Enhancing individual resilience through philosophical consultations

Abstract

Resilience is one of the most traditional attributes to mental health that are used both for diagnosis and for the evaluation of success of psychotherapy. In addition, resilience is a traditional measure of personal maturity, where the person’s ability to withstand stress, frustration or less are seen as critical markers of one’s personal maturity. However, in psychotherapy resilience is often seen in a narrow context, without paying sufficient attention to the social and group dynamics that both give rise to resilience and influence it. This paper is about resilience as a valuable concept in steering and controlling the effectiveness of philosophical consultancy on various levels, including individual, group and broader social and policy issues with which philosophical consultancy also ought to concern itself.