[anechouapechou]

Modern psychology (CBT) is built on a Stoic idea: “It’s not things that upset us, but our opinions about things.”

Stoicism doesn’t tell you to repress feelings. It tells you to examine them, to look at the beliefs behind them. If the belief is false (“this event ruins my life”), you correct it; if it’s true, you accept the feeling without letting it take over.

The Stoics called destructive emotions “passions,” but they also recognized healthy ones, like rational joy, caution, and goodwill. The goal isn’t emotional numbness, it’s clarity and alignment with reason and nature.

So, far from emotional blindness, Stoicism actually inspired the same kind of introspection that modern psychology promotes, just with a different vocabulary.

I would encourage you to read about CBT’s history and it’s influence on more modern psychology techniques. It’s likely that you are representing the Stoicism you commonly read about these days, on reddit, youtube and even on some books that take some liberties on translating it or do a bad job of it (it’s hard…). Most modern sources absolutely suck. A good translation from the original greek sources of Epictetus is very hard to come by.

[crazygringo]

Modern psychology is not CBT. In fact, CBT is widely criticized by psychologists as treating symptoms rather than causes. It's a favorite of health plans because it's short and cheap, not because it's best at helping people long-term. Some of the criticisms of Stoicism are also criticisms of CBT.

What I'm talking about is traditional psychodynamic therapy that is about integration and growth. Not about changing behavioral patterns merely on the surface via cognitive reframing. When you actually allow yourself to integrate and process your emotions, the kind of mental work that stoicism and CBT focus on becomes unnecessary for most people. (CBT techniques can be helpful as a kind as urgent emergency measures, but not as a long-term solution.)

I know you seem to think I've gotten my ideas from Reddit. I can assure you, I've studied this stuff extensively both from the psychology and therapeutic sides of the literature. I've even written, critiquing Seneca's On Anger. I'm not operating from some pop understanding here. What disappoints me is the modern popularity of stoicism within certain circles today, because it actually contains some very harmful ideas.

[anechouapechou]

There is no central, certified, Stoicism source. I have read a little bit of Seneca’s work, and it wasn’t for me. Just realize that there are many authors, and even considering the generality of the most famous ones, saying that Stoicism preaches repressing emotions is just categorically false. I’m not interested in going in circles here though. Thank you for the discussion!