This paper presents a dialogue between a psychotherapist whom we will call Lilly, and Ross Channing Reed, Ph.D., a philosopher and philosophical counselor. Lilly begins by asking Ross a series of questions regarding philosophical counseling and his approach to working with her. Ross discusses his philosophy and approach to philosophical counseling, what it is like to provide counseling for a therapist, and the educational nature of philosophical counseling. Topics addressed include the nature of unarticulated trauma, the repetition compulsion, moral evil, (...) the narrative construction of a human life, the potentially debilitating effects of moralizing about feelings, the importance of humor, spirituality and philosophy, embodiment, the arts, and Alice Miller’s concept of the “Enlightened Witness.” Next, Ross asks Lilly a series of questions relating to her personal and professional journey prior to and during philosophical counseling. Lilly reveals that she spent significant time in therapy with a psychologist prior to philosophical counseling. She discusses why she sought counseling from a philosopher, how philosophical counseling has been beneficial in her personal and professional lives, and how philosophical counseling has been different from other forms of counseling. (shrink)

As a philosophical counselor, I encounter many individuals who live with an almost inexpressible grief, hopelessness, and despair. This paper argues that two macro-causes of these affects are philosophical and structural. This paper sets up a distinction between (1) biotic, ontological, rational value, and (2) abiotic, hyperreal, nihilistic value. Abiotic “value” now constitutes the hemorrhagic nihilism of our time. Kant, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, and Kierkegaard will be utilized to construct the philosophical argument tracing the movement from the biotic to the abiotic. (...) This is the first valence of trauma, the cognitive/imaginative valence. Ruin porn, environmental grief, and structurally induced precarity will be utilized to provide historical evidence for the movement from the biotic to the abiotic. This is the second valence of trauma, the somatic-structural valence. The paper concludes that the double valence of hemorrhagic nihilism is, in essence, traumatic. Consequently, addiction to hyperreality has become the pandemic of our time. (shrink)