational, functional, and not mentally ill, but who can benefit from philosophical assistance in resolving or managing problems associated with normal life experience. The most suitable candidates for philosophical counseling are clients whose problems are centered in:

• Issues of morality or professional ethics.
• Issues of meaning, value, or purpose.
• Issues of personal or professional fulfillment.
• Issues of underdetermined or inconsistent belief systems.
• Issues requiring any philosophical interpretation of changing circumstances.

There are many here among us who feel that the counseling they have thus far received is not helping. Their minds are sound but their thinking is clouded. The solutions to their problems are obstructed and remain so. A series of dialogs will make the client aware of their hidden biases, unspoken assumptions and conflicting values that together become a wall hiding the path to clear solutions of their internal conflict. You see, most of us lead lives that are completely unexamined. While it is of course true that our thinking is affected by our childhood experiences, it is not determined by them. Hence I repeat, if your mind is sound, you have no severe emotional problems or chemical imbalances in your brain that require medical (psychiatric) attention, you should be talking to a philosopher when an insurmountable problem arises. Solve the problem and move on.

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