Psychotherapy is absolutely appropriate for people who need to know themselves psychologically. A man contemplates a midlife career change. A Protestant woman whose daughter is engaged to a Jewish man and whose son is married to a Muslim woman fears potential religious conflicts. A woman is happily living with her partner, but only one of them wants children. An engineer and single father supporting four children is afraid that blowing the whistle on a design flaw in a high-pressure project could cost him his job.
People can work through their problems on their own or with a trained philosopher.
During a session with a client at work on the contemplation step, for example, Marinoff might point the person in the direction of recognized philosophers whose ideas are pertinent. In fact, he admits there are probably as many permutations as there are practitioners. Take, for example, Pierre Grimes, an APPA member whose eclectic background includes the study of the Hellenic tradition and Platonic philosophy at St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., in the '40s, work with chronic alcoholic patients in the '50s, a friendship with Alan Watts in the '60s and experiences with Zen meditation and other Eastern philosophies in the '70s. In 1972, he and students at Golden West College formed the Noetic Society to study Plato. The group continues to meet on Friday nights.