Stoicism and CBT: The Ancient Roots of Cognitive Therapy

Question

What is the connection between Stoicism and CBT? The question is one of the most important in the modern Stoic revival, because the answer — that the modern science of the mind descends from the ancient philosophy — gives the revival its scientific legitimacy and gives the ancient practice its contemporary relevance.

Quick Answer

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) descends directly from the Stoic therapy of the emotions. The founders of CBT — Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck — acknowledged the Stoic roots of their method. The correspondence is precise. The Stoic insight that "it is not the things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them" is the foundation of cognitive therapy: the emotions are the products of the beliefs, and the therapy is the correction of the beliefs. The Stoic discipline of assent — the examination of the impressions before the acceptance — is the ancestor of the CBT cognitive restructuring and defusion. The Stoic practice of attention (prosoche) is the ancestor of the CBT mindfulness. And the Stoic therapy of the passions is the ancestor of the CBT account of the emotions. The correspondence is so close that the modern Stoic therapist Donald Robertson has described CBT as "the Stoic philosophy, updated with the techniques of modern science."

Historical Wisdom

The historical connection is documented. Albert Ellis, the founder of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), was a lifelong reader of the Stoics, and he cited Epictetus as the primary source of his method — the REBT distinction between the activating event and the belief is the Stoic distinction between the impression and the judgment. Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive therapy, acknowledged the same root, and his account of the cognitive distortions — the catastrophic thinking, the overgeneralization, the personalization — is the modern form of the Stoic account of the false judgments. The Stoics themselves understood that their philosophy was a therapy: Epictetus taught that philosophy is the medicine of the soul, and the Discourses and the Enchiridion are the casebooks of the cognitive therapy in action.

Philosophical Perspectives

The correspondence has a precise structure. The Stoic theory of the passions — the passions as judgments — is the ancestor of the cognitive theory of the emotions: the fear is the judgment that something terrible is imminent, the anxiety is the judgment of the catastrophe, and the therapy is the examination and the correction of the judgment. The Stoic discipline of assent — the impression is not chosen, the assent is — is the ancestor of the CBT cognitive defusion: the thought is seen as the thought, not as the fact, and the distance is the beginning of the freedom.

The correspondence extends to the specific techniques. The Stoic practice of negative visualization — the premeditation of evils — is the ancestor of the CBT technique of decatastrophizing: the imagination of the worst case, which reveals that the worst case is bearable and that the catastrophe is the judgment, not the fact. The Stoic dichotomy of control is the ancestor of the CBT distinction between the cognitive and the behavioral: the effort is up to us, the outcome is not. And the Stoic practice of the daily review — the evening examination of the day — is the ancestor of the CBT daily thought record.

Lessons From Thinkers

From Ellis: "It is not the things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them" — the sentence he quoted from Epictetus as the foundation of his method. From Beck: the cognitive distortions are the modern form of the Stoic false judgments. From Epictetus: the discipline is the therapy — "keep watch on your impressions." From Marcus Aurelius: the daily practice is the record — "wipe out the impression." And from the modern Stoic therapists: the correspondence is the proof — the ancient practice is the ancestor of the modern science, and the science confirms the practice.

Practical Application

The connection has practical consequences. For the practitioner of Stoicism: the practice is not the ancient superstition but the discipline with the scientific confirmation — the correction of the judgments is the technique that the research validates. For the person in therapy: the Stoic practice can complement the CBT — the disciplines of the impressions and the acceptance are the companions of the cognitive therapy. For the reader of the ancient texts: the Discourses and the Meditations are the historical record of the method — the case studies of the cognitive therapy in action. The practice is the same in the ancient portico and the modern clinic: the examination of the judgment, the correction of the belief, and the therapy of the soul.

Quotes

Epictetus states the foundation: "It is not the things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them." Ellis quoted the sentence as the foundation of his method. And the modern summary states the unity: "CBT is the Stoic philosophy, updated with the techniques of modern science."

Related Questions

• Is Stoicism Compatible with Modern Psychology? — the wider question.
• How to Use Stoicism for Anxiety — the practice for the anxious mind.
• What Is Prosoche? — the Stoic attention that became the mindfulness.
• What Is Stoicism? — the philosophy behind the science.