Greek philosophy and psychotherapy

K.G. KATAKIS J.N. NESTOROS

Abstract
Socrates is generally considered to be the father of psychotherapy and optimism is widely considered to be the most characteristic aspect of the ((Greek way)) of thinking in both the ancient and modern times. Every aspect of life has been carefully considered by Greek philosophers and many alternative points of view, covering every possible individual human need, were offered. Modem Greek writers and poets (Kazantzakis, Kavafis, Seferis, etc.) have also made significant contributions to Greek philosophy. Most theories and techniques of psychotherapy have either borrowed from Greek philosophical thought or can be greatly improved by its great contributions. Unfortunately many books were destroyed by the burning down of the library of Alexandria. However, Greek philosophy is still alive in the thoughts of modem Greeks. No other nation derives from its history so much power, lessons and pride, as the Greek. Yet no other nation has so few means, so limited resources to know its everlasting and eventful past (History of the Greek Nation, Christopoulos G., ed., p.4 Vol. 1, 1971).

The continuity of Greek civilization

When like legendary Prometheus Archanthropus of Petralona, about 700.000 years ago (pleistokainon - ancient paleolithical era), lighted the first documented fire in human history at Petralona cave, Chalkidiki, Macedonia (Papastefanou et al., 1986), a civilization started in this Greek land, that is quite unique both in terms of form and continuity. Many factors probably contributed to the early development of civilization in this part of the world, including: a) the ideal moderate climate that favors survival, b) the rich flora and fauna, c) the geographical advantage of the area being the crossroad between east and west, north and south, even in our days, and d) the diverse morphology of the ground in endless combinations of mountains, valleys and seas, making every different part of Greece to have its unique character. These factors probably contributed to the ample evidence of organized agriculture, commerce, navigation, etc., in this part of the world, including the oldest available evidence of written language (a form of linear A) discovered on a tablet found at Dyspelion, Castoria by Chourmouziadis in 1995. This tablet is dated to be at least 7000 years old (Tziropoulou Efstathiou, 1998). All these have led to the hypothesis that Greek civilization was not created only from the socalled Indo-European races (Bengtson, 1979), but resulted from the integration of the civilization which those races brought with them with the civilization which already existed from the aboriginal Greeks of the era of copper. The well-documented anthropological evidence of Poulianos (1971) that the Cretans have not changed anthropologically for the past 6.000 years (that is, from the middle of the era of copper, to date), in spite of the descend of the IndoEuropean races to this island, supports this notion. Nevertheless, for at least the past 9.000 years in this part of the world the same culture has been continuously evolving and developing. Even during the roughly 400 years of Turkish occupation, Greek language and culture remained in strong existence.

Greek Philosophy and Psychotherapy

The widespread impression that psychotherapy is almost one century old resting on the cornerstone of Freudian psychology should be re-examined in the light of the Ancient Greek literature, even before the Classical Age of fifth century BC. Evidence of psychotherapy is
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also found in the literature of other ancient civilizations (for example see Veith, 1975, for the traditional psychological foundations of the ancient civilizations of the far east; Venkoba Rao, 1975, for the Indus valley civilizations; Leon & Rosselli, 1975 for the aboriginal psychological beliefs and practices in Latin America before the conquest; and Margetts, 1975 for the mental mechanisms of Indian and Eskimo Canadian aborigines, to mention just a few). Notwithstanding, the contributions of other civilizations, it is clear from the World History of Psychiatry (for example see the compilation of papers covering almost all nations edited by Howells, 1975) that the contribution of the ancient Greeks is by far the most significant. The lost discoveries of the ancient Greeks have led to the statement that modem psychology has reinvented the wheel many times (Nestoros & Vallianatou, 1990/1996, p.38). Psychotherapy today is not only a way to reduce the discomforts and suffering of life, but also a way to improve its quality (Wolberg, 1988). In Epicurean terminology, the goal of psychotherapy is the attainment of the enjoyment of life (Hawkins & Nestoros, 1997). In this sense the healthier one is from the psychological point of view, the more one can benefit from psychotherapy. Jacqueline de Romilly (1992, p.13), in her book devoted to the development of psychology in the ancient Greek letters, supports the idea that the Odyssey of Homer is the oldest text of Psychology, the first text in which there is a separation of the soul as a different and distinct entity. The Pythagorean Philosopher Alkmeon from Kroton is generally recognized as the father of both Psychology and Physiology. He first spoke about experimental research, the role of the brain as the central instrument of life, and the difference between sense and cognition, which he considered to be an exclusive characteristic of Man. He separated cognition in three parts: memory, representation and knowledge (Tseller-Nestle, 1941/1994). Socrates is considered to be the father of Psychotherapy (Chessick, 1987). He was the first to apply the obstetrical method, that is the method that leads the interlocutor to logical conclusions in order to solve his problems. Probably this approach is one of the best that psychotherapy has to offer, because the very process convinces patients that they have within themselves the ability to find the solution to their problems (Nestoros & Vallianatou, 1990/1996). While at the time of Socrates, ((psychotherapy)) was a matter concerning a minority of free citizens, it later became very popular involving large segments of the population (probably larger than the percentage of people in psychotherapy in Western World today) for seven centuries between the third Century BC and the fourth AD. In this long time period, two schools of philosophy which were clearly psychotherapeutic became predominant, the Epicurean School and the School of Stoicism, founded by the Cypriot Zenon of Kition (336-263 BC) (ZellerNestle, 1941/1994; also Chessick, 1987). The first promised absence of anxiety or any other disturbance and the second cultivated indifference and detachment to external pleasant or unpleasant events. In other words, both promised relief from anxiety provoked by the troubles of those times, (Chessic, 1987). These basic principles of psychotherapy are applicable even today. Various Classical tragedies and comedies are full of interactions with psychotherapeutic significance. In one scene of the Bacchae, when towards the end of the play, Agave is still holding her sons (Pentheus) bloody head, she is brought back to sanity by her old father in a masterful psychotherapeutic way. In this scene Agave is gradually made to acknowledge her monstrous act and to realize that she must learn to live with it (Milns, 1986). According to Devereux (1970) as cited by Milns (1986) Euripides observed and described accurately and probably understood intuitively, not only psychological illness, but also the psychotherapeutic process and (this) psychotherapeutic scene of Bacchae is clinically flawless and persuasive; it will bear comparison with any modem summary of a psychotherapy session written by a professional clinician (Devereux, 1970). Three basic theoretical schools of thought have inspired modem Psychiatry and Psychology: a) The Psychoanalytical approach of Freud and his followers with emphasis on the unconscious, b) Behaviorism stressing learning with primary representatives Pavlov, Watson (Conditional Learning), Skinner (Reinforced Learning), Bandura (Social Learning or Pattern Imitation) and Ellis (Cognitive Behaviorism); and c) the Existential/Humanistic model having as its cornerstone
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the freedom of will and with several representatives including Rogers (non-directional clientcentred approach), FrankI (logotherapy) and others. To the above we can add the Biological model and the Systemic approach. The base of psychoanalytic theory is the eternal conflict between the two basic drives: love and death (Jones, 1957; Laplanche, 1986). This theory was developed towards the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Darwinian and Freudian theories were in reign (Nestoros & Vallianatou, 1996). But the first who proposed the existence of these principles (calling them philotis and neikos) was the Presocratean philosopher Empedocles from Acragas (Zeller - Nestle, 1941/1994). The same philosopher was the first to study the development of the species and the two basic drives of love and hate which are in a continuous rotation. Moreover, Freud was inspired the Oedipus complex (Laplanche, 1986), from the tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (Dawe, 1991; Politis, 1969). The conflict between the rational and irrational part of the psyche was widely accepted in the ancient Greek world. In more recent times, the Byzantine scholars attempted to monitor this conflict by interposing the Christian Virtue (Tomadakis, 1993). But even in the Modem Greek thinking we have the admission of the conflict between love and death. An example is the lyrics of Palamas in the Dodekalogus: Because the deep world, originates always from a fight, like that of the fiddlestick on the string. The above is similar to the teachings of Heraclitus (war is the father of everything, etc.) (Dedes, 1970, p.65-66). As for behaviorism, there was a great emphasis on learning in all stages of Greek civilization. Firstly, we have the great educational value of the Greek myths and the Homeric epics. Then, there is Platos dictum that education is therapeutic for the soul and many other similar positions. Thirdly, many proverbs which survive to our days are brief statements that include the learning theories: a) repetition is the mother of all knowledge for classical conditional learning of Pavlov (1960, 1979) and Watson (1920, 1940); b) The one who got burned by the soup, blows even the cold yogurt for the theory of reinforcement by Skinner (1938, 1953, 1969); and c) The behavior of the student is determined by the behavior of his teacher for the imitation of patterns and social learning (Bandura, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1986). As for the freedom of will which is so basic to the existential/humanistic approach, like the theory of Rogers (1942, 1951, 1963), every period of Greek civilization is full of examples of the celebration of the freedom of human spirit. In the Iliad Achilles prefers, out of his own free will, honorary death, even though as he clearly states in the Odyssey he believes that the last living peasant is more fortunate than the king of the dead. The philosopher Epicurus contributed with a theory which attempted to relieve people from the fear of death and gods, without losing the respect towards the gods (Tseller - Nestle, 1941/1994). Socrates decides to drink the executioners poison and die, instead of denying his ideas for which he was condemned. In Byzantine times the hero Digenis Acritas is presented to fight with Death almost as equal to equal. The Turkish occupation is full of innumerous revolutions with some areas of Greece remaining free for the entire four hundred years period. In the Modem Greek state, the National Anthem by Dionysios Solomos, is a Salute to Freedom (Tomadakis, p. 65). As for the systems theory, according to Papadopoulos, 1993, p. 237 its basic principles were discussed by Aristotle, who was also the first to report the rule that the whole is something more from the sum of its parts (this also being the basic principle of the theory of Gestalt).

Greek philosophy and psychotherapy integration

Current psychotherapeutic thought is characterized by the so called integration movement, which started in the 1970s and gained momentum in the 1980s, with at least two international associations, two journals, three major textbooks and numerous articles, chapters and books devoted to this subject (Castonguay & Goldfried, 1994; Hawkins & Nestoros, 1997). The integration movement attempts to unite diverse models and techniques beyond the dogmas and boundaries of traditional single-school orientations. This integrative approach is generally considered to be the evolution of the eclectic approach. The concepts of eclecticism and
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integration have both their origins in Greek thought. According to Diogenes Laertius (see page 36 of Forward, Books 1-2), there was an eclectic school of philosophy introduced by Potamon of Alexandria. Moreover, according to the more extensive quotations in the History of Greek Philosophy by Zeller & Nestle (1941/1994, pp. 314-338) during the same Hellenistic period in the Greek and Roman world the "eclectic" approach flourished (characterizing the Middle Stoa; the Academic School of the last Century BC; to a lesser degree some Peripatetic philosophers; in a striking way the contemporary Roman philosophers: Cicero, Terentius Varro, Sextius, etc.; as well as the contemporary Judaeo-Hellenic philosophers, such as Philon of Alexandria). All of the above are epitomized in Platos famous dictum that science is the best integration of all possible integrations (Platos Sophistis 263D; see Jowett, 1964).

Discussion
The vast majority of ancient Greek writings has perished, especially after the burning down of the library of Alexandria (see Camfora, 1986) and the many other destruction suffered by Greece. For example, Epicurus was a prolific writer, but since most of his work is lost, only some fragments of his teaching are known through his Roman student Lucretius (Chessick, 1987). With respect to the stoics, the most important philosopher of the late classical period was Epictetus (A.D. 50-138). No writings of Epictetus have survived, although the ((Lecture Notes)) of his pupil Arrian, the famous Enchiridion, were routinely employed by a Swiss director of a Psychiatric Hospital as reading material for his patients to combat their neuroses (see Coplestone, 1962; Chessick, 1987). There are also available to us today the Meditations of Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius and the few other writings of the stoics, which provide us with a very small and meager sample of the glory that once was Greece. For example, it is known that another Cypriot, Chryssippos of Soloi, often addressed as the second founder of Stoicism, wrote more than 700 books, without a single one of them being available today (Chessick, 1987). It is of interest that in ancient Greece, psychological problems were treated in an integrative way by a combination of many different approaches, extending from psychotherapy (by dialectic reasoning and magico religious rituals) to somatic therapies, e.g. balanced diet, medications, such as black hellebore, massage, exercise, hot and cold baths and so on (Ducey & Simon, 1975; Milnes, 1986; Mora, 1975). Among these, a most frequent form of therapy for psychological disturbances was the ritualistic sleeping in the temple (enkoimisis) (Chessick, 1987; Milns, 1986), which was probably a form of clinical hypnosis (Aravantinos, 1907; Kouretas, 1960; Nestoros et al., 1998). Moreover, the ancient Greek version of music and dance therapy was frequently employed, using the flute and the kettledrum as in the corybantic rituals celebrating the Phrygian deity of Cybele (see Dodds, 1951 and Milns, 1986, who recites Platos Laws). This corybantic rituals are also believed to involve a form of catharsis (Milns, 1986). An appropriate musical mode was chosen for every particular illness. Flute music of the soft Phrygian mode was considered useful for people who were depressed and that of the graver Dorian mode was considered therapeutic to those suffering from abnormal elation of mood (Milns, 1986). Finally, treatment was often provided at the patients home and the patients attended mental institutions to receive treatments of relative short duration (Ducey & Simon, 1975; Milnes, 1986; Mora, 1975). These two findings allow us to conclude that the ancient Greeks believed that mental illness was curable. That is the reason why they kept the patients in their homes and why they fought the illness using a variety of methods (Hawkins & Nestoros, 1997). Needless to say, that in the ancient Greek world there was complete harmony and integration between medicine, philosophy and religion (Nestoros et al., 1998). Considering the concept of Hamilton (1973) that optimism is the main characteristic of the Greek way of thinking, the mark of the Greek spirit which distinguish it from all that has gone before, it follows that the rejection of the belief that mental illness is incurable becomes its greatest achievement in terms of the therapeutic process (see also Chessick, 1987, p.68).

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