Introduction to the Blog

This blog is an attempt at intellectual self-care. It is a place where I pursue questions that interest me, especially questions at the intersection of the two disciplines in which I hold graduate degrees. I have a Ph.D. in philosophy and a master’s degree in social work (MSW). Although I have held full-time academic positions in philosophy in the past, at present I work primarily as a therapist in a higher-level-of-care setting and have only minimal connection to academic philosophy. This blog is a way for me to continue writing—and thinking.

Nothing in this blog is meant as professional medical or psychotherapeutic advice. Nor do I claim expertise in anything I write about here. My aspirations for this blog are purely personal: to re-engage with what led me to get a Ph.D. in the first place, namely, exploration and curiosity. Consider what you read here my slightly-elaborated reading notes, not my final settled opinions. 

Some of my posts will be one-offs, and some will form part of larger investigations. At this moment, I envision two such larger topics: emotions and personality disorders. I'll probably get off topic and write about whatever I happen to be reading at the moment since I've never been very good at being interested in only one thing.  

For the name of the blog, I chose “Reading between Philosophy and Clinical Social Work” in part because I wanted to make it clear that I am not trying to do anything very disciplinary, such as a engage in philosophy of clinical social work (a discipline that, so far as I am aware, does not exist). The “clinical social work” part is meant to keep the subject matter unconfined to just, say, psychotherapy or clinical work. In keeping with the extraordinary breadth of the field of social work, everything from policy to program design to reflective listening is on the table here. 

Finally, for confidentiality reasons, I intend to avoid any direct discussion of my own clinical experience here. Again, the main point of this blog is to give me an outlet to write about some of the things I am reading.