An Existential Perspective on Addiction Treatment

Plessis, Guy Du

doi:10.5840/ijpp2019511

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…approach allows individuals to search for meaning, have a purpose, and create a positive relationship with psychological factors. It gives them more adaptation ability, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being [20]. The effectiveness of this method has been confirmed in various cases [21].…”

Section: Plain Language Summarymentioning

confidence: 91%

Effect of Existential Group Therapy on Infertility Stress in Infertile Men’s Spouses

Ghorbani,

Salehin,

Nazari

et al. 2024

JHNM

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Infertility creates a crisis in people's lives, resulting in many psychological consequences. One of these consequences is infertility stress. Infertile men's spouses are as stressed as infertile women in many areas.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of existential group therapy on infertility stress in infertile men's spouses. Materials and Methods:This clinical trial was conducted on 91 women whose husbands were infertile and living in Shahrood City, Iran, from August 2021 to March 2022. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups (48 in the intervention and 48 in the control group). A random sampling method was used to select samples, and a random block of size 4 was used for allocation. Eight existential group therapy sessions were conducted for the intervention group. All participants completed the demographic information questionnaire and infertility stress questionnaire before and after the intervention. The obtained data were analyzed using the paired and independent t-tests. Results:The mean±SD ages of the participants were 31.46±5.80 and 31.89±4.53 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Duration of infertility in the intervention and control groups were 5 and 4 years, respectively. Results showed significant differences between the mean±SD of the social concern subscale of the intervention group (28.35±10.36) and that of the control group (38.39±9.44), between the sexual concern subscale of the intervention group (28.68±8.72) compared to that of the control group (35.88±9.03), between communication concern subscale of the intervention group (29.28±12.18) compared to that of the control group (41.86±10.34), between lifestyle without children subscale of the intervention group (31.06±8.78) compared to that of the control group (37.13±8.78), and between need to be a parent subscale of the intervention group (37.55±9.22) compared to that of the control group (47.43±10.34) at the post-test (P=0.001). Results showed a significantly lower infertility stress total score for the intervention group (154.95±25.94) compared to the control group (190.02±25.91) at the post-test (P=0.001). Conclusion:Existential group therapy counseling may be a useful approach to reduce the stress of infertility among couples who struggle with infertility.

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Section: Plain Language Summarymentioning

confidence: 91%

Effect of Existential Group Therapy on Infertility Stress in Infertile Men’s Spouses

Ghorbani,

Salehin,

Nazari

et al. 2024

JHNM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…12 This article has the secondary purpose of also highlighting the utility of LBT for addiction recovery, as I have argued elsewhere. 13 I explore how LBT can shape a philosophically oriented recovery pathway for individuals in addiction recovery. 14 I have previously suggested that PWL can be a compelling, and legitimate recovery pathway for individuals in addiction recovery, as one of many recovery pathways.…”

Section: Friedrich Nietzsche -Thus Spoke Zarathustramentioning

confidence: 99%

Will to Power: The Utility of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Moral Philosophy for Philosophical Counseling

Du Plessis

2024

Preprint

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This article explores the utility of Nietzsche’s ethical thought for philosophical counselling. Central to the philosophical counseling process is philosophical counsellors applying the work of philosophers to inspire, educate, and guide their counselees in dealing with life problems. For example, Logic-Based Therapy (LBT), a method of philosophical counselling developed by Elliot Cohen, provides a rational framework for confronting problems of living, where the counselor helps the counselee find an uplifting philosophy that promotes a guiding virtue that acts as an antidote to unrealistic and often self-defeating conclusions derived from irrational premises. I present the argument that Nietzsche’s moral philosophy, and more specifically his analysis of suffering, is one such uplifting philosophy which can be of utility to philosophical counselors to help their counselees with confronting problems of living. According to Bernard Reginster, suffering forms the bedrock of Nietzsche's life-affirming concept of the will to power. Nietzsche’s notion of the will to power radically alters our conception and significance of suffering – and that the will to power is best understood as man’s desire for the activity of overcoming resistance. Nietzsche's analysis implies that the fundamental human impulse is not to avoid suffering, but instead to will nothing less than suffering itself. To find meaning in suffering is tantamount to affirming life itself.

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“…From a psychodynamic and needs perspective addictive behaviour can be understood as directed at meeting ontological needs, but what differentiates addictive behaviour from other responses (or other satisfiers) is that it paradoxically destroys the individual's capacity to meet the need (s) it is attempting to satisfy, as well as the capacity to meet other needs. As an addictive lifestyle progresses, the individual's capacity to have most of his or her needs met becomes diminished, until there is an almost total reliance on the substance or behaviour to meet these needs (Du Plessis, 2014, 2018.…”

Section: I Robotmentioning

confidence: 99%

More Human Than All Too Human: Challenges in Machine Ethics for Humanity Becoming a Spacefaring Civilization

Plessis

2023

Preprint

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It is indubitable that machines with artificial intelligence (AI) will be an essential component in humans’ quest to become a spacefaring civilization. Most would agree that long-distance space travel and the colonization of Mars will not be possible without adequately developed AI. Machines with AI have a normative function, but some argue that it can also be evaluated from the perspective of ethical norms. This essay is based on the assumption that machine ethics is an essential philosophical perspective in realizing the aim of humanity becoming a spacefaring civilization. In this essay, I explore two questions in the field of machine ethics, that I believe to be relevant to the role AI will play in long-distance space travel. The first is, should moral theory be extended to include machines with AI, and second, can machines be fully ethical agents? Machines have a normative function, but some argue that they can also be evaluated from the perspective of ethical norms. In this essay, I define AI and then discuss the difference between implicit, explicit and full ethical agents in relation to machines with AI. I then present the argument that the inclusion of moral theory is essential in the development of machines with AI. Without an adequate inclusion of moral theory in the design of AI it may pose an existential threat to humanity, especially in the development of super-intelligent machines. I also highlight that conceptual clarity is essential in the field of machine ethics and the choice of the conceptual foundation that informs AI research and development has ethical implications, especially in the case of super-intelligent machines. This essay is an exploratory and speculative philosophical analysis of certain aspects of machine ethics relevant to long-distance space travel and does not attempt to provide definitive answers to the questions posed in the essay, but instead aims to bring attention to what I deem important considerations.

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An Existential Perspective on Addiction Treatment

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of Existential Group Therapy on Infertility Stress in Infertile Men’s Spouses

Effect of Existential Group Therapy on Infertility Stress in Infertile Men’s Spouses

Will to Power: The Utility of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Moral Philosophy for Philosophical Counseling

More Human Than All Too Human: Challenges in Machine Ethics for Humanity Becoming a Spacefaring Civilization

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