I am a college student taking both psychology and philosopy. In philosophy I am studying Epictetus whose entire philosophy seems to be a dfense mechanism. He claims that one must not become emotionally attatched to anything because eventually, it will be taken away and then we will suffer pain. His theories have the basis that some things (opinion, desire, aversion, thoughts) are in our control, and other things (our bodies, property, reputation, etc.) are not in our control, and therefore, we should not worry about them. he also claim that any object or person we love should be regarded as nothing other than an object or person, and that we love objects and people in general, and not specifically a car or wife, or whatever. Thus, if it breaks or dies, we will not be disturbed. He includes one's own body and says that it has nothing do do with one "self" This is the basis of his entire philosophy. If someone went through their entire life felling this way, they would most certainly be diagnosed with a psychological disorder. What would it be categorized as? It is essentially detatchment from all pleasures to eliminate pain altogether. I'd appreciate some feedback and maybe a clinical opinion. Thanks