This principle, which I have inducted from many psychotherapeutic sessions with scores of patients during the last several years, was originally discovered and stated by the ancient Stoic philosophers, especially Zeno of Citium (the founder of the school), Chrysippus (his most influential disciple), Panaetius of Rhodes (who introduced Stoicism into Rome), Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The truths of Stoicism were perhaps best set forth by Epictetus, who, in the first century AD wrote in the Encheiridion: “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them”.
Ellis adds that Shakespeare “rephrased” this idea centuries later when he portrays Hamlet saying “There’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so”. (This well-known quotation may stem from Shakespeare’s own reading of the Stoics, incidentally, particularly Seneca.) Moreover, earlier in the same book, Ellis states:
Many of the principles incorporated in the theory of rational emotive psychotherapy are not new; some of them, in fact, were originally stated several thousand years ago, especially by the Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers (such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius) and by some of the ancient Taoist and Buddhist thinkers. What probably is new is the application to psychotherapy of viewpoints [such as these] that were first propounded in radically different contexts.
(ibid., p. 35)
However, as we’ll see, Ellis was mistaken with regard to this latter point. Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers did consider themselves to be applying these principles as a form of psychological therapy. From Socrates onward, a “medical model” was commonly used to interpret philosophy as analogous to a talking cure, a form of medicine for the soul. The term “therapy” (therapeia) was used by Greek philosophers to describe the use of philosophical doctrines and practices to alleviate psychological suffering. For instance, the third head of the Stoic school, Chrysippus, wrote a four volume work titled On Passions, about pathological desires and emotions, which concludes with a volume titled Therapeutics, on the Stoic therapy of the psyche. Psychotherapy, in other words, is not a modern concept. The ancient Greeks developed philosophical approaches to psychotherapy and even employed similar terminology to describe their approach.
In a later article specifically examining the relationship between REBT and Stoicism, Still and Dryden note that the saying of Epictetus quoted previously has become a “hallmark” of REBT and is “even given to clients during the early sessions, as a succinct way of capturing the starting point” (Still & Dryden, 1999, p. 146). They go on to say that although the specific therapeutic remedies found in REBT and Stoicism may differ in some respects, they both emphasize the role of responsibility, rationality, and self-disciplined observation of one’s mind as a means of modifying irrational emotions and achieving psychological well-being (ibid., p. 149).
Likewise, in his popular self-help book, A Guide to Rational Living, co-authored with Robert A. Harper, Ellis advised his lay readers of the relevance of Stoic philosophers for REBT,
History gives us several outstanding instances of people who changed themselves and helped change others by hardheaded thinking: Zeno of Citium, for example, who flourished in the third century B.C., and founded the Greek Stoic school of philosophy; the Greek philosopher Epicurus; the Phrygian Epictetus; the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius; and the Dutch Jew Baruch Spinoza. These and other outstanding rational thinkers, after reading about the teaching of still earlier thinkers (Heraclitus and Democritus among others), and after doing some deep thinking of their own, enthusiastically adopted philosophies radically different from their original beliefs. More to the point for the purposes of our present discussion, they actually began to live these philosophies and to act in accordance with them.
(Ellis & Harper, 1997, p. 5)
As we shall see, the Dutch philosopher Spinoza, though not a Stoic himself, was heavily influenced by the therapeutic concepts found in Hellenistic philosophy, particularly Stoicism.
Moreover, at the beginning of Cognitive Therapy of Depression (1979), taking their cue from Ellis, Beck and his colleagues explicitly claimed that the “philosophical origins” of their own approach also lay in the ancient Stoic tradition.
The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to the Stoic philosophers, particularly Zeno of Citium (fourth century BC), Chrysippus, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Epictetus wrote in The Encheiridion, “Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take of them”. Like Stoicism, Eastern philosophies such as Taoism and Buddhism have emphasized that human emotions are based on ideas. Control of most intense feelings may be achieved by changing one’s ideas.
(Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979, p. 8)
There are obvious similarities between these two passages from Beck and Ellis. Both happen to employ the same translation of a quote from Epictetus. They could have chosen from an enormous wealth of similar passages written by Epictetus or, indeed, the other Stoic authors, which communicate the same basic idea. Both Ellis and Beck, incidentally, make a small error in listing Cicero as a Stoic. Cicero was a follower of the Academic school of philosophy, founded by Plato. Nevertheless, he was highly educated in Greek philosophy and his surviving writings are among our most important sources for the teachings of Stoicism.
These quotations from Ellis and Beck are typical of the somewhat cursory manner in which Stoicism is acknowledged by proponents of CBT as the major philosophical precursor of their approach. Nevertheless, what seems clear is that Ellis, and subsequently Beck, attributed the philosophical bases of REBT and CBT primarily to the ancient Stoics and, to a lesser extent, to similar themes in Oriental literature. Little more can be drawn from these brief remarks except that Stoicism is very relevant to CBT and that this importance stems from the shared emphasis upon cognition (ideas, judgements, opinions, etc.) as both the cause and cure of emotional disturbance. There are, however, a handful of other references made by important figures in the field of CBT regarding ancient philosophies that may help to further illustrate the nature of the historical relationship between the two traditions.