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Night shifts and Epictetus: the dichotomy of control on a hospital ward

Elin Lindqvist Contributor
· 4 replies
Happiness & well-beingGreek & RomanStoicismEpictetus#dichotomy-of-control#stoicism
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The Enchiridion opens by dividing things into those up to us (our judgments, impulses, desires and aversions) and those not up to us (our bodies, property, reputation, office). Epictetus says that suffering comes from treating the second kind as though it were the first.

On an intensive care ward this is useful in a very concrete way. I can't decide whether a patient lives. I can decide how carefully I check the drip, how I speak to the family, whether I take the bad night home with me.

But I also see the risk. "Not up to me" can become an excuse. Staffing levels aren't up to me as an individual nurse, but they are up to us, and to managers, and to voters. Does Stoic acceptance make people too quiet about things that could be changed?

4 replies

  1. Giulia Ferrante

    Fellow

    It helps to remember who Epictetus was: a former slave, lame, according to tradition, from mistreatment. When he lists the body among things not up to us, he means it from experience. His teaching was a way to keep something of your own when almost nothing else was yours.

    Helpful · 3
  2. Javier Morales

    Fellow

    That's the Marxist worry exactly: philosophy as consolation that keeps people from organising. But the Stoics didn't withdraw. Seneca advised an emperor and Marcus Aurelius was one. They held that taking part in public life is a duty, as long as you do it without being enslaved to outcomes.

    1. Elin Lindqvist

      Contributor

      Javier, that helps. Maybe the point is that I should work for better staffing and not let my peace of mind depend on winning. That's harder than either acceptance or anger alone.

      Helpful · 1
  3. Elif Yıldız

    Contributor

    Albert Ellis, one of the founders of cognitive therapy, often cited Epictetus' remark that people are disturbed not by things but by their views of things. Much of modern CBT is built on that idea, so on your ward you're practising applied Stoicism without the toga.

    Helpful · 2

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