You know, I think I may have been searching for just this sort of thing. A life-purpose sort of approach to healing. It's weird because I loved philosophy when I studied it (very peripherally) in college, but I never connected my strong desire for a therapist who could help me change my holistic outlook, and a desire for exploring my existence with those old Greeks. It's so logical too, now that I'm reading this, because often in depression that exact same thought "Why am I here? Why do I exist?" is recycled again and again, but the thought becomes destructive instead of igniting curiosity.
This is cool! Thank you! How strange that I should be surprised, when a friend of mine had me listening to the philosophy of Osha, and Indian thinker, when I was at my most despondent. And a lot of it worked. Gandhi's ideological works also brought me out of my self.
I guess I was doing some of this on my own. Searching for new ways of thinking in literature, fiction and nonfiction, political ideologies versus personal memoirs, memoirs of mental illness, recovery, medication, hospitalization, and alternative healing. Trying Tai Chi, vegetarianism, feminism, yoga, meditation and nature walks as practices for healthy and ethical minded living. Looking to volunteer and give back in the community. All philosophical pursuits!
I wonder if this could be helpful for bipolar people. I had a friend who had the most marvelous epiphanies when he was manic, but there was just not enough patience in the world to listen to all of them! While he couldn't really participate in a two-sided argument then, I wonder if manic philosophical ideas could be discussed rationally when the person came down from the high? Imagine group therapy for bipolar disorder: a group of people sharing their ideas about society that came to them in a state of extreme mental activity? Kind of like artists on speed..
For depressives, philosophical discussion could be very effective. I think people who always remain receptive to learning, can be more trustworthy than those who are close minded or think they are "experts". Maybe therapists don't think this about themselves, but a philosophical therapist is guaranteed to be open.
There was a time in college when I asked myself what I really wanted to be deep in my soul, and the answer was: a philosopher. I wanted to sit under a tree outside every day and have lively discussions with people about life. Right about now, that sounds pretty good to me.