Stockholm, Sweden
Philosophical Counseling
for Spinal-Injured and MS Patients
APPA and Spinalis Foundation Pioneer PC in Clinical Medicine
Thanks to the pioneering efforts of two
Swedish physicians, Drs. Claes Hultling and Richard Levi,
philosophical counseling is being integrated into state-of-the-art
clinical rehabilitation for spinal-injured and MS patients.
The Swedish-based Spinalis Foundation
helps provide high-quality rehabilitative care for both
in-patients and out-patients of Stockholm’s “Rehabstation”
facility. As part of a three-year pilot project, Spinalis
has partnered with APPA to train rehabstation staff –
including physicians, nurses, psychologists, physical
therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers
– in theory and practice of philosophical counseling.
APPA Certification Program for
Staff at Rehabstation
The pilot project began in May 2008, with
an orientation to philosophical counseling and Socratic
dialogue led by APPA President Lou Marinoff. Rehabstation
staff then pursued a year-long series of workshops in
existential counseling led by Swedish practitioner Jan
Aronsson, as well as in-house lectures on theory by philosopher
Kyriakos Theodoritis. In May 2009, Lou Marinoff and J.
Michael Russell led a 3-day APPA Certification Program
in Stockholm, for 20 of Rehabstation’s staff.
Given high-quality medical care, people
who suffer spinal-cord injuries can be rehabilitated toward
relatively optimal functionality. Even so, they will have
to adapt to a new – and drastically different –
set of physical norms. Many of them will also benefit
from philosophical adjustments at the same time. Spinal
cord injuries do not make people “mentally ill”;
thus psychology or psychiatry may not be necessary or
even helpful for their rehabilitation. But philosophy
can help mobilize inner resources that will enhance their
quality of life, in terms of realizing its meaning, value
and purpose.
Philosophy Retreat at Landsort,
Sweden. Participants included (left to right)
Claes Hultling, Michael Russell, Valerie Russell, Richard
Levi, Yvonne Levi
Patients newly-diagnosed with MS (typically
young women in their 20s) face an uncertain prognosis.
No-one can predict the severity or mildness of their illness’s
future trajectory, and its impact on their lives. This
kind of uncertain future can certainly be addressed philosophically,
whether by existential, Stoic or Buddhist methodologies
among others.
As the APPA-Spinalis pilot project enters
its third and final year, Rehabstation staff will start
implementing philosophical counseling with patients. APPA
plans to publish a special issue of its Journal, Philosophical
Practice, devoted to reporting results of this ground-breaking
initiative. In the US, there are more than 250,000 spinal-injured
patients, and more than 400,000 diagnosed MS patients.
If PC can help such patients in Sweden, it can help that
many more in the US.
Landsort, Sweden
Philosophy is a beacon for a life of quality
Landsort, Sweden
Philosophy mobilizes inner resources for a life of beauty
http://www.spinalis.se/
