To be “philosophical” or “stoical” is to remain calm and able to think in the face of adversity. But how have the philosophers suggested we achieve this? And how can their deliberations be drawn on in the consulting room without therapy degrading into intellectual discussion? In this talk Richard will discuss the relation of six virtues – the cultivation of healthy pride (dignity), the development of ego strength (inner courage), amor fati (acquiescing to fate), the will to power (determination), receptivity to grace (the cultivation of gratitude), and seeing life sub specie aeternitatis (the bigger picture) – to the regulation of the anxieties met with in the consulting room.

(Follow-up discussion for attendees: Wednesday October 21st 19.30 – 20.30)

Richard Gipps is a Philosopher and Clinical Psychologist. His psychotherapy practice is in Oxford where he is also an associate of the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Philosophy. In 2019 he co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. Current projects include a philosophical book ‘On Madness’ (forthcoming, Bloomsbury) and a non-academic work on ‘Love’s Possibility: Dignity and Loneliness in Human Life’. His work focuses on the use of philosophical reason to clarify what otherwise remains obscure in psychopathological theory and psychotherapeutic practice.