Avoiding the 'Existential Vacuum'

"While the catchphrases have evolved - "How does that make you feel?" has been replaced more recently by "Notice, don't evaluate" - the core idea remains the same. And this approach isn't a modern invention. Even as far back as the Stoics, we've recognized that a great deal of anxiety and suffering come from how we evaluate and label things."

""People are not disturbed by things," Epictetus tells us, "But by the views they take of them." Laying the groundwork for contemporary practices like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, this seminal philosophy suggests that normative judgments are not part of the solution to our problems; in many cases, they are the problem itself. But things are, of course, not nearly this simple. The DSM-V defines disorders by the degree to which they cause impairment in "social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.""

"Freud taught that "work and love are the cornerstones of our humanness." Without reference to a standard of human flourishing - at least implicitly or by contrast - psychological diagnoses, and by extension psychotherapy itself, lack a solid ground on which to operate. In some cases, perhaps in most cases, these hidden norms make no practical difference. I don't need to be convinced that panic attacks are bad before I learn breathing techniques to lessen their effects on my life."

Nonjudgmental practice dominates therapeutic norms, tracing to Stoic ideas and informing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Diagnostic systems like the DSM‑V, however, define disorders by impairment in social, occupational, or other important functioning, embedding evaluative standards. Freud's view that "work and love are the cornerstones of our humanness" further presupposes a standard of flourishing. Some symptoms can be managed with technique without normative debate, but many presenting problems demand moral and existential exploration. Therapy therefore alternates between technical repair of malfunctioning parts and reflective engagement with values about what constitutes a well‑lived human life.

Read at Psychology Today