1st Edition
Philosophical Foundations of Psychotherapy Radical Relationality
1. Philosophical Foundations
1.1. Psychotherapy & Philosophy – The Serpent and its Tail.
1.2. The Good of Therapy.
1.3. Self as Orientation.
1.4. The Characteristics of Radical Relationality.
2. A Good Life
2.1. Introduction: On Being Philosophical.
2.2. From the Celestial to the Terrestrial.
2.3. Epicurus, Zeno, and Psychotherapy.
2.4. Stoicism and Cognitive Therapy.
3. Reason and Belief
3.1. Introduction: This is Water.
3.2. Jerusalem - Inward Lies the Road to God.
3.3. Athens - Disengaged Reason.
3.4. Secular Pastoral Care.
4. Individualism: The Atomised Self
4.1. Introduction: The Transcended Animal.
4.2. The Humane and the Humanistic.
4.3. Antihumanism: God is Dead.
4.4. Nonhumanism: A Relational Vision.
5. Freedom - Ethics and Existentialism
5.1. Introduction: Old Solutions to New Problems.
5.2. The Myth of Moral Neutrality in Therapy.
5.3. Existentialism & Choice.
5.4. Virtue & Moral Realism.
6. Meaning: A Reassuring Foundation
6.1. Introduction: The Play of Meaning.
6.2. Freedom and Autonomy – Romantic Delusions.
6.3. Structuralism and Identity.
6.4. Language and the Emergence of Meaning.
7. Stories: Fragmented Selves
7.1. Introduction: Splitting the Human Atom.
7.2. The Postmodern Condition.
7.3. The Narrative Turn in Therapy.
7.4. The Other.
8. Time
8.1. Introduction: Fidelity to Experience.
8.2. Thinking about Time.
8.3. Language & Time.
8.4. Intersubjective Time.
9. Being with Others
9.1. Introduction: Vital Beings.
9.2. The Verity of Intuition.
9.3. Experience as Field.
9.4. Empathy, Sympathy, & Intersubjectivity.
9.5. Implications for Therapeutic Practice.
Epilogue
Biography
James Costello, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England, UK. He is an Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and Senior Accredited Supervisor specializing in Groups. His experience as a therapist comes from over 20 years’ practice and consultancy across the private, third, and public sectors. He supervises psychotherapy training and has research interests more broadly in phenomenology and consciousness.
