В чем смысл эмоций в терапии? Когда важно сосредоточиться на «чувствах», и когда этонепродуктивно? Во многом это кажется нелепым вопросом, поскольку «чувства» частовоспринимаются как центральная точка того, кто мы есть, и что мы предъявляем втерапии. В этой статье я хочу поставить под сомнение предположение, что эмоцияобязательно занимает наиболее важное место в терапии, и посмотреть на ее реальноеместо как для терапевта, так и для клиента.

В этой статье я исследую значение концепции поля в гештальт-терапии, а также значениеориентации на поле для теории и практики терапии. Также я рассматриваю, какой вкладмогут внести философские принципы в ясность подхода: приблизить к ней, или же увестиот нее.

When I do therapy in a new venue, the first thing I do is to take away the clocks. When clients ask me why I do this, I tell them that clocks foster the illusion that time is a given, moving at a regular speed. An hour’s session with one client at one time has an experienced duration that is very different to the experienced duration with another client, or even the same client at another time. We say ‘Is it that time already?’ and ‘How time flew.’ and ‘That seemed never-ending.’.In...

The ‘empty chair’ experiment has had mixed fortunes in Gestalt Therapy. Once it was a central method, with Fritz Perls naming it as one of his essentials, along with a ‘hot seat’ and tissues. It was so prevalent that it got taken as defining the approach, and taught in that way on counselling courses.While the technique has remained meaningful for many Gestaltists, it has fallen into disfavour with most of the training schools I have come across. I think this is for two reasons: fi...

In this paper, I have tried to do two things: to show how it is possible to talk about self-of-group in Gestalt terms, and to give a practical illustration of the idea of a person as an organ of choice and will of the field (in this case the field of a group). This way of looking at groups can be extended to groups of many sizes and configurations, including national politics and large organisations.I have tried to avoid losing either a field-centred orientation or a sense of the s...

My proposal is that the importance of obsessions and compulsions are that they provide an achievable quasi-response to the situation of anxiety and terror when acted out ‘as in a dream’. So frightening and alienating times inevitably bring out a combination of rageful aggression and loss of sensory and human contact with the world if we cannot find a meaningful way to address the danger in a contactful way. In time-honoured fashion, we find human sacrifices that we fantasise will bring bet...

It has become a truism in psychotherapy writings to say that therapy is about the ‘lived-body’ (Körper) rather than the physical body (Leib), and the ‘phenomenal world’ rather than the physical world, and has thus reproduced the Cartesian mind-body split that Perls and Goodman were so keen to move away from. The human animal, with its appetites, skin and genitalia, is gone! So we are left with a cerebral version of sexuality which has lost its rawness and danger. The primary sexual organ i...

რა მნიშვნელობა აქვს თერაპიაში ემოციას? როდისაა საჭირო „გრძნობებზე“ ყურადღებისგამახვილება და როდის ხდება ის კონტრპროდუქტიული? ეს შეკითხვები შეიძლებასასაცილოდაც კი მოგვეჩენოს, რადგან ითვლება, რომ თერაპიასა და საკუთარი თავისაღქმაში „გრძნობები“ ცენტრალურ როლს თამაშობენ. მე კი ამ სტატიაში ეჭვქვეშდავაყენებ იმ დებულებას, რომლის თანახმადაც თერაპიაში მთავარ ფუნქციას ემოციებიასრულებენ და შევეცდები, ემოციებს საზრიანი ადგილი მივანიჭო თერაპევტისა დაკლიენტის ურთ...

У чому сенс емоцій в терапії? Коли важливо зосередитися на «почуттях», і коли ценепродуктивно? Багато в чому це запитання здається безглуздим, оскільки «почуття»часто сприймаються центральною точкою того, хто ми є, і що ми пред'являємо в терапії. Уцій статті я хочу поставити під сумнів припущення, що емоція обов'язково займаєнайбільш важливе місце в терапії, і подивитися на її реальне місце як для терапевта, так ідля клієнта.

What does it mean for us to meet? Is it a matter of us being here together in the same place, or seeing each other, or you hearing me? How much is it just a meeting of my interpretation of you, while you are meeting with your interpretation of me? Are we just in a hall of mirrors, reflection meeting reflection? And in that case, is it meaningful to talk about meeting, or contact, or love at all? Are the narcissists right, and are we all like Narcissus, falling in love with our own reflecti...

When I offer training workshops to people who haven’t seen me work before, one of the main things that they find surprising is how rarely I ask clients questions. In this paper, I discuss the issues that underlie my preference to avoid asking questions. I am aware that to even ask the question can seem strange. People have commented that I don’t see interested in my clients! And in fact, it turns out that the answer to that critique is a major part of the discussion.

In a one-power family, only one person can have power at any one time: either there is one person who always holds the power, or the power moves between the family members in different situations, but still is never shared. In a two-power family, everybody can be powerful, and there is more liveliness, creativity and energy, and also more overt conflict.Having been sensitised to this idea, it became clear that a very high proportion of the difficulties brought by my clients came ou...