Socratic Methods of Psychology

By Claus von Bohlen und Halbach, Winter 2009

Socrates is sitting on the sand at Poseidonos Beach, just 5 leagues from the Acropolis. He is wrapped in a white toga whose cochineal piping, dyed with the crushed carapaces of Spartan ladybirds, bears testament to his valour at Delium. Seventeen-year-old Alcibiades stands before Socrates. He stretches his perfect limbs and instantiates in every particular the graceful languor of an athlete in repose. He is naked, as the institution of pederasty encourages.

Socrates: Tell me, Alcibiades, you interest yourself for this field which is called psychotherapy?
Alcibiades: Yes, I do.
S: And what is it that attracts you to these studies, above all?
A: The art of therapy is what attracts me. I say ‘art’, but it might equally be designated a science. One could say that it partakes of the qualities of both.
S: And what does it consist of, this psychotherapy?
A: (Thinking) That is a difficult question. There are many different schools of therapy. Some seek to teach skills. Others aim to elicit insight. Some merely offer support. And yet all hope to achieve positive change. There is, of late, some agreement that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is the single most significant predictor of success.
S: And how would you characterize this relationship?
A: The relationship must be non-judgmental. There must be empathy and compassion. Yalom, a renowned therapist, refers to ‘the gift of therapy’ (2001). Hutnick (2005) has written: ‘…it is their experience of being compassionately cared for (some would use the term love) that makes for the most effective therapy.’
S: And for offering this service, the therapist receives payment, am I right?
A: That is the custom.
S: (pauses) Alcibiades, let me ask you something.
A: (nods)
S: What is your opinion of prostitution?
A: Like all right thinking men, I condemn it.
S: For what reason do you condemn it?
A: It is an outrage that in this time of plenty, there are women who are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. It is rarely a choice freely taken. They are driven by poverty, desperation and frequently addiction.
S: So it is. And yet, Alcibiades, have you ever visited the Island of Marmara, east of the Aegean?
A: The island which exports our finest marble?
S: The very same. You have visited? No? But I have. And I have seen the workers toiling in the mines. Many are citizens of Athens who have fallen on hard times. Their work is difficult and dangerous; the shafts frequently collapse. Now, do you think those men would be working there if it were not for the dire nature of their need? Have they not been driven to this work by the severity of their poverty? And, more generally, do not all men work because of need?
A: Yes, it is true.
S: And yet we do not condemn mining and other forms of work in the same way we condemn prostitution.
A: No, we do not. (Thinks). So perhaps we condemn prostitution because we do not think it is right for people to be paid to use their bodies in order to give physical pleasure to others.
S: Does a skilled masseur not give physical pleasure when he massages the limbs of a weary athlete?
A: True. And I do not wish to condemn the art of massage.
S: It seems to me, dear Alcibiades, that we balk at prostitution because it is the exchange of money for a gift which ought to be freely given. We view love and sex as intertwined. It is impossible to pay for one without devaluing the other.
A: You mean, you think that love cannot be bought? And by buying sex, you are undermining love?
S: That is exactly what I mean. But now, how is this different from your conception of psychotherapy? Did you not suggest that therapy was a gift? That the client is paying the therapist for his compassion and love? And yet, did you not just admit that love cannot be bought? So are our scruples concerning prostitution not equally applicable to therapy?
A: (Sitting on the sand, fingers pressed to his brow in thought) Well, yes, I suppose they are. But wait. Perhaps the client is just paying someone to listen? Or rather, what he is paying for is the freedom to talk just about himself. He does not need to worry about burdening or boring the therapist. That is the privilege which the client’s money buys.
S: But is it not precisely that quality which lures our citizens into the brothels? They want to have sex without having to worry about the pleasure or the experience of the person they are having sex with. That is often the attraction.
A: (Confused) Yes, I see. (Reluctantly) So maybe therapy truly is emotional prostitution.
S: I suggest, dear Alcibiades, that you remain true to your first conception of psychotherapy – a therapist is paid to teach skills or elicit insight. They are not paid to be compassionate or to feel love because then they would be emotional prostitutes. Oh, and Alcibiades, do remember to expunge the imprint of your buttocks from the sand. Solon has recently ruled against that too. The imprints are deemed too great a distraction for old men. He is a terrible spoilsport.