Atlas›Domain XV · Nature, philosophy, social & rites of passage›Guide 046
Guide XV-046

Stoic Mindfulness and Resilience Training (Robertson)

Donald Robertson2014
A 13 · L 72 · M 1524 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Stoic Mindfulness and Resilience Training (SMRT) e-learning course designed by Donald Robertson for Modern Stoicism, as its published course outline sets it out (first run 2014; outline as published for the 2017 run on Robertson's teaching site; 2020 announcement for format and eligibility), supplemented by the technique chapters of Robertson's The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy (2nd ed., Routledge, 2020) and Robertson's own articles. Lecture texts, worksheets and the course handbook are enrolment-only and copyrighted (CC BY-NC-ND licence); they are not reproduced here, and where the inner content of a course component is unverified it is marked [uncertain]. [source: Robertson, SMRT course page; Modern Stoicism SMRT 2020 announcement; Routledge book page]

SMRT is not a psychotherapy. It is a free, four-week, online self-help course in "basic Stoic practices for use in daily life", developed under the auspices of Modern Stoicism (a nonprofit multidisciplinary team), with Robertson as instructor and, in 2020, Robertson and Tim LeBon as facilitators. It is pitched as "intensive practical skills training" in a handful of cognitive skills that the organisers describe as the basis of other Stoic practices; it states it is not a beginners' guide to Stoicism (Stoic Week fills that role). [source: SMRT course page; SMRT 2020 announcement]

Core idea of change, as Robertson presents it: following Epictetus, distress comes less from events than from our value judgements about them (in George Long's public-domain translation, "Men are disturbed not by the things which happen," Enchiridion 5). Training continual attention (prosoche, which Robertson calls "Stoic mindfulness") to one's own judgements, catching impressions early, gaining "cognitive distance" from them (Robertson borrows Beck's term), and redirecting effort to what is up to us and to living by virtue is held to build resilience. Robertson treats cognitive distancing as the psychological core of Stoicism and argues that the founders of CBT drew on Stoicism as a philosophical origin. These are Robertson's and the Stoics' claims, presented as such. [source: Robertson, "Stoic Mindfulness in a Nutshell" (2019); Routledge book page; Epictetus, Enchiridion, trans. Long]

Evidence status (one line): the 2014 run (just over 500 participants, roughly 31% completion) reported improvements on life-satisfaction, positive and negative affect and flourishing scales by comparing all participants' pre-course means with completers' post-course means, explicitly as "preliminary" data "without tests of statistical significance" (an uncontrolled pre-post design). [source: Modern Stoicism, Report on the SMRT e-learning course]

For the psychotherapist: the course itself states participants "must be in good mental health" and that people with a current psychiatric diagnosis or a history of psychiatric problems should not take part, and Modern Stoicism disclaims liability for use of the materials. A therapist therefore either (a) refers a suitable, non-clinical client to the course and prepares and debriefs them, or (b) uses the underlying Stoic exercises inside a properly assessed, evidence-based therapy (typically CBT, as Robertson integrates them), under the therapist's own clinical responsibility. Option (b) is a clinical adaptation, not SMRT as published. [source: SMRT 2020 announcement] [synthesis]

2. Framework

Format as published: online and asynchronous, with short lectures, worksheets, audio recordings, knowledge checks, group discussion and social media, a weekly live webinar (Sundays in the 2017 run), and a course facilitator for problems; access lasted five weeks from enrolment; time demand "approximately 20-30 minutes per day"; usually run once a year (not in 2019). [source: SMRT course page; SMRT 2020 announcement]

Structure (course outline as published; lecture contents are enrolment-only, so each phase's goal below is inferred from its titles and Robertson's other writing) [source: SMRT course page] [uncertain: lecture contents not verified]:

  • Preliminary. What Stoicism is, course goals and overview, discussion groups, facilitator, troubleshooting, an illustration of Marcus Aurelius, webinars, knowledge check. Goal: orientation and expectations.
  • Week 1: Orientation and basics. "Stoic Mindfulness" with the Handbook of Epictetus and "the basic concept"; a Two-Column Exercise (worksheet); a Daily Exercise; Self-Monitoring (worksheet); Cues and Reminders; knowledge check. Goal: grasp the distinction between what is and is not up to us, and start noticing one's judgements.
  • Week 2: Stoic virtues. Living virtuously and what virtue is; Values Clarification and more values clarification; "Desirable versus Healthy and Praiseworthy"; Valued Living and Activity Scheduling; self-monitoring and daily exercise; knowledge check. Goal: identify the character one wants to have and act on it.
  • Week 3: Stoic mindfulness. The basic concept with examples; daily exercise and self-monitoring; Worry Postponement; knowledge check. Goal: catch and handle troubling impressions in the moment.
  • Week 4: Stoic resilience. The basic concept with examples and further comments; daily exercise and a Brief Mindfulness Exercise; self-monitoring; an example coping plan and a Coping Plan worksheet; knowledge check; goodbye, FAQs and reference materials from SMRT 2014. Goal: prepare for future adversity and consolidate a personal plan.

Session count: the course is four weeks plus a preliminary section, daily practice of about 20-30 minutes; it has no therapist sessions. No source gives a session count for therapist-delivered Stoic work, so none is stated here. [source: SMRT 2020 announcement]

Moving between phases: the course is calendar-paced (a week per module) with a knowledge check closing each module; no published mastery criterion. For a therapist adapting the sequence: move on when the client can (1) sort a current worry into what is and is not up to them without prompting, (2) name values they act on in the coming week, (3) catch at least some impressions early enough to pause or postpone, then build the coping plan. [synthesis]

Wider toolkit (Robertson's "Stoic armamentarium", book chapters 7-14): contemplation of the ideal sage; Stoic mindfulness of the "here and now"; self-analysis and disputation; autosuggestion, premeditation and retrospection; praemeditatio malorum and mental rehearsal; Stoic fatalism, determinism and acceptance; the View from Above; Stoicism and third-wave CBT. The book's appendices give an example Stoic therapeutic regime and a View from Above script (not reproduced). [source: Routledge book page, table of contents]

3. Guiding principles

  • Up to us versus not up to us. Epictetus opens the Enchiridion: "Of things some are in our power, and others are not." Practical meaning: every intervention begins by sorting the client's concern into what is within their own judgement and action, and what is not. [source: Epictetus, Enchiridion 1, trans. Long; Robertson, "Stoic Mindfulness in a Nutshell"]
  • Judgements, not events, drive the passions. Practical meaning: target the value judgement ("this is awful", "I can't bear it"), not the event; validate the event's reality. [source: Enchiridion 5, trans. Long; Robertson 2019]
  • Prosoche (continual attention). Robertson's "Stoic mindfulness" is attention to one's own ruling faculty and value judgements, which he says is not necessarily the same as Buddhist mindfulness. Practical meaning: the skill trained is noticing judgements as they form, many times a day, not only meditating. [source: Robertson 2019]
  • Cognitive distance. Thoughts are treated as constructions of reality, like tinted lenses, not reality itself. Practical meaning: aim for the client to see a judgement as a judgement before trying to change it. [source: Robertson 2019]
  • Catch it early. Robertson stresses spotting early warning signs before a passion escalates, and pausing rather than being carried away. Practical meaning: self-monitoring focuses on cues and first signs. [source: Robertson, Substack post on postponement]
  • Virtue as the guide to action. Week 2 frames valued living through Stoic virtue, distinguishing what is merely desirable from what is healthy and praiseworthy. Practical meaning: values work asks what kind of person the client wants to be in a situation, not just what outcome they want. Attributed to the Stoics; the therapist does not impose it. [source: SMRT course outline] [synthesis for application]
  • Philosophy as daily practice. Robertson contrasts CBT, which usually applies distancing to particular difficult situations, with Stoicism, which treats it as part of a whole way of life. Practical meaning: short daily routines and reminders matter more than insight in session. [source: Robertson 2019; SMRT 2020 announcement]
  • Act with a reserve clause. Robertson names the Stoic practice of acting "with a reserve clause" (committing to effort while accepting the outcome is not fully up to us). Practical meaning: goals are phrased as intentions plus acceptance of outcome. [source: Robertson, "Stoic Philosophy in Build Your Resilience" (2012)]
  • Self-help eligibility. The course is for people in good mental health. Practical meaning: screen before recommending it; clinical problems are treated with the evidence-based therapy indicated for them, with Stoic exercises as adjuncts. [source: SMRT 2020 announcement] [synthesis]
  • Integration, not substitution. Robertson argues Stoic concepts and techniques can be applied in CBT and other psychotherapies. Practical meaning: keep the case formulation and treatment plan of the indicated therapy; add Stoic material where it fits the client's goals and worldview. [source: Routledge book page] [synthesis]
  • The client's worldview leads. Stoicism includes metaphysical and ethical claims (fate, providence, virtue as the only good) that clients may not share. Practical meaning: offer Stoic ideas as one tradition's view, invite agreement or disagreement, and drop language that clashes with the client's faith or values. [synthesis]
  • Paraphrase, attribute, and keep ancient quotation short. Practical meaning: use brief lines from public-domain translations as prompts and let the client put the idea in their own words. [synthesis]
  • Scope and roles. Philosophical counselling by non-clinicians is not a licensed mental-health treatment; the psychotherapist works within their own licence and competence. Practical meaning: be clear with the client whether you are offering psychotherapy with Stoic elements or philosophical discussion, and refer both ways. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

Items 2-15 cover the published SMRT course components and the Stoic responses Robertson's open writing attaches to them (component names as published; steps paraphrased; where lecture content is enrolment-only, steps are built from Robertson's open writing and the Enchiridion and marked accordingly). Items 16-21 are further techniques from Robertson's Stoic armamentarium (book chapter titles; steps paraphrased). Items 1 and 22-24 are therapist-side procedures [synthesis]. All example language is illustrative wording, not course text.

1. Suitability screening before recommending SMRT or Stoic Week (therapist-side)

  • Purpose / when: before suggesting the self-help course to a client, or before introducing Stoic exercises in therapy. The course excludes people with a current psychiatric diagnosis or a psychiatric history. [source: SMRT 2020 announcement]
  • Steps: (1) Complete your usual assessment, including risk. (2) If the client has a current mental disorder, do not refer them to the course as a substitute for treatment; offer the indicated therapy and, if they are interested, use selected Stoic exercises within it. (3) If they are well and seeking resilience or a philosophy of life, discuss the course's time demand (about 20-30 minutes a day for four weeks), its group and social-media elements, and its disclaimer. (4) Agree how you will use what they learn in your sessions. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "This course is designed for people who are well and want to build resilience. Because we're working on your depression, I'd suggest we use a few of these Stoic ideas inside our sessions rather than you doing the course on its own."
  • Watch for: clients using philosophy to avoid treatment; perfectionism about "doing Stoicism right"; active risk (manage risk first). Working: client and therapist agree on a clear route (course, in-therapy adaptation, or neither).

2. Introducing Stoic mindfulness: the basic concept (Weeks 1 and 3)

  • Purpose / when: first teaching step; whenever the client is caught up in reacting to events.
  • Steps (after Robertson 2019): (1) Explain prosoche: paying continual attention to one's own judgements. (2) Introduce Epictetus's distinction between what is and is not up to us (Enchiridion 1). (3) Link to the idea that judgements, not events, disturb us (Enchiridion 5) and to the CBT idea of a thought about an event. (4) Practise on a recent upset: notice the moment of upset, pause, ask whether the thing is up to the client, then ask what part of the situation is up to them (their own thoughts and actions) and how they could respond more wisely. [source: Robertson, "Stoic Mindfulness in a Nutshell"; Enchiridion 1, 5, trans. Long]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you noticed you were furious in that meeting, what was the judgement underneath? Was the part that hurt something you controlled, or something your manager did?"
  • Watch for: the client hearing "it's only your opinion" as invalidation of a real injustice or trauma; Robertson's distinction is between the event and the value judgement added to it, not a denial of events. Working: the client can name the judgement separately from the event.

3. Two-Column Exercise (Week 1 worksheet)

  • Purpose / when: early, to make the up-to-us distinction concrete. The course lists a Two-Column worksheet in Week 1; its exact layout and instructions are enrolment-only. [source: SMRT course page] [uncertain: worksheet contents not verified]
  • Steps (adaptation built on Enchiridion 1, not the worksheet) [synthesis]: (1) Take one current concern. (2) Head one column "up to me" (my judgements, intentions, actions) and the other "not up to me" (others' choices, the past, outcomes, body and reputation as Epictetus lists them). (3) Sort each aspect. (4) For the "not up to me" side, practise the Stoic response Robertson paraphrases as "It is nothing to me" in the sense of not staking one's wellbeing on it; for the "up to me" side, write one action. [source: Robertson, Build Your Resilience blog excerpt; Enchiridion 1]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's split this into two lists. Whether you get the job isn't fully up to you. How you prepare, and how you treat yourself afterwards, is."
  • Watch for: sorting that is too coarse ("my health isn't up to me" can slide into neglecting treatment); clients with low agency putting everything in the right-hand column. Working: at least one concrete action emerges and distress drops when the client stops trying to control the uncontrollable.

4. Self-monitoring (weekly worksheets)

  • Purpose / when: each week; to build the habit of catching impressions and early warning signs. The course gives a self-monitoring worksheet every week; its columns are enrolment-only. [source: SMRT course page] [uncertain: worksheet contents not verified]
  • Steps (CBT-style adaptation) [synthesis]: (1) Agree a simple record: situation, first signs (body, urge, thought), the judgement, whether it concerned something up to the client, and what they did. (2) Keep it brief and close in time to the event. (3) Review in session, looking for the earliest sign that could act as a cue to pause. [source for early warning signs: Robertson, Substack postponement post]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Just jot down the first moment you noticed things starting to tip, before the full anger arrived. That's the moment we want to train you to catch."
  • Watch for: monitoring becoming rumination or self-criticism; incomplete records (see section 5). Working: the client starts noticing earlier in the sequence.

5. Cues and reminders (Week 1)

  • Purpose / when: to prompt the Stoic pause throughout the day. [source: SMRT course page]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Choose a reminder the client finds meaningful (a short line from a public-domain translation, a word, a phone note, an object). (2) Link it to a frequent trigger (opening email, a commute). (3) When cued, do a few seconds of noticing: what am I judging right now, and is it up to me?
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people put a short line on their phone lock screen, such as Epictetus's opening words, 'Of things some are in our power, and others are not.' What would work as a nudge for you?"
  • Watch for: reminders that become background noise; change them periodically. Working: the client reports pausing at least sometimes when cued.

6. Daily exercise (each week)

  • Purpose / when: daily consolidation; the course asks for about 20-30 minutes a day and includes a daily exercise each week; the specific daily routines are enrolment-only. [source: SMRT 2020 announcement; SMRT course page] [uncertain: daily routine contents not verified]
  • Steps [synthesis]: build the daily practice from items 7 and 8 (a short morning preparation and an evening review), plus the week's skill (distancing, values, postponement or coping plan), sized to what the client can sustain.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's design a short routine you can realistically do: a couple of minutes in the morning to prepare, and a few minutes in the evening to look back."
  • Watch for: over-ambitious routines that collapse; guilt about missed days. Working: practice continues most days without strain.

7. Morning preparation (premeditation / autosuggestion)

  • Purpose / when: to rehearse the day's likely challenges and one's intended response. Robertson treats autosuggestion and premeditation as a Stoic technique (book chapter 10); Marcus Aurelius's Meditations 2.1 opens with a morning preparation: "Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody" (trans. Long). [source: Routledge book page; Meditations 2.1, trans. Long]
  • Steps (paraphrase) [synthesis for detail]: (1) Each morning, briefly picture the day ahead and the people or situations likely to provoke the client. (2) Name the judgement they are likely to make. (3) Recall what is and is not up to them. (4) Choose the virtue or value they want to act from (patience, fairness, courage). (5) Phrase the day's intentions with a reserve clause ("I will do X, if nothing prevents me").
  • Example language (illustrative): "Marcus reminded himself each morning that he would meet difficult people. Who is likely to test you today, and how do you want to meet them?"
  • Watch for: turning into anxious anticipation or worry; keep it short and action-focused. Working: the client reports being less ambushed by predictable irritations.

8. Evening review (retrospection)

  • Purpose / when: end-of-day reflection on how one handled events; retrospection is one of the techniques in Robertson's chapter 10. [source: Routledge book page] [uncertain: step detail not verified in Robertson's text]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Briefly replay the day. (2) Note what went well (where the client acted on their values). (3) Note one moment they were carried away and what judgement drove it. (4) Decide what they would do next time, without self-condemnation. (5) Stop; avoid replaying at length before sleep.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Look back like a fair coach, not a judge: what did you do well, where did you get carried along, and what would you try next time?"
  • Watch for: self-attack, rumination, or sleep disturbance (move the review earlier; if insomnia is present, CBT-I is the first-line treatment, cross-refer II 069 and II 068). Working: the review is brief, balanced and yields one learning point.

9. Values clarification and "desirable versus healthy and praiseworthy" (Week 2)

  • Purpose / when: to identify the character strengths and values the client wants to live by; Week 2 includes two values-clarification lessons and a lesson contrasting the merely desirable with the healthy and praiseworthy; Robertson's resilience book also includes values clarification and commitment to valued action. [source: SMRT course page; Build Your Resilience blog excerpt]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Ask what the client most admires in people they respect. (2) Group answers under broad virtues (the classical Stoic four are wisdom, justice, courage and moderation; present as the Stoics' framework, not as obligatory). (3) For a current goal, separate what is desirable (outcomes: approval, money, health) from what would be praiseworthy (how they act). (4) Choose one area where they want to act more in line with their values this week.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Getting the promotion is desirable, but not fully up to you. What would it look like to handle this in a way you'd be proud of, whatever the result?"
  • Watch for: values chosen to please the therapist or family; moralistic self-judgement; clients whose faith already has a moral framework (use theirs). Working: values are in the client's words and guide a concrete choice.

10. Valued living and activity scheduling (Week 2)

  • Purpose / when: to turn values into planned actions; the course pairs valued living with activity scheduling, a standard CBT and behavioural-activation tool. [source: SMRT course page] (cross-refer II 040 behavioural activation)
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Pick one or two values from item 9. (2) Schedule small, specific actions expressing them in the coming week. (3) Afterwards, record whether they were done and what the client noticed, without judging outcome.
  • Example language (illustrative): "If fairness matters to you, what's one small thing this week where you could act fairly, even if no one notices?"
  • Watch for: activities that are too large; clients judging success by others' reactions. Working: actions get done and the client links them to who they want to be.

11. Cognitive distancing (Robertson's list of techniques)

  • Purpose / when: core skill (Week 3) for any troubling impression. Robertson lists ways to gain distance: naming the thought behind a feeling; referring to oneself in the third person; counting how often a thought occurs; writing thoughts down and viewing them at a distance; imagining the thought written on glass one looks through; taking the view of someone who sees it differently (e.g. Socrates); repeating the thought aloud slowly or quickly; imagining how one will see it in future or in hindsight; and describing the situation in matter-of-fact, non-emotive language. [source: Robertson, "Stoic Mindfulness in a Nutshell"]
  • Steps: (1) Identify the hot judgement. (2) Pick one or two of the techniques above that suit the client. (3) Practise in session on a mild example first. (4) Ask what changes in how the thought feels. (5) Assign practice. [synthesis for sequencing]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Try describing what happened as a news reporter would, with no adjectives. What's left once 'humiliating' and 'disaster' are taken out?"
  • Watch for: distancing used to suppress or numb feelings; Robertson frames it as separating judgement from reality, not avoiding emotion. Working: the client says the thought feels less like a fact.

12. Answering an impression: "You are an appearance"

  • Purpose / when: in the moment a distressing impression arises. Epictetus advises saying to every harsh appearance, "You are an appearance, and in no manner what you appear to be" (Enchiridion 1, trans. Long), then examining it by the rule of whether it concerns things in our power. Robertson presents this two-step rehearsal in his resilience book and paraphrases it in his articles. [source: Enchiridion 1, trans. Long; Robertson, Build Your Resilience blog excerpt; Robertson 2019]
  • Steps: (1) Notice the impression ("they're laughing at me"). (2) Say inwardly, in the client's own phrasing, that this is an impression, not the thing itself. (3) Ask whether it concerns something up to them. (4) If not, decline to stake their wellbeing on it; if so, choose an action. [source: as above; paraphrase]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When the thought 'they think I'm useless' shows up, you might say to yourself, 'That's an impression, not a fact,' and then ask: is their opinion up to me?"
  • Watch for: use with genuine danger signals (the technique is not for dismissing real threats or abuse); obsessional clients turning it into a neutralising ritual (see section 5). Working: a brief pause and less automatic reaction.

13. Worry postponement (Week 3)

  • Purpose / when: for overwhelming feelings or repetitive worry. The course lists Worry Postponement in Week 3; Robertson's resilience book lists it as a technique; and his article, drawing on Pythagorean and Stoic advice, says that if a feeling is overwhelming, postpone responding to it, or even thinking about it, until it has calmed and can be evaluated rationally. [source: SMRT course page; Build Your Resilience blog excerpt; Robertson, Substack postponement post]
  • Steps (paraphrase plus CBT practice) [synthesis for detail]: (1) Spot early warning signs. (2) Pause instead of acting on the feeling. (3) If it is overwhelming, defer responding (and, for worry, defer thinking it through) to a chosen later time. (4) At that time, evaluate it calmly, starting with whether the judgement concerns something up to the client. (5) Many deferred worries will have lost force; note this.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You don't have to argue with this now. Park it, note it down, and come back to it this evening when you're calmer."
  • Watch for: postponement that becomes avoidance of a necessary decision or of processing grief; clients unable to defer (teach grounding first). Working: fewer urgent reactions and the client returns to deferred items with less heat.

14. Brief mindfulness exercise (Week 4)

  • Purpose / when: a short in-the-moment practice; the course lists a Brief Mindfulness Exercise in Week 4, contents enrolment-only. [source: SMRT course page] [uncertain: exercise contents not verified]
  • Steps (from Robertson's later description of Stoic mindfulness, not the course exercise): Robertson summarises a cycle of "look, label, let go, return to what matters": look at the impression as an event in the mind, label it ("I notice I'm having the thought..."), let it go rather than assent to it, and return attention to valued action. [source: Robertson, "A Stoic Way to Practice Mindfulness" (2025)]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Just notice: 'I'm having the thought that this will go badly.' Let it sit there. Now, what matters in the next ten minutes?"
  • Watch for: confusion between Stoic attention to judgements and Buddhist-derived mindfulness (Robertson says they are not necessarily the same); trauma survivors who find inward attention destabilising (offer eyes-open, externally anchored versions). Working: the client can step back within seconds.

15. Coping plan (Week 4)

  • Purpose / when: consolidation at the end; the course provides an example coping plan and a coping-plan worksheet. [source: SMRT course page] [uncertain: worksheet contents not verified]
  • Steps (adaptation) [synthesis]: (1) Name the situations most likely to test the client. (2) For each, list early warning signs (item 4), the likely judgement, the Stoic response they will use (two columns, distancing, postponement, the sage), and one valued action. (3) Include who they will contact and when to seek professional help. (4) Keep it to one page and review it periodically.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's write down what you'll do when the next setback comes, while you're calm enough to plan it."
  • Watch for: plans that are generic; for clients with risk, keep the coping plan separate from, and never a replacement for, a safety plan. Working: the client uses the plan in a real setback.

16. The two handles (reframing)

  • Purpose / when: when the client grasps a situation only by its most painful aspect. Enchiridion 43: "Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne," and another by which it may not (trans. Long). Robertson uses the image to say upset means grasping events by the broken handle, and that seeing this weakens unhealthy beliefs. [source: Enchiridion 43, trans. Long; Robertson 2019]
  • Steps: (1) Identify the "handle" the client is holding ("my brother wronged me"). (2) Ask for another true aspect that can be carried (Epictetus's own example is that he is also one's brother). (3) Explore what changes if they act from the second handle. [paraphrase]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You're holding this by the handle 'he betrayed me.' Is there another handle that's also true, and that you could carry?"
  • Watch for: pressure to forgive or reconcile with an abuser; never use to minimise harm or to keep a client in an unsafe relationship. Working: the client finds a less corrosive but still honest view.

17. Self-analysis and disputation

  • Purpose / when: examining the beliefs behind a passion; Robertson's chapter 9 and his discussion of REBT link Stoic self-analysis to cognitive disputation; he notes the Stoic paradox that passions such as fear and anger harm us more than the things we fear or resent. [source: Routledge book page (chapters 6 and 9); Robertson 2019]
  • Steps [synthesis for sequencing]: (1) State the judgement. (2) Ask for evidence and alternative views, Socratic style. (3) Ask about consequences: what does holding this judgement cost the client compared with the event itself? (4) Ask whether it fits the person they want to be (item 9). (5) Write a more balanced statement in the client's words.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What's done more damage this week: what your colleague said, or the hours you've spent being angry about it?"
  • Watch for: arguing the client out of grief or justified anger; disputing a belief before the client feels heard. Working: belief strength and distress fall, and the client generates the alternative.

18. Premeditation of adversity (praemeditatio malorum) and mental rehearsal

  • Purpose / when: preparing for feared or likely setbacks; Robertson's chapter 11; his recorded practice playlist includes "Facing your Fears in Imagination". [source: Routledge book page; Robertson 2025]
  • Steps (outline) [synthesis for detail]: (1) Choose a realistic difficulty. (2) Imagine it calmly as a possible event, viewing it with cognitive distance. (3) Rehearse coping: what is up to the client, which virtue they would act from, what they would do. (4) End by returning to the present. Grade from mild to harder material.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's picture the meeting going badly, not to scare you, but to rehearse how you'd want to handle it."
  • Watch for: this is imaginal exposure. Obtain consent, agree a stop signal, start mild, and do not use it for trauma memories outside a trauma-focused protocol; avoid with clients prone to catastrophic rumination or with acute grief unless carefully adapted. Working: anticipatory anxiety falls with repetition and coping plans become concrete.

19. Contemplation of the ideal sage (role model)

  • Purpose / when: to access a wiser perspective; Robertson's chapter 7, and his distancing list includes taking the view of someone such as Socrates; Enchiridion 33 advises, "Immediately prescribe some character and some form to yourself" (trans. Long). [source: Routledge book page; Robertson 2019; Enchiridion 33, trans. Long]
  • Steps [synthesis for detail]: (1) Choose a model the client admires (Socrates, a Stoic, a person from their own tradition or life). (2) Describe that person's qualities. (3) In a difficult situation, ask how that person would see and handle it. (4) Act on one element.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Think of someone you deeply respect for how they handle pressure. If they were in your place right now, what would they notice that you're missing?"
  • Watch for: comparing oneself unfavourably with an idealised sage (the Stoics held the sage to be an ideal, rarely if ever achieved); perfectionism. Working: the client reaches a calmer, more value-guided option.

20. The View from Above

  • Purpose / when: to put a situation in a wider perspective; Robertson's chapter 13 and Appendix II give a script (not reproduced); his resilience book also names visualising the view from above. [source: Routledge book page; Build Your Resilience blog excerpt]
  • Steps (outline, client-paced) [synthesis for detail]: (1) Settle and picture the present scene. (2) Slowly widen the imagined view: the building, the city, the country, the planet. (3) Notice the many lives and events going on at once and the passage of time. (4) Return to the present situation and ask what now seems important and what does not. (5) Return attention to the room.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Imagine rising above this room and seeing yourself from far away, then further still. From up there, what about this problem still matters, and what doesn't?"
  • Watch for: depersonalisation, derealisation or nihilistic "nothing matters" in depressed clients; ground and stop if this appears, and emphasise what does matter (values). Working: the client reports perspective with retained care.

21. Acceptance and the reserve clause

  • Purpose / when: for what cannot be changed; Robertson's chapter 12 (Stoic fatalism, determinism and acceptance) and chapter 14 (third-wave CBT); Enchiridion 8 advises wishing "the things which happen to be as they are" (trans. Long); acting "with a reserve clause". [source: Routledge book page; Enchiridion 8, trans. Long; Build Your Resilience blog excerpt]
  • Steps [synthesis for detail]: (1) Identify the part of the situation that cannot be changed. (2) Distinguish accepting it from approving of it. (3) Set intentions for what is up to the client, phrased with a reserve clause ("I'll aim to..., if nothing prevents it"). (4) Notice and gently let go of demands that reality be otherwise.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Accepting that the diagnosis has happened isn't saying it's fine. It's freeing your energy for what you can still do."
  • Watch for: acceptance mistaken for resignation to injustice, abuse or untreated illness; clients whose faith understands fate or providence differently (use their framework). Working: less struggle against facts and more action on what is possible.

22. Preparing and debriefing a client who takes the course (therapist-side)

  • Purpose / when: a suitable client (item 1) enrols in SMRT or Stoic Week. [synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Before: agree what the client hopes to get, the daily time they can give, and how they will handle the online group (privacy, not sharing others' details, limits on social media disclosure). (2) During: invite them to bring worksheets or questions; help translate course ideas into their life. (3) After: review which practices helped, which felt alien, and fold the useful ones into their coping plan. (4) If distress rises during the course, pause the course and reassess.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Bring along whatever from this week's module felt useful or annoying. Both tell us something."
  • Watch for: the course's group setting exposing the client to advice that conflicts with their treatment; over-identification with an online community. Working: the client keeps one or two practices beyond the course.

23. Collaboration and referral both ways with philosophical practitioners (therapist-side)

  • Purpose / when: the client wants philosophical discussion beyond therapy, or a philosophical counsellor's client shows signs of mental disorder.
  • Context: non-clinical philosophical counsellors are generally not licensed mental-health professionals. APPA (founded by Lou Marinoff in 1998) certifies philosophical counsellors who hold advanced philosophy degrees [source: Wikipedia, Philosophical counseling] [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. City College of New York ordered a halt to Marinoff's on-campus counselling (his own account dates the order to November 2000; a 2004 New York Times Magazine article reported it) [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Clarify roles with the client: psychotherapy (assessment, diagnosis where relevant, treatment) versus philosophical discussion (meaning, values, ideas). (2) Refer to a philosophical counsellor or reading group only for non-clinical aims, or alongside therapy with the client's consent. (3) Invite referral from philosophical practitioners when they notice risk, persistent low mood, anxiety, trauma symptoms or psychosis. (4) With consent, agree what information is shared.
  • Example language (illustrative): "A philosophy group could be a good place to explore these questions. Our sessions are where we'll keep working on the panic attacks."
  • Watch for: a client using philosophical counselling in place of needed treatment; your own dual roles if you also run Stoic groups or courses that clients might join (see APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05 on multiple relationships). Working: clear, consented roles and timely referral.

24. Integrating Stoic exercises into a CBT formulation (therapist-side)

  • Purpose / when: a client in CBT (or another indicated therapy) is drawn to Stoic ideas; Robertson argues Stoic concepts and techniques can be integrated into CBT and other psychotherapies, including third-wave approaches. [source: Routledge book page]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) Keep the evidence-based protocol for the presenting problem as the backbone. (2) Map Stoic ideas onto formulation elements: impressions and judgements onto automatic thoughts and beliefs; up-to-us sorting onto problem-solving and acceptance; virtue onto values; premeditation onto imaginal rehearsal. (3) Use the client's own language and sources. (4) Review whether the Stoic framing helps engagement; drop it if not.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What we've been calling 'hot thoughts' is close to what Epictetus called impressions. If that framing works better for you, we can use it."
  • Watch for: Stoic language crowding out the protocol; intellectualising instead of practising. Working: better engagement and homework completion, with the core treatment intact.

5. Handling problems

The course's own troubleshooting and FAQ lessons are enrolment-only [uncertain: not verified]; the guidance below is synthesis unless sourced.

  • Client has a current mental disorder but wants "just Stoicism". The course itself excludes current or past psychiatric problems. Explain that, offer the indicated treatment, and integrate Stoic exercises as adjuncts (item 24). [source: SMRT 2020 announcement] [synthesis]
  • "It's my opinion, so it's my fault." Clients may hear the judgement principle as blame. Distinguish responsibility for one's present response from blame for what happened; validate the event. [synthesis]
  • Invalidation of trauma, injustice or oppression. Do not use up-to-us sorting or the two handles to minimise abuse, discrimination or danger. Sort what is up to the client (seeking safety, support, action) and support protective and collective action; refer to trauma-focused therapy where indicated. [synthesis]
  • Emotional suppression ("a Stoic shouldn't feel"). Popular "stoic" means unemotional; Robertson's approach separates the judgement from reality rather than suppressing emotion, and the Stoics distinguished passions from healthy emotions. Normalise feeling; target the judgement. [source: Robertson 2019 for distancing] [synthesis for the rest]
  • Stuck clients: insight without change. Shift from discussing philosophy to brief daily practice (items 5-8) and scheduled valued actions (item 10); reduce to one practice. [synthesis]
  • Non-adherence to daily practice. Shrink the routine; link to an existing habit; use reminders (item 5); review barriers without moralising. [synthesis]
  • Overwhelm during imaginal work (items 18, 20). Stop, ground in the room, return to present-moment and values focus; restart at a milder level or not at all. Use a stop signal agreed in advance. [synthesis]
  • Rumination disguised as evening review or premeditation. Time-limit it, require one concrete learning point, move it away from bedtime; for insomnia refer to CBT-I (II 069, II 068). [synthesis]
  • Obsessional or scrupulous clients. Repeated "is it up to me?" checks or moral self-audits against an ideal sage can become compulsions. Treat with the indicated OCD protocol; avoid Stoic moral self-scrutiny until it is not functioning as reassurance-seeking. [synthesis]
  • Depression and the View from Above. Watch for "nothing matters"; emphasise values and connection, and do not use cosmic-perspective exercises with a client expressing hopelessness or suicidal thoughts. Assess risk using current standard practice; crisis resources include 988 (US) and Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland). [synthesis]
  • Grief. Acceptance and "wish things to be as they are" can feel brutal in bereavement. Prioritise grief support; offer Stoic ideas only if the client asks for them and frames them as consoling. [synthesis]
  • Worldview clash. Stoic ideas about fate, providence and virtue may conflict with a client's faith or politics. Present them as one tradition's view; invite the client's own tradition's resources. Where the difficulty itself centres on a loss of faith or a religious or moral conflict, the DSM-5-TR category "Religious or Spiritual Problem" (Z65.8; the ICD-10-CM code covers religious or spiritual problem) may apply, and the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview with its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions can guide exploration. [source: ICD-10-CM Z65.8 (Unbound Medicine)] [uncertain: DSM-5-TR wording not verified]
  • Ruptures over "lecturing". Clients may feel preached at. Apologise, ask what landed badly, return to Socratic questions and the client's own words; reduce quotation. [synthesis]
  • Online-group difficulties during the course. Conflicting advice, comparison or privacy concerns: help the client step back from the group and keep their own pace; remind them not to share others' details. [synthesis]
  • Dual roles. If you facilitate Stoic courses or groups, avoid enrolling current therapy clients in your own groups without considering the multiple-relationship risks (APA Ethics Code Standard 3.05); keep marketing and therapy separate. [source: APA Ethics Code] [synthesis]
  • Competence. No certification for delivering SMRT-derived exercises in therapy is known from the sources; work within your licence and CBT competence, and seek supervision for unfamiliar adaptations. [uncertain: not verified] [synthesis]

Sources

← Previous · XV-045Stoic practice, Modern Stoicism and Stoic WeekNext · XV-047 →Epicurean therapy and the tetrapharmakos