About Gestalt therapy in your own words. Exercise - "Presence"

• A healthy and harmonious person is able to satisfy his needs, but this is impossible without contact with the environment.
• If a need is not being met, the task of the Gestalt therapist is to understand why and what to do about it.

As a child, I was attracted to books from the "Everything about Everything" series. In them, the authors contained concentrates of knowledge about a variety of things. The simplified and superficial level of immersion in the topic did not bother me: even now I appreciate this format when getting acquainted with non-core, but areas of interest to me. This is a great opportunity to quickly navigate the issue, to understand what it is about in principle.

I will try to describe the key theses in the work of a Gestalt therapist as simply and clearly as possible, in a popular encyclopedic format.

Any psychotherapeutic approach is based on the idea of ​​psychological health, the criteria for the healthy functioning of a person.

Health in Gestalt therapy is a harmonious and holistic functioning human life systems, the ability to self-regulate, both in the physical and psychological aspects.

If we are cold, the body increases muscle activity, trembling appears. It helps us keep warm.
If we are hot, the body sweats, cooling the body temperature.
If the body is tired, it requires rest, we want to sleep.

A self-regulating system is impossible without contact with the external environment.

When we are hungry, we cannot satisfy the need for food without interacting with the external environment.
The needs for love, recognition, respect, communication are also satisfied only through contact with the environment.

We live, we need something, we want something, we strive for something. Ideally we satisfy our needs, we close gestalts. If the need is not satisfied for a long time, we have an internal tension - what is known as "Unfinished Gestalts".

Each need goes through several stages of development:

Formation and awareness.

Contact of the organism with the environment in order to find an object and a way to satisfy the need.

Need satisfaction.

Reflection on the experience gained.

At any of these stages, our contact with the environment may be interrupted, which means that the need will remain unsatisfied. This happens as a result of the action of four mechanisms: projection, introjection, confluence and retroflection.

1. Projection

You are walking in a park at night and you see a noisy group of young people ahead. You get the idea to deviate from the route so as not to meet strangers. This is how the projection mechanism manifests itself.

Based on your experience, you are projecting that young people may be aggressive and the meeting may not be safe. The projective mechanism, like any other means of interrupting needs, is initially useful to us.

But here's another example. A young man wants to meet a girl on the street. He stops himself, assuming that she will refuse acquaintance: she will not like him, she does not meet on the street, she is married, and so on. In this case, instead of a useful protective function, the projection mechanism stops the satisfaction of the young person's real need: to get to know each other, to start a relationship.

The task of the Gestalt therapist is to help the client recognize the need, see how he interrupts its satisfaction, and help find appropriate ways to satisfy it.

When the client has realized the true needs, the Gestalt therapist helps him find ways to satisfy them.

One more example. A client approached a therapist with a request to help mend his relationship with his wife. A man is jealous of her with or without cause, which leads to family conflicts and scandals.

Jealousy in this case is a projective mechanism. The husband projects his suspicions of infidelity onto his wife, suggests that she is no longer interested in him. Claims lead to aggravation of the conflict and constant scandals. At the same time, the real need of the husband for intimacy, love is not satisfied.

When the client has realized the true needs, the Gestalt therapist helps him find ways to satisfy them. Instead of the usual accusations “Where have you been again? You don't need me!" husband tries to behave in a new way. For example, accusations can be replaced with such phrases: “I worry when you are late, I value our relationship, our closeness is important to me.”

2. Introjection

Once at a party, an acquaintance started a conversation about the fact that many people think that it is impossible to divide by zero. "Of course not!" – emotionally supported the majority of the participants in the discussion. We were taught this way at school, and if you try to divide by zero on a calculator, the display will show “E” - which means an error. We can't all be wrong.

However, the friend did not let up: “Why can’t you divide by zero?” None of those present had an answer to this question. More precisely, the answer was: “Because it is impossible. Dot". Here's an example of a classic introject.

Introjection is a mechanism by which we swallow, without chewing, new information, attitudes, ideas. We remember this information, we consider it obvious and correct, but it is not appropriated and not digested by us. That is why we cannot answer the question why it is impossible to divide by zero. We simply swallowed this knowledge and cannot substantiate our answer in any way.

If we are "introjected" by any attitudes, rules and knowledge, this does not mean that they are incorrect or true. It only means that we cannot consciously use them. Our behavior and reactions are rigid, and this can negatively affect the satisfaction of our needs.

After checking and “chewing”, attitudes are either appropriated and become learned, or rejected as false.

When raising children, we cannot do without the mechanism of introjection. We will not offer the child to "appropriate" the knowledge that you can not put your fingers in the socket. And it will be a useful introject. If the introjected knowledge for the child is not weighty enough to take the word, be sure - he will check.

After checking and “chewing”, the attitudes are either appropriated and become learned, or rejected as false. By the way, it turned out that it is theoretically possible to divide by zero. An operation that is considered impossible in algebra can be performed in other areas of mathematical knowledge.

The psychotherapist regularly encounters client attitudes: “you need to build a career”, “a man should earn more than a woman”, “a woman should not take the initiative when meeting men”, “I need to get married” and so on.

The Gestalt therapist checks how these attitudes relate to the real needs of the client, whether these are really his attitudes or whether they are introjects that block the development and satisfaction of true needs.

For example, a woman complains about unsuccessful attempts to build relationships with men. At the same time, she relies on some ideal idea of ​​​​what a man should be: loving, faithful, with a higher education, a decent income ... The therapist helps her realize the “ideal man” introject and her true needs, which, most likely, do not correspond to him.

3. Confluence (fusion)

How do romantic relationships usually develop in a couple? At the first stage, a man and a woman seem to merge together, they say “we” instead of “I”. It is difficult for them to leave even for a moment.

Such compatibility brings both partners pleasure. In Gestalt therapy, this mechanism is called confluence (fusion). And in this example, the manifestation of confluence is appropriate and pleasant.

Another example is a newborn baby. In the first months of life, he is in maximum merger with his mother, and this is the only way to survive, because he still cannot independently realize and satisfy his needs. However, over time, the child learns to separate from the parents. He begins to realize his needs, learns to satisfy them on his own.

The Gestalt therapist helps the client learn to notice and build boundaries, recognize and satisfy needs, separate

Another example is co-dependent relationships in the family. A wife may not be aware of her personal needs and boundaries, merge with her husband, his desires, needs, feelings, live his life. At the same time, both partners feel unhappy.

When working with codependency, the Gestalt therapist helps the client learn to notice and build boundaries, to recognize and satisfy their own needs, to separate. The client learns that there are personal spaces and needs that confluence restricts, and there are shared territories and pastimes where fusion is appropriate and beneficial.

4. Retroflection

Imagine that your boss is chastising you. You are angry: your fists are clenched, your jaws are playing. You want to express aggression, but for one reason or another you hold yourself back. This is how the mechanism of retroflection manifests itself: you want to react, express feelings, perform some action, but as if you are closing the need for yourself.

Your impulse to express resentment to your boss remains within you. Feelings are not expressed, but they do not disappear either. Unexpressed emotions begin to "eat" you from the inside, aggression can turn into auto-aggression.

If you regularly restrain yourself, do not express dissatisfaction, emotions will accumulate, and sooner or later the cup will overflow

Retroflection, like all the mechanisms described above, also has a useful function. Expressing feelings and taking actions is not always and everywhere appropriate and safe. However, it is easy not to notice that retroflection has become a habit and has begun to carry a destructive function.

Let's continue with the example of the critical boss. If you regularly restrain yourself, do not express dissatisfaction, emotions will accumulate, and sooner or later the cup will overflow. Aggression will pour out at the wrong time, in the wrong place and in the wrong quantities, and your behavior will look inadequate to the situation. In addition, it can lead to the development of psychosomatic diseases.

The Gestalt therapist helps clients find ways to get out of the “autonomy mode” and satisfy their needs by contacting the environment, people, and not lock the development of the need within themselves.

***

The presence of all these interruption mechanisms is a necessary condition for the healthy functioning of the body. The Gestalt therapist does not struggle with them - he, together with the client, explores situations in which these mechanisms begin to fail, and restores the body's ability to function holistically and harmoniously, self-regulate, contact with the environment.

I hope, reading the article, you remembered and realized how your own interruption mechanisms manifest themselves, and you can take a step towards liberation from their destructive manifestations.

About the expert

– psychologist, gestalt therapist, psychodrama therapist, organizational consultant, trainer, teacher Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Gestalt - what is it? This question is asked by many modern people, but not everyone manages to find the right answer to it. The word "gestalt" itself is of German origin. Translated into Russian, it means "structure", "image", "form".

This concept was introduced into psychiatry by the psychoanalyst Frederick Perls. He is the founder of Gestalt Therapy. Frederick Perls was a practicing psychiatrist, so all the methods he developed were primarily used to treat mental disorders, including psychoses, neuroses, etc. However, the Gestalt therapy method was very widespread. What it is, psychologists and psychiatrists working in various fields soon became interested. Such a wide popularity of Gestalt therapy is due to the presence of a reasonable and understandable theory, a wide choice of methods of working with a client or patient, as well as a high level of effectiveness.

Main advantage

The main and biggest advantage is a holistic approach to a person, which takes into account his mental, physical, spiritual and social aspects. Gestalt therapy instead of focusing on the question "Why is this happening to a person?" replaces it with the following: "What is the person feeling now, and how can this be changed?". Therapists working in this direction try to focus people's attention on the awareness of the processes that are happening to them "here and now". Thus, the client learns to be responsible for his life and for everything that happens in it, and, consequently, for making the desired changes. Perls himself considered the gestalt as a whole, the destruction of which leads to the production of fragments. The form tends to be unified, and if this does not happen, the person finds himself in an unfinished situation that puts pressure on him. There are often many unfinished gestalts in people, which are not so difficult to get rid of, it is enough to see them. The great advantage is that to find them there is no need to delve into the bowels of the unconscious, but you just need to learn to notice the obvious. The Gestalt approach is based on such principles and concepts as integrity, responsibility, the emergence and destruction of structures, incomplete forms, contact, awareness, "here and now".

The most important principle

Man is a holistic being, and he cannot be divided into any components, for example, into body and psyche or soul and body, since such artificial techniques cannot positively affect his understanding of his own inner world. A holistic gestalt consists of a personality and the space surrounding it, while mutually influencing each other. For a better understanding of this principle, one can turn to the psychology of interpersonal relationships. It makes it possible to clearly trace how much influence society has on an individual. However, by changing himself, he affects other people, who, in turn, also become different. The key concepts of the Moscow Gestalt Institute, like many others, include the concept of "contact". A person is constantly in contact with something or someone - with plants, the environment, other people, informational, bioenergetic and psychological fields. The place where the individual comes into contact with the environment is called the contact boundary. The better a person feels and the more flexible he can regulate the contact difference, the more successful he is in meeting his own needs and achieving his goals. However, this process is characterized by characteristic features that lead to disruption of the individual's productive activity in various areas of interaction. Perls Gestalt therapy is aimed at overcoming such disorders.

The principle of the emergence and destruction of gestalt structures

Using the principle of the emergence and destruction of gestalt structures, one can easily explain the behavior of a person. Each person arranges his life depending on his own needs, to which he gives priority. His actions are aimed at meeting needs and achieving existing goals. For a better understanding, consider a few examples. So, a person who wants to buy a house saves money to buy it, finds a suitable option and becomes the owner of his own home. And the one who wants to have a child, directs all his strength to achieve this goal. After the desired is achieved (the need is satisfied), the gestalt is completed and destroyed.

The concept of an incomplete gestalt

However, far from every gestalt reaches its completion (and further - destruction). What happens to some people, and why do they constantly form the same type of unfinished situation? This question has been of interest to specialists in the field of psychology and psychiatry for many years. This phenomenon is called the incomplete gestalt. Specialists who work in one Gestalt institution or another have recognized that the lives of many people are often filled with recurring typical negative situations. For example, a person, despite the fact that he does not like to be exploited, constantly finds himself in precisely such situations, and someone who does not have a personal life comes into contact with people he does not need again and again. Such "deviations" are associated precisely with incomplete "images", and the human psyche will not be able to find peace until they reach their logical end. That is, a person who has an incomplete "structure", on a subconscious level, constantly strives to create a negative incomplete situation only in order to resolve it, and finally close this issue. The Gestalt therapist artificially creates a similar situation for his client and helps to find a way out of it.

Awareness

Another basic concept of Gestalt therapy is awareness. It is worth noting that the intellectual knowledge of a person about his external and internal world has nothing to do with him. Gestalt psychology associates awareness with being in the so-called "here and now" state. It is characterized by the fact that a person performs all actions guided by consciousness and being vigilant, and does not live a mechanical life, relying solely on the stimulus-reactive mechanism, as is characteristic of an animal. Most problems (if not all) appear in a person's life for the reason that he is guided by the mind, not consciousness. But, unfortunately, the mind is a rather limited function, and people who live only by it do not even suspect that they are actually something more. This leads to the replacement of the true state of reality with an intellectual and false one, and also to the fact that the life of each person takes place in a separate illusory world. Gestalt therapists around the world, including the Moscow Gestalt Institute, are confident that in order to solve most problems, misunderstandings, misunderstandings and difficulties, a person only needs to achieve awareness of his inner and outer reality. The state of awareness does not allow people to do bad things, succumbing to impulses of random emotions, since they are always able to see the world around them as it really is.

Responsibility

From awareness of a person, another quality that is useful for him is born - responsibility. The level of responsibility for one's life directly depends on the level of clarity of the person's awareness of the surrounding reality. It is human nature to always shift the responsibility for one's failures and mistakes onto others or even higher powers, however, everyone who manages to take responsibility for himself makes a big leap on the path of individual development. Most people are not familiar with the concept of gestalt at all. What it is, they learn already at the reception of a psychologist or psychotherapist. The specialist identifies the problem and develops ways to eliminate it. It is for this that Gestalt therapy has a wide variety of techniques, among which there are both their own and borrowed from such types of psychotherapy as transactional analysis, art therapy, psychodrama, etc. According to Gestaltists, any methods can be used within their approach, which serve as a natural continuation of the "therapist-client" dialogue and enhance the processes of awareness.

Principle of "here and now"

According to him, everything really important is happening at the moment. The mind takes a person into the past (memories, analysis of past situations) or into the future (dreams, fantasies, planning), but does not give the opportunity to live in the present, which leads to the fact that life passes by. Gestalt therapists encourage each of their clients to live "here and now", without looking into the illusory world. All the work of this approach is connected with the awareness of the present moment.

Types of gestalt techniques and contracting

All techniques of Gestalt therapy are conditionally divided into "projective" and "dialogue". The former are used to work with dreams, images, imaginary dialogues, etc. The latter are painstaking work that is carried out by the therapist at the border of contact with the client. The specialist, having tracked the interruption mechanisms of the person with whom he works, turns his emotions and experiences into a part of his environment, after which he brings them to the border of contact. It is worth noting that the Gestalt techniques of both types are intertwined in work, and their clear distinction is possible only in theory. The procedure of Gestalt therapy, as a rule, begins with such a technique as the conclusion of a contract. This direction is characterized by the fact that the specialist and the client are equal partners, and the latter bears no less responsibility for the results of the work performed than the former. This aspect is just stipulated at the stage of concluding a contract. At the same moment, the client forms his goals. It is very difficult for a person who constantly avoids responsibility to agree to such conditions, and already at this stage he needs elaboration. At the stage of concluding a contract, a person begins to learn to be responsible for himself and for what happens to him.

"Hot chair" and "empty chair"

The "hot chair" technique is one of the most famous among therapists, whose place of work is the Moscow Gestalt Institute and many other structures. This method is used in group work. A "hot chair" is a place where a person sits who intends to tell those present about their difficulties. During the work, only the client and the therapist interact with each other, the rest of the group listens silently, and only at the end of the session talk about what they felt. The "empty chair" also belongs to the main Gestalt techniques. It is used to place a significant person for the client with whom he can have a dialogue, and it is not so important whether he is currently alive or has already died. Another purpose of the "empty chair" is a dialogue between different parts of the personality. This is necessary when the client has opposing attitudes that give rise to an intrapersonal conflict.

Concentration and Experimental Amplification

The Gestalt Institute calls concentration (focused awareness) its original technique. There are three levels of awareness - inner worlds (emotions, bodily sensations), outer worlds (what I see, hear), and thoughts. Keeping in mind one of the main principles of Gestalt therapy "here and now", the client tells the specialist about his awareness at the moment. For example: "Now I'm lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. I just can't relax. My heart is beating very hard. I know that there is a therapist next to me.". This technique enhances the sense of the present, helps to understand the ways of detaching a person from reality, and is also valuable information for further work with him. Another effective technique is experimental amplification. It consists in maximizing any verbal and non-verbal manifestations that are little conscious of him. For example, in the case when the client, without realizing it, often begins his conversation with the words "yes, but ...", the therapist can suggest that he begin each phrase in this way, and then the person is aware of his rivalry with others and the desire to always have the last word .

Working with polarities

This is another method that Gestalt therapy often resorts to. Techniques in this branch are often aimed at identifying opposites in personality. Among them, a special place is occupied by work with polarities. For example, a person who constantly complains that he doubts himself, the specialist suggests that he imagine himself confident, and from this position try to communicate with people around him. It is equally useful to have a dialogue between your uncertainty and confidence. For a client who does not know how to ask for help, the Gestalt therapist suggests contacting group members, sometimes even with very ridiculous requests. This technique makes it possible to expand the zone of awareness of the individual by including in it a previously inaccessible personal potential.

Dream work

This technique is used by psychotherapists of various directions, but the original Gestalt technique has its own characteristic features. Here, the specialist considers all the elements of sleep as parts of the human personality, with each of which the client must identify. This is done to assign their own projections or get rid of retroflections. In addition, in this technique, no one has canceled the use of the "here and now" principle. Thus, the client should tell the therapist about his dream as if it were something happening in the present. For example: "I am running along a forest path. I am in a great mood and I enjoy every moment spent in this forest, etc.". It is necessary that the client describe his dream "here and now" not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of other people and objects present in the vision. For example, "I am a winding forest path. A person is running along me, etc.". Thanks to its own and borrowed techniques, Gestalt therapy helps people get rid of stereotypes of thinking and all kinds of masks, and establish trusting contact with others.

The Gestalt approach takes into account heredity, the experience acquired in the first years of life, the influence of society, but at the same time it calls on each person to take responsibility for their own life and for everything that happens in it.

The founder of Gestalt therapy, Frederick Solomon Perls was a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Having received professional education from many famous representatives of psychoanalysis and psychiatry of that time, after working as a psychiatrist in Germany, in the late thirties of the twentieth century, disillusioned with psychoanalysis, he began to develop Gestalt therapy. Already in his first work, "Ego, Hunger and Aggression", published in 1942, in the chapter "Revisiting the Theory of Freud and His Method", Perls distanced himself from traditional psychoanalysis, and in time this distance would increase more and more.

Beginning in 1933, after the Nazis came to power in Germany, Perls, his wife and eldest daughter, were forced to emigrate, first to Holland, then to South Africa. In South Africa, Perls worked as a full-time army psychiatrist, and in 1946, with the rank of captain, he moved to the United States, New York.

In New York, he actively develops his own direction of psychotherapy, calling it Gestalt therapy, probably due to the great contribution of his wife Laura to the development. Laura Perls was a Gestalt psychologist who studies perception. Also, thanks to Laura, Gestalt therapy opened the way for existential trends, for example, the philosophy of Martin Buber or the existentialism of Paul Tillich.

This work leads to the fact that in 1951, with the active support of the New York group, which included Laura Perls, the American psychotherapist and playwright Paul Goodman, a student of Perls, Ralph Hefferlin developed and laid the theoretical foundations of the method based on Gestalt psychology, psychoanalytic concepts , phenomenology and existential psychology. The crown of their joint work was the fundamental work of Perls, Hefferlin and Goodman - "Gestalt therapy, arousal and growth of the human personality", which became fundamental in gestalt therapy. In the same year, Isidor From joins them, and Perls creates the Institute of Gestalt Therapy.

At the beginning of the Gestalt approach, the development of its theoretical and practical method was strongly influenced by Perls's closest associates: the doctor Kurt Goldstein, who wrote the work "The Structure of the Body", known for his perseverance and attention to the integrity of the body. Perls was his assistant for some time. Max Reingar, founder of the theater school where Perls trains. Karen Horney, Clara Gappel, Helena Deutsch, Paul Schilder, psychoanalysts who were his analysts or supervisors. Wilhelm Reich, who, with his work, in particular on the "muscle shield" and characterological structures, introduced work with the body and corporality into Gestalt therapy. Philosopher J. Smoute, who also contributed to the formation of a holistic view of man, the creator of the term "holism". Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl, German philosopher, founder of phenomenology. Who, although not a direct colleague of Perls, but his ideas about phenomenology are deeply and powerfully rooted in Gestalt therapy.

The further flourishing of Gestalt therapy was accompanied by ups and downs, and should be described in a separate material. It is worth saying that thanks to the incredible creative enthusiasm of Perls, Gestalt therapy was able to go through a sometimes difficult path, like the "68 period", and become what it is now.

After Perls' death in 1970, many followers moved to other areas of psychotherapy, or began to look for scientific and theoretical justifications, considering those that they already had insufficient. And only a few returned to the roots, and to those who continued to develop Gestalt therapy. Thanks to this, Laura Perls, Isidor Frome and other members of the group that founded Gestalt therapy gained great fame, which made it possible for the Gestalt community to rediscover the meaning of the Gestalt approach around the theory of "self" developed by Perls and Goodman in 1951.

Gestalt therapy today

Now Gestalt therapy is one of the three main psychotherapeutic directions recognized and used all over the world. Today, there are many institutions and communities of Gestaltists in the world engaged in the practice and teaching of Gestalt therapy. Most are united in large communities and organizations of a global scale. Here are some of them:

FORGE (International Federation of Gestalt Training Organizations): holds Congresses to which the leading staff of Gestalt training institutes (Rectors and Vice-Chancellors, Directors and their Deputies) are invited. The Congresses discuss topics related to theory, practice and research in the field of teaching Gestalt therapy, as well as inviting teaching Gestalt therapists to conduct workshops at the Institutes that are part of FORGE.

GATLA (Los Angeles Association of Gestalt Therapists): This is one of the world's oldest Gestalt Therapy training programs, having been formed in the early 1960s when Fritz Perls, along with Jim Simkin, developed the training program in Los Angeles. And today GATLA brings together therapists from more than 30 countries. For almost 50 years there have been training programs in Europe and America.

EAGT (The European Association for Gestalt Therapy): association of European Gestalt therapists, Gestalt training institutes and national Gestalt Associations to promote the spread of Gestalt therapy in Europe, share knowledge and resources, establish high professional standards in Gestalt therapy and encourage research in this area.

ARGI (Association "Federation of Russian-speaking Gestalt Institutes"): the founders of ARGI were Nifont Dolgopolov (MIGiP), Daniil Khlomov (MGI), Oleg Nemirinsky (MIGTIK) and Natalia Lebedeva (SPIG). The main goal of ARGI is to maintain effective areas of activity of Gestalt institutions in Russia and to promote the social status of the Gestalt approach.

In Russia, there are many institutes where Gestalt students study, among them there are four leading ones: the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama (MIGIP), the Moscow Institute of Gestalt (MGI), the St. Petersburg Institute of Gestalt (SPIG), the Eastern European Gestalt Institute (VEGI ).

From year to year, the number of practitioners is growing, their competence is deepening and expanding, and with the advent of the latest technologies for studying the human brain and psyche, the achievements of medicine and neuroscience, new studies are being conducted confirming the effectiveness of Gestalt therapy.

At the same time, the 21st century, distinguished by its direction towards integration, brings its own spirit into Gestalt therapy: now one can notice a gradual assimilation with other methods and approaches, psychoanalysis, from which Perls once distanced himself, psychodrama, art therapy, and even, in some aspects, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

Gestalt therapy method

In Gestalt therapy, one of the most important principles of working with a client is the awareness of what is happening at the current moment at various interconnected and inextricably linked levels: bodily, emotional and intellectual. This important experience of what is happening "here and now" affects the entire organism in all its manifestations, due to the fact that it contains memories, previous experiences, dreams, unfinished situations, foresights and intentions.

This is the essence of Gestalt therapy: not to explain to the client, but to give him the opportunity to be whole, inseparable, present here and now, to understand and respect himself. The first part of the name, the word Gestalt comes from the German Gestalt, which means "a whole image."

What happens in the process of Gestalt therapy is an exploration of the client's experience of contact with himself, other people and with the environment around him. The main psychotherapeutic process focuses on the awareness of how a person contacts, how he can interrupt this experience, notice or ignore his needs and desires, regularly repeat past experiences and situations, stop creative adaptation to the environment. Awareness makes it possible for a person to notice what is happening to him, what was not obvious before, to realize his needs, and to regain the opportunity and ability to make a choice.

Basic concepts of Gestalt therapy

Field "organism - environment"

Gestalt therapy implies that the organism cannot exist outside the environment and without the environment (there is no organism without the environment). Therefore, the organism and its environment are understood and considered as a whole, inseparable from each other. This indivisibility of the field underlies the theory of the Gestalt therapy method. In the light of such a view, the environment appears not as a poorly defined space around the organism, but as a concrete world, and the world of a specific person.

Contact and contact boundary are the basic concepts of Gestalt therapy. Contact is both the awareness of the field and the physical act of "contacting" with it. And at the same time, it is the acceptance or rejection of what contact happens with, what the environment is filled with. And it is with the help of contact that the organism feels its difference, and thanks to the preservation of contact, it retains its difference.

The boundary of contact is the place, the point where the organism comes into contact with its environment. It always comes from within, and continues already in the outside world. "... The contact boundary, for example, sensitive skin, is not so much a part of the "organism" as an organ of a special connection between the organism and the environment" (Perls).

Awareness

One of the most important terms that is constantly used in the therapeutic process is "awareness". This awareness occurs immediately, here and now, and is different from reflection, stretched over time. The English language uses the word "awareness", which means immediate awareness of everything that happens in the moment - feelings, thoughts, actions, manifestations of the body, other people, the environment. Such awareness has, among other things, an integrating function, as if collecting into one whole everything that happens at different levels of perception.

The Gestalt therapist helps the client to learn to be aware, to do it consciously and at any time, to get out of fixation, a still state, in order to achieve real contact with the environment.

Here and now

The principle that says that the most relevant for the client occurs in the present, whether it be feelings, thoughts, actions, relationships, and so on. Due to the principle of here and now, or here and now, the process of awareness is more intense and pronounced.

Responsibility is the ability of a person to realize, accept the consequences of his own actions and choices, both positive and negative, to continue to live with these consequences. Responsibility is associated with awareness. The more a person is aware of reality, the more he is able to be responsible for his life - for his desires, actions, to rely on himself.

Self-regulation

Perls (1973) puts it this way: "The organism strives to maintain a balance which, because of its needs, is constantly disturbed and which is then restored when the needs are satisfied or eliminated." Self-regulation does not guarantee good health, but it does ensure that the body does what it can with what it has at its disposal. If a person lacks something, then he tries to fill the gap; if there is a lot of something, then the body gets rid of the excess.

creative fixture

It is a synthesis of adaptation and creativity. Adaptation in Gestalt refers to the interaction of the needs of the organism with the environment. Creativity is the ability to seek and find new solutions, the most suitable, the best possible, based on what is "at hand" or by obtaining something new. Creative adaptation is the ability to connect one with the other, and establish a balance between the needs of the body and what the environment provides. Developing creative accommodation in the client is an important part of the Gestalt therapist's work.

Gestalt Therapy Techniques

It's a little funny that a fairly large part of psychologists, and not only, defines Gestalt therapy according to various methods. So, for example, the technique of dialogue with an empty chair, which metaphorically represents someone significant in the client's life, probably known to most readers, was borrowed by Perls, at the end of his life, from Moreno's psychodrama.

It is important to understand that any techniques are just ways to implement the very essence of Gestalt therapy, its fundamental approach, and in general, with sufficient skill, a Gestalt therapist can use any technique from other approaches, as long as they are compatible with the method and relevant. to the here and now. Techniques in the Gestalt approach are not an end in themselves. The Gestalt approach is mainly focused on working on awareness ("awareness") of what is happening at the contact boundary, and the possibility of exercising or restoring the ability for creative adaptation in contact with the environment.

Due to this high plasticity, the forms that therapy can take change with each new client, providing an individual approach, emphasizing the uniqueness of each person, his life experience. Also, the process and form of therapy may vary depending on the personality, individual experience, sensibility of each individual therapist.

And yet, there are basic techniques that are constantly, one way or another, used in the work of Gestalt therapists.

And the first of these is experimentation, the core of the method. In addition to high efficiency, it provides a unique originality of Gestalt therapy. In the course of therapy, the client is invited not only to talk about anything, but to expand his story based on the principle of "here and now".

For example, a therapist might:

• Focus the client on awareness, for example by inviting them to notice, feel, and become aware of some phenomenon occurring in the current therapy process, such as breathing, emotions, or bodily manifestations.
• Offer to implement a metaphor that the client can use ("I feel under pressure!", "I feel like I'm in a cage", "I want to be treated like a child").

The therapist may ask for intensification or emphasis on the identified phenomenon, whereby information can be obtained, "what will happen" in situations that are difficult or impossible to model in action.

Some form of projection can be used to explore fantasies, catastrophic expectations, unfinished situations, or "frozen" situations that seem impossible to resolve. Experimentation provides ample opportunities for a deep study of the boundaries of one's own "I" and contact: restrictions on the manifestation of oneself, boundaries of self-expression, ways to interrupt contact, sensations, movements, values, etc.

Here and now

This principle has become a symbol, the slogan of Gestalt therapy, by which it is uniquely identified among psychologists. However, there is some misunderstanding of this principle: there is an opinion that for Gestalt therapy with its principle of "here and now", the client's past and future are not at all interesting. Of course, this is not so: the past is undoubtedly important as well as the present and the future. Moreover, "here and now" is not a "mantra" to be hammered into the client.

The principle of "here and now", or "here and now", is the therapist's working tool necessary to draw the client's attention to the fact that "it is now that you remember" or that "it is now that you anticipate events." And if, through experimentation, the client can open access to some solutions and to the implementation of creative adaptation, then only in the present can this happen.

Perls repeated many times that "nothing exists but the present"; meaning that the present contains the past and the future. That is why there is no constant need to return to the past, because it is already here, denounced in life experience, unfolding right here and now.

Dream work

Once upon a time, thanks to an approach to dreams, the hour of glory struck for Perls in his last years of life. He considered a dream as a set of projections of individual parts of the dreamer's personality, allowing him to discover some kind of "existential message" with which the sleeper addresses himself. This work is a little theatrical, partly taken from psychodrama, which, however, only adds not only spectacularity, but also efficiency.

body work

The Gestalt therapist takes a holistic approach to the client's experience. And this means that the therapist takes into account both bodily and emotional manifestations, as well as the cognitive processes and other phenomena of the client with which the therapist works, and can use this to be in contact with the client.

It also means that the therapist does not share what we are accustomed to share: that "body" is one thing and "mind" is another. "Body" or "emotions" are particular manifestations of human experience. In pathological processes, these manifestations can be disturbed or closed, and, of course, they cannot be considered separately if the goal of our work is to restore their integrity.

Practical training and education for Gestalt therapists

All Gestalt therapy training takes place in an atmosphere of care and safety created by trainers. Thanks to the atmosphere of safety, unhurriedness, students have the opportunity not only to receive high-quality training in psychotherapy, but also to deeply know themselves, their own boundaries, opportunities, work through the difficulties that prevent them from living comfortably and happily. The preparation of a Gestalt therapist takes place during two main and one additional cycle.

The first cycle is a closed therapeutic group, where once a month, for six months, basic training in the basics of the method takes place, combined with group psychotherapy, which takes a large amount of time. This method of learning through immersion in the method is effective, due to the fact that during the training in the group, each participant undergoes intensive therapy, working through their own internal difficulties, gaining valuable experience in contact with themselves and others, while simultaneously studying the basic foundations of Gestalt therapy and here and putting them into practice.

The second cycle takes from two to four years, depending on how the curriculum is designed, and includes 20 blocks of three days. In this cycle, the main training of Gestalt therapy, the method, techniques, and the basics of psychological counseling takes place. This stage simultaneously allows you to deepen the already acquired knowledge and skills, and in addition, partially, but to a much lesser extent, continue working on yourself with the help of Gestalt therapy in a group, and lay the practical and theoretical foundations of Gestalt therapy. Each phase of learning is a combination of science teaching, lived experience and learning by doing.

At the end of the second cycle, students who decide to become Gestalt therapists undergo certification, which is a theoretical and practical exam. To be admitted to the exams, the student must regularly submit to one of the coaches the protocols of the exercises performed in special mini-groups, traditionally called triplets. Such groups are formed at the end of the first block of the second cycle, and students work in them until they complete their studies.

In addition, during the training it is also necessary to go through about 80 hours of personal therapy and supervision, attend a certain number (different, depending on the issuing organization) of intensive courses and conferences. These requirements must also be met in order to be eligible for certification.

The third, additional cycle, is open after the completion of the previous two cycles and exams for those who want to deepen their professional education, gaining practical knowledge of working with a therapeutic group and various complex topics, specific requests that require additional knowledge and skills.

In Russia today there are many institutions and communities involved in the professional training or retraining of Gestalt therapists, who differ both in their approach to training and in the quality of education. Among them all, four major institutions stand out:

1. - one of the leading Russian educational institutions responsible for educational programs on the Gestalt approach and psychodrama. Created in 1996 by Nifont Borisovich Dolgopolov, MIGiP is a co-founder of the Association of Russian-speaking Gestalt Institutes (ARGI), the Federation of Psychodramatic Training Institutes of Russia (FPTIR) and is one of the four basic Russian institutions in both the field of teaching the Gestalt method and psychodrama.

The Institute is a member of the main international professional associations of Gestalt therapy and psychodrama: FEPTO (Federation of Europian Psychodrama Training Organization) - Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations, FORGE (International Federation of Gestalt Training Organization) - Federation of Organizations Teaching Gestalt Therapy, AAGT (The Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy) - Association for the Development of Gestalt Therapy, IAGP (International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes) - International Association for Group Psychotherapy, EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy) - European Association for Gestalt Therapy. MIGIP has established its centers and representative offices of the Institute in many cities of Russia and abroad.

2. The Society of Practicing Psychologists "Gestalt Approach", founded in the early 90s by Daniil Khlomov, which aims to support and develop Gestalt therapy based on the Moscow Gestalt Institute program in accordance with the MGI and EAGT standards; MGI also has a developed network of representative offices in Russia.

3. grew up from the St. Petersburg Center for Gestalt Therapy, founded in 1994. She trains specialists in the field of psychotherapy, organizational and psychological counseling, she is also a member of the main professional associations of Gestalt therapy and has representative offices in Russian cities.

4. . VEGI has existed since 1996. The programs of the Institute are developed in accordance with the standards adopted in Russia for advanced training, retraining and specialization in the field of Gestalt therapy and Gestalt counseling. The Eastern European Gestalt Institute is embedded in an international network of organizations practicing Gestalt and teaching the Gestalt approach to consulting, business and organizational development.

Conclusion

Gestalt therapy is an amazing deep psychotherapeutic approach that successfully combines the achievements of psychological science and practice, the therapeutic experience of the founders and modern practitioners. Thanks to the concept of integrity, in Gestalt therapy there is great respect for a person, for each of his manifestations, and through this an opportunity for acceptance and support opens up.

The use of the phenomenological approach, the principle of "here and now", allows the client to independently, without additional interpretations of the therapist, feel and understand what is happening with him and around him, noticing the features of his contact with the environment, building boundaries, feeling what is happening on the border of contact.

Gestalt therapy may not be developing as fast as other approaches right now, but this type of therapy is widespread and actively influencing other areas. Based on the totality of human experience in all its aspects: bodily, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, Gestalt therapy has great potential and remains the leading type of psychotherapy.

Bibliography:

1. "Ego, hunger and aggression" - Frederick Perls.
2. "In and Out of the Garbage Bucket" - Frederick Perls.
3. "Gestalt therapy" - Robin Jean-Marie.
4. "Construction and destruction of gestalts" - RobinJean-Marie.

To report a bug, select the text and press Ctrl+Enter

The unfamiliar word "Gestalt" still cuts the ear for many, although, if you look, Gestalt therapy is not such a stranger. Many of the concepts and techniques developed by her over the 50 years of her existence have become literally "folk", as they are somehow included in various areas of modern psychotherapy. This is the principle of "here and now", borrowed from Eastern philosophy; a holistic approach that considers man and the world as a holistic phenomenon. This is the principle of self-regulation and interchange with the environment and the paradoxical theory of change: they occur when a person becomes what he is, and does not try to be what he is not. This is, finally, the “empty chair” technique, when you express your claims not to a real, but to an imaginary interlocutor - a boss, a friend, your own laziness.

Gestalt therapy is the most universal direction of psychotherapy, which provides the basis for any work with the inner world - from dealing with children's fears to coaching the first persons. Gestalt therapy perceives a person as a holistic phenomenon, in which at the same time and constantly there is a conscious and unconscious, body and mind, love and hate, the past and plans for the future. And all this is only here and now, because the past is no more, and the future has not yet come. Man is so constituted that he cannot exist in isolation, as a “thing in itself”. The external world is by no means hostile to us (as psychoanalysis claimed), on the contrary, it is the environment that feeds us and in which our life is the only possible one. Only in contact with the outside world can we take what we lack and give what overflows us. When this interchange is disrupted, we freeze and life becomes like an abandoned circus arena, where the lights went out a long time ago, the spectators left, and we habitually keep walking and walking in circles.

The goal of Gestalt therapy is not even to understand why we walk in this circle, but to restore freedom in relations with the world: we are free to leave and return, run in circles or sleep in the open.

granddaughter for grandmother

Gestalt therapy is called the granddaughter of psychoanalysis. Its founder, the Austrian psychiatrist Frederick Perls, was a Freudian at the beginning of his professional career, but, like any good student, he went further than his teacher, combining Western psychotherapeutic schools with the ideas of Eastern philosophy. To create a new direction (however, as well as for Perls's personal life), his acquaintance with Laura, a doctor of Gestalt psychology, who later became his wife, played an important role. The word gestalt (German) itself does not have an exact translation. Approximately, it denotes a complete image, an integral structure. At the beginning of the 20th century, a school of experimental psychology arose, called Gestalt psychology. Its essence is that we perceive the world as a set of integral images and phenomena (gestalts). Narmiper, bkuvy in solva can sleoavt in loubm brighter - we still understand the meaning. If we see something unfamiliar, the brain first quickly tries to find what it looks like and fit new information to it. And only if this fails, the orienting reflex turns on: “What is it?”

The postulates of the new direction were strongly influenced by the field theory developed by the Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin. In fact, this discovery showed that the world has everything we need, but we only see what we want to see, what is important to us at the moment of our lives, and the rest becomes an inconspicuous background, rushing past like a landscape outside a car window. When we are cold - we dream of warmth and comfort, when we are looking for boots - we look at everyone's feet. When we are in love, all other men cease to exist for us.

Another theory - "incomplete actions" - experimentally found that unfinished business is best remembered. Until the work is done, we are not free. She holds us like an invisible leash, preventing us from leaving. We all know perfectly well how it happens, because everyone at least once wandered around the table with an unfinished term paper, unable to write it, but also unable to do something else.

In Perls' life, a series of encounters occurred that influenced the emergence of the theory of Gestalt therapy. For some time he worked as an assistant to the doctor Kurt Goldstein, who practiced a holistic approach to a person, not considering it possible to divide him into organs, parts or functions. Thanks to Wilhelm Reich, who introduced the bodily dimension into psychotherapeutic work, Gestalt therapy became the first direction that considers bodily manifestations not as separately existing symptoms that require treatment, but as one of the ways of experiencing internal, emotional conflicts. Perls's views were also strongly influenced by the existentialist ideas of the 1920s and 1930s.

And, finally, the essence and philosophy of Gestalt therapy, its view of the world as a process, and of a person as a traveler, her love of paradoxes, the desire for the truth hidden in the depths of everyone - all this amazingly resonates with the ideas of Buddhism and Taoism.

mission Possible

Perls based his theory on the idea of ​​balance and self-regulation, that is, in essence, on the wisdom of nature. If nothing interferes with a person, he will inevitably be happy and satisfied - like a tree growing in favorable conditions, able to take everything necessary for its own growth. We are the children of this world, and it has everything we need to be happy.

Perls created a beautiful theory about the cycle of contact with the environment. What it is can be easily understood by a simple example of your lunch. How does it all start? First you feel hungry. From this feeling, a desire is born - to satisfy hunger. Then you correlate your desire with the surrounding reality and start looking for ways to realize it. And finally, there comes the moment of meeting with the object of your need. If everything went as it should, you are satisfied with the process and the result, you are full and almost happy. The cycle is complete.

There are many small ones included in this big cycle of contact: perhaps you had to finish or reschedule some business in order to go to lunch, or you went to lunch with one of your colleagues. You had to get dressed to go out, and then choose from a variety of dishes what you want (and can afford) right now. Similarly, the lunch itself could be included in a larger gestalt called "Business meeting" (or "Romantic date", or "Finally see you"). And this gestalt is even bigger (“Job Search”, “Career Advancement”, “Crazy Affair”, “Creating a Family”). So our whole life (and the life of all mankind) is like a nesting doll, made up of different gestalts: from crossing the street to the construction of the Great Wall of China, from a minute conversation with a friend on the street to fifty years of family life.

The reasons for our dissatisfaction in life lie in the fact that some cycles of contact are interrupted somewhere, gestalts remain incomplete. And at the same time, on the one hand, we are busy (until the work is done, we are not free), and on the other hand, we are hungry, because satisfaction is possible only when the job is done (dinner is eaten, the wedding took place, life is good).

And here is one of the key points of Gestalt therapy. Perls focused not on how the outside world interferes with us, but on how we prevent ourselves from being happy. Since (we recall the field theory) there is everything in this world, but for us there is only that which we ourselves distinguish from the background. And we can single out either our powerlessness in the face of the evil circumstances that did not let us dine, or the opportunity to somehow change them. Those who want - are looking for ways, and those who do not want - reasons. And in fact, people differ from each other not so much in what circumstances they got, but in how they react to them. Obviously, an employee who tends to feel powerless in front of a tyrant boss is much more likely to remain hungry, because he stops himself much more effectively than his boss.

The task of therapy is to find a place and a way to break contact, to find out how and why a person stops himself, and to restore the normal cycle of events in nature.

stereo effect

Gestalt therapy is sometimes referred to as contact therapy. This is her uniqueness. Until now, this is the only practice in which the therapist works "by himself", in contrast to classical psychoanalysis, where the most neutral position ("blank slate") is maintained. During the session, the Gestalt therapist has the right to his own feelings and desires and, being aware of them, presents them to the client if the process requires it. People turn to a therapist when they want to change something - in themselves or in their lives. But he abandons the role of a person who "knows how to do it", does not give directives or interpretations, as in psychoanalysis, and becomes one who facilitates the client's meeting with his essence. The therapist himself embodies that piece of the world with which the client is trying to build a habitual (and ineffective) relationship. The client, communicating with the therapist, seeks to transfer to him his stereotypes about people, about how they “should” behave and how they “usually” react to him, and encounters a spontaneous reaction from the therapist, who does not consider it necessary to adapt to a changing world with whom he is in contact. Very often, this reaction does not fit into the "script" of the client and forces the latter to take a decisive step beyond the usual barrier of their expectations, ideas, fears or resentments. He begins to explore his reactions to an unfamiliar situation - right here and now - and his new opportunities or limitations. And in the end it comes to the fact that, building relationships, everyone can remain himself and at the same time maintain intimate contact with another. He gains or regains the lost freedom to get out of the scenario, out of the familiar circle. He himself receives the experience of a new, different interaction. Then he can already integrate this experience into his life.

The purpose of such therapy is to return the person to himself, to restore the freedom to deal with his life. The client is not a passive object of analysis, but an equal creator and participant in the therapeutic process. After all, only he himself knows where his magic door and the golden key to it are. Even if he forgot well or does not want to look in the right direction, but he knows.

Responsible for everything

There are several "whales" on which the earth called "Gestalt therapy" rests.

Awareness- sensual experience, experiencing oneself in contact. This is one of those moments when I know “in my gut” who I am, who I am and what is happening to me. It is experienced as insight, and at some point in life awareness becomes continuous.

Awareness inevitably entails responsibility, but not as guilt, but as authorship: this is not happening to me, this is how I live. It’s not my head that hurts, but I feel pain and constriction in my head, I’m not being manipulated, but I agree to be the object of manipulation. Initially, the acceptance of responsibility causes resistance, as it deprives one of the huge benefits from psychological games and shows the "wrong side" of human exploits and suffering. But if we find the courage to face our "shadow", we will be rewarded - we begin to understand that we have power over our own lives and over relationships with other people. After all, if I do it, then I can redo it! We master our possessions and sooner or later reach their borders.

So, after experiencing the euphoria of power, we meet with the uncontrollable - with time and losses, with love and sadness, with our own strength and weakness, with the decisions and actions of other people. We humble ourselves and accept not only this world, but also ourselves in it, after which the therapy ends, and life continues.

The principle of reality. It is easy to explain, but difficult to accept. There is a certain reality (given to us in sensations), but there is also our opinion about it, our interpretation of what is happening. These reactions are much more diverse than facts, and they often turn out to be so much stronger than sensations that we solve the problem for a long time and seriously: is the king naked or am I stupid?

Gestalt therapy is sometimes referred to as "obvious therapy". The therapist relies not on the thoughts of the client and not on his generalizations, but on what he sees and hears. He avoids judgments and interpretations, but asks “what?” questions. And How?". Practice has shown that it is enough to focus on the process (what is happening and how it happens), and not on the content (what is being discussed), for a person to exclaim the same “aha!”. A common reaction to a meeting with reality is resistance, because a person is deprived of illusions, rose-colored glasses. “Yes, it was true. But some treacherous truth,” admitted one of the members of the group. In addition, reality sometimes forces a person to admit that the king is really naked, and then it will no longer be possible to live as before. And the novelty is scary.

Here and now. There is no future yet, the past has already happened, we live in the present. Only here and now I am writing this text, and you are reading it, or remembering what happened, or making plans for the future. Only here and now is change possible.

This principle does not negate our past at all. The experience of the client, the field of his life does not disappear anywhere and determines his behavior at every moment, including during the session. And yet, here and now, he is talking to a therapist - and why about this? What is here and now that could be useful (at the moment)?

Dialog in Gestalt therapy, it is a meeting of two worlds: client and therapist, person and person. When the worlds come into contact, in this contact it is possible to explore the boundary that exists between "me" and "not-me". The client (sometimes for the first time!) gets the experience of experiences that arise in the process of interaction with someone who is “not me” while maintaining their own identity. These are the I-You relationships in which there is I with my feelings, You with my feelings and that living, unique thing that happens between them (it happens for the first time, this minute and will never happen again).

This is a unique experience because the therapist is a person outside the client's life who doesn't want anything from the client, and can really allow the client to be themselves and experience what they are experiencing without trying to influence their feelings.

Gestalt therapy is beyond morality and politics. Its only task is to make the inner world of the client accessible to him, to return the person to himself. She has no educational goals. It doesn’t matter to her whether a person grows cabbages or rules a kingdom - it is important that everyone lives their own life, does their own thing and loves with their love.

Walking together

In classical psychoanalysis and in everyday consciousness, individuality and society are opposed to each other. In everyday life, we often have the idea (and feeling) that another person limits our freedom, because it ends where the nose of a neighbor begins. Then the most logical conclusion seems to be that the fewer people around and the farther we are from them, the more free we are, the easier it is to be ourselves. That is, speaking psychologically, loneliness is necessary for deep individualization. In most philosophical practices, the process of individualization involves immersion in oneself and withdrawal from the world.

Perhaps at some stage it is really necessary. But Gestalt therapy says that in order to come to yourself, you must come to others. Go to another person - and there you will find your essence. Go into the world and there you will find yourself.

But why does contact with the world and another person allow for individualization? Alone with ourselves, we can think whatever we want about ourselves. But we will never know if this is true until we interact with the world. A person may think that he can easily lift a car until he tries - in fact, this ability does not exist, but there are only fantasies about it. This is a false self, a false uniqueness. True uniqueness involves real action in the real world.

What happens to our uniqueness when it meets the uniqueness of another? Only in contact with the world (another person) does our uniqueness become practical. Two realities collide, giving birth to a third. Thus, the socialization of individuality takes place: the originality of a person is the uniqueness of his functions, and this determines his value for others. The individuality brought to the border of contact turns into a function for others. For example: "I am authoritarian" - Well, then lead. “I am a poet” - “And make your soul sing.”

Thus, we go beyond the definition of society as a constraining framework and prescriptions, they simply cease to play a defining role. What becomes significant in a person is of value to others. And what in others is of value to this person. This is our experience, experiences and ideas, our unique features or simply abilities that the other does not have. This conditions our need for each other and determines our relationship.

Very sharp eye

Remember the prayer attributed to the Optina elders: “Lord, give me the strength to change what I cannot bear! Lord, give me patience to endure what I cannot change! And, Lord, give me wisdom to distinguish the first from the second!” I have the impression that Gestalt therapy is gradually teaching me this wisdom. It has made my life interesting because it helps me to be very selective, to quickly refuse what does not suit me, to seek and find what I need. And everything that happens in my life: people, work, hobbies, books - this is what I like, interesting and necessary.

Gestalt therapy also gave me peace. I can trust the river that is my life. It lets me know when and where I need to be alert, and when and where I can drop the oars and just surrender to the flow and the sun.