Gestalt therapy (holistic-figurative approach) is a humanistic approach based on specific experiments, aimed at “realizing” the actual needs of the present moment. If you ask what it is in simple words, then we can say that this is the creation and consolidation of the image of the patient's personality as an integral phenomenon (gestalt).

The founder of Gestalt therapy, Fritz Perls, said that it is important for a person to understand their needs, abilities and desires. But, life develops in such a way that the influence of the environment on us often replaces our ideas and aspirations with the attitudes and hopes of other people.

These people are most often close and significant to us, so the mentioned "interventions" are not always adequately assessed by us. Or maybe there just comes a moment when our attitudes diverge from those of others. That is why there are basic principles, the first of which is: "here and now."

No need to seek out past grievances and delve into past emotions. The patient discusses what is happening now. And this "now" is not today or the last hour. This is the concept of the current moment. And it is it that provokes those experiences and reactions that are relevant and important for the body.

Perls' Gestalt therapy began in the late 1940s as a kind of re-evaluation of the psychoanalytic approach. However, in the future, it largely acquired its own postulates.

First, the more passive role of the psychologist himself was clearly reconsidered. What is a Gestalt Therapist? First of all, it is the same person as the patient. He is an active participant in the process, who can discuss certain things, express his attitude to something, give examples from his experience.

In addition, initial therapy could often provoke disputes between patient and therapist. (which, by the way, many followers now refuse), although this remains the norm for conducting a session. If we recall many other approaches, the psychotherapist plays a much more passive role in them. He can only suggest or slightly guide the patient. But, the conclusions are made by the client himself, and it is his interpretation that is accepted as correct.

Currently, Gestalt therapy is successfully used both as an independent type of assistance and as certain exercises and tasks. The only thing other than reducing the number of disputes with clients is the reduction in the number of group sessions. The fact is that the need to maintain confidentiality forces one to switch to individual consultations. By the way, for many they are more convenient and are rated by customers as more comfortable.

The main process of therapy

The Gestalt approach is, in fact, an experiment, highlighting phenomenological nuances. The experiment is in the story. It can be just a story about what the person wants to talk about. Or he is asked to talk about an event in his life or talk about a hypothetical situation.

One of the famous tricks is the “empty chair method” or monodrama. It consists in the fact that the patient imagines someone in the proposed empty chair and begins to have a conversation with him. Moreover, even the patient himself can be represented on the chair. The features of therapy are: active intervention in the process of the therapist (he can clarify something, focus on something); the duration of the session is not initially specified (it all depends on the needs of the client).

Several examples describing this method concerned the complaints of several women that they could not lose weight in any way. Naturally, they all imagined different people in the chair and at the end of therapy came to an understanding of what kind of problems they were “jamming” with: the lack of intimate relationships, the fear of making decisions on their own, the desire to drown out painful experiences.

The main point, which is negotiated before the start of the session, and which is discussed after, is the fixation of the so-called "phenomena". This is all that is a signal of significance.

Such phenomena can be:

• suddenly surging emotions;
• a change in the tone of the voice, its trembling or general stammering and stuttering;
• certain postures, gestures, facial expressions;
• bodily sensations (fever, chills, trembling, goosebumps, tingling, numbness);

But, once again, let's pay attention to the fact that only those phenomena that are manifested and revealed at the present moment are considered. Even if the events of bygone years are discussed. If the patient says, "I was trembling then," it does not count.

By learning to notice phenomena, the client develops the "awareness" mentioned earlier. And the more productively he will do this during the sessions, the more successfully he will track them in everyday life.

At the end of the session, the therapist discusses the phenomena with the client, points out the reactions he missed and asks to follow them in the future. In this regard, themes of the needs and expectations of the client emerge. It is discussed how this might relate to the current issues, what is actually happening. And also what are the expectations of other people in relation to the client and his attitude towards them (these expectations).

According to the principle of Gelstalt psychotherapy, a dialogue should be established between the patient and the therapist. This is another important point of the approach. The Gestalt therapist for the client is not a faceless person who generalizes, it is a person who actively talks, stimulates, argues, directs and supports. Although, unlike the early masters of therapy, the current approach tends to express more empathy and compassion towards the client.

The basic principle of the concept of personality in Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy takes its main provisions, methods and techniques from the principle that a person's personality consists of three components:

• mixtures of bodily-emotional processes;
• collections of memorization and memory;
• decision-making and choice function.

Personality in Gestalt therapy is a continuous interaction with oneself and the environment in the broadest sense of the word. And the most important component in the interaction is the feeling of “border-contact”, when on the one hand a person actively interacts, communicates, learns, and so on. And on the other hand, it retains its isolation, not completely dissolving in the environment.

This, in turn, gives rise to the concept of "holicity", that is, creative adaptation to the surrounding reality and taking responsibility for both actions and the process of inaction.

By the way, the Helstatists believed that attempts to interpret past events did not bring the desired result, diverting attention from pressing problems and exacerbating the situation.

Another interesting point is related to the concept of resistance. Gestalt theory considers it as one of the options for human interaction with the environment, which at the moment is the most acceptable for him. Therefore, some Gestalt therapy techniques are aimed at working with patients who are currently in a state of resistance, such as drug or alcohol addicts.

Speaking of Gestalt therapy and discussing exercises, one cannot help but recall the “Gestalt prayer”. This short text, which caused a certain amount of criticism. But, in fact, it shows the basic principle of the approach. The main point is positioned in it: each person is a separate person. And interaction between people is possible only if this rule is observed.

Modern Followers of Gestalt Therapy

Until now, Gestalt therapy is a popular and sought-after direction both abroad and in domestic practice.

One of the most famous centers is MIGTI - Moscow Institute of Gestalt Therapy and Counseling. He is involved in both the training of therapists and the provision of services. In particular, he develops such areas as:

In addition, the institute offers many courses for non-psychologists and field trainings. The Institute of Gestalt Therapy cooperates directly with such outstanding contemporary therapists as Gianni Francesetti, Peter Plippson, Edward Lynch.

Why is there so much negativity?

Despite the long journey of Gestalt therapy, reviews of it are sometimes very negative. Many even classify this approach as “pseudo-scientific”. Why? One of the most important differences from other approaches is the significant function of the therapist as an active participant in the learning process and in therapy itself.

Therefore, naturally, the less clearly defined the therapist's actions are, leaving room for freedom of action, the less experience he has, the more likely that therapy (or teaching it) will not be liked.

In addition, there are persistent myths regarding Gestalt psychology:

• Expressing feelings is the most important thing.

Many young therapists constantly have clients describe their feelings as they talk. As a result, one gets the impression that this is the most important thing. And from here comes the conviction that therapy is at the level of divination, meditation, astral cleansing and mantras.

In fact, the reproduction of feelings helps to establish contact between the therapist and the patient and, most importantly, to realize the need behind the feeling. "I'm angry at my parents..." What is the need behind this? And the need to develop is not at all in that, not there and not like that.

• Feel the need - satisfy!

Yes, a postulate that has a place to be. But, therapy is aimed rather not at satisfaction as such, but at awareness of one's responsibility. Including in front of yourself. And if you have not allowed yourself anything, it is worth trying to satisfy your needs. But, again, I will make a reservation, you make a decision: to satisfy or not.

• Spontaneity or irresponsibility?

Gestalt therapy is very fond of the concept of spontaneity. Perls also suggested "feeling like a child." But understanding this depends on each client and therapist. For some, enuresis is an option to feel like a child and show spontaneity. However, the whole point is that spontaneity opens up our deepest needs. It is always controlled and arbitrary. And the main thing is not to confuse it with involuntary impulsivity.

• I'm a bastard and I'm proud of it!

Well, the most persistent myth of Gestalt therapy is about acceptance. I am who I am. Yes, this is a fundamental part of Gestalt therapy. But, understanding and accepting yourself with all your shortcomings is the way to self-improvement and understanding. And not to pride that you, for example, are an alcoholic or a terrible egoist.

And finally, I want to say one important point. Any psychotherapy assumes that the client must be impressed by the therapist. After all, a psychologist is the same person as, by and large, the client himself.

In addition, different techniques are designed for a different number of sessions, but still there will be no “one magic pill” in one session. It is necessary to go through at least ten sessions of any therapy in order to feel the first results. But, if you clearly didn’t like something, don’t immediately blame the technique. Perhaps you did not fit the way of submitting this method. Try to find another specialist.

Integration of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy, created by Frederick Perls in the early 1950s, spread to the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. in connection with the growth of the "movement for the actualization of human potential", where it becomes on a par with such traditional areas of psychotherapy in the treatment of emotional disorders as psychoanalysis and behavioral therapy. With regard to Western Europe, back in 1984, R. Tillet (R. Tillet) pointed out that in England only a few psychiatrists are familiar with the theory and methods of this therapy. According to this author, the "overseas reputation" and the radical nature of Gestalt therapy are to blame for this. Perls was convinced that a truly holistic (holistic) view of the person and psychotherapy requires significant de-intellectualization. The Western intellect, according to Perls, becomes a pale and feeble substitute for direct feeling and experience. Perls believed that intelligence in Western culture is overused and overused, especially in an attempt to understand human nature. He believed more in what he called "the wisdom of the organism," and this wisdom he understood as a kind of intuition, based more on emotions than on intellect. Perls often compared intelligence to a computer. The constant desire to find out why something happens that prevents people from experiencing, how it happens: genuine emotional awareness is blocked by invented explanations. Explanation, according to Perls, is a feature of the intellect that has nothing to do with understanding. Perls' anti-intellectual stance is reflected in his famous aphorism: "Forget your mind and trust your feelings."

K. Rudestam, evaluating Gestalt therapy, writes that Perls was a therapist with a unique intuition and sensitivity, his bright, outstanding personality, as well as a defiant style in the eyes of many people, bore the imprint of great arrogance. At present, the followers of Perls, whether they are engaged in Gestalt therapy only or borrow some of its techniques, accept those theoretical concepts of Gestalt therapy and use those of its techniques that are most consistent with their style.

Background of Gestalt Therapy

Frederick (Fritz) Perls (1893–1970) was born in Berlin to a petty-bourgeois Jewish family. After receiving a medical education, he specialized in psychiatry. In 1926 he worked at the Institute for Military Brain Injuries in Berlin under the direction of Kurt Goldstein, one of the pioneers of Gestalt psychology. Thanks to this collaboration, he was imbued with the understanding that the human body must be considered as a whole, and not as a conglomerate of separately functioning parts. In 1927 Perls moved to Vienna and began his psychoanalytic training. It was analyzed by Wilhelm Reich, and prominent representatives of the early psychoanalytic movement Karen Horney, Otto Fenichel, Helen Deutsch, and others worked with him. In 1933, when Hitler came to power, Perls fled to Holland, and then to South Africa, where he founded African Institute of Psychoanalysis. A few years later, Perls openly broke with the psychoanalytic movement, and in 1946 he emigrated to the United States. In 1952 he founded the Institute of Gestalt Therapy in New York. In the early 1960s Perls moves to California where he teaches, leads groups and workshops at the Isalen Institute.

Perls's views were influenced by psychoanalysis, the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, Gestalt psychology, phenomenology, and existentialism. In addition, the influence of the ideas of the creator of psychodrama Moreno and the philosophy of Zen Buddhism is noticeable.

Having received from Gestalt psychology the idea of ​​the human body as a whole, Perls felt that psychoanalysis lacked a holistic approach in which the individual and his environment are considered as constantly interacting parts of the field. This led Perls to emphasize in contrast to Freud the obvious rather than repressed material in understanding and working through internal conflicts. Perls stresses the importance of looking at the situation in the present rather than looking at causes in the past. Perls believed that a person's awareness of how he behaves at every moment, is more important for understanding himself and for the ability to change than understanding what why he behaves in this way.

Perls also disagreed with Freud on the theory of instincts. According to Perls, human behavior is determined not by instincts, but by so-called unfinished situations, that is, unsatisfied needs. None of the instincts is basic (for example, sexual or aggressive, as in Freud), all needs are a direct expression of the instincts of the organism.

Perls believes that the psychoanalytic method of interpreting free associations creates an avoidance of direct experience of the associated material and is therefore not effective enough in self-exploration.

Freud's emphasis on "resistance" is slightly shifted by Perls. Perls talks about avoidances of various kinds of awareness, emphasizing form this very avoidance, and not his content(in particular, the question “How do I avoid awareness?” is more correct than “What do I not want to be aware of?”).

Freud believes transference basis of the therapeutic process. Perls considers the phenomenon of transference as an important aspect of the projection of the neurotic mechanism, to which he attaches great importance. However, in therapy he does not work as much with transference as Freud does.

Perls does not accept the Freudian premise that the main thing in therapy is the awareness of the repressed material, after which the processing and assimilation of this material takes place by itself. Perls believes that the assimilation of previously introjected experiences (character traits, habits, attitudes, behavior patterns, etc.) is a difficult and important task of therapy.

In developing his approach, Perls arrived at a worldview very different from the psychoanalytic one, but at the same time, many correspondences can be seen between psychoanalysis and Gestalt therapy. Here are some of the conceptual correspondences: Freud's free association and Perls' continuum of awareness; Freudian resistance and Perlsian avoidance of awareness; Freudian compulsions and Perlsian unfinished situations; projections in Freud and Perls, etc.

Wilhelm Reich also had a strong influence on Perls with his teachings about character and "muscle shell". Reich suggested that psychological defense is expressed at the physiological level in the form of muscle clamps (clinches). If one manages to break through this shell, then access to the repressed psychological contents opens up. Reich asked patients to intensify a certain clamp in order to become more aware of it and to identify the blocked emotion. Reich's psychotherapeutic work gradually moved towards the release of emotions (pleasure, anger, anxiety) through body work. Reich's work had a great influence on Perls' ideas about the relationship between the body and the psyche.

Another important source of Gestalt therapy is Gestalt psychology. Gestalt (or “whole structure”, “pattern”) is a specific organization of parts that makes up a certain whole. The basic principle of the Gestalt psychology approach is that the analysis of the parts cannot provide an understanding of the whole, since the whole is determined by the interaction of the parts. Gestalt psychology has put forward a number of assumptions about how the body adapts to achieve optimal organization and balance. One aspect of this adaptation is that an organism in a given field makes its perception meaningful by distinguishing between figure and ground. This is explained by the well-known Gestalt drawing (Fig. 6.1).

If we consider a white figure on a dark background, we see a white vase; if we consider a black figure on a white background - two heads turned to each other in profile. This phenomenon shows how the body chooses what is interesting and important to it at any given moment. For example, if a person is thirsty, then a glass of water, even if placed among his favorite dishes, will be perceived as a figure against the background of food. Thus perception

Rice. 6.1. Figure-ground perception

adapts to meet needs. When the craving is satisfied, the perception of the figure-ground may change in accordance with the change in the dominant need. Perls' merit was that he was the first to apply the principles of Gestalt psychology in psychotherapy.

Perls called his approach existential therapy. He agreed with the main proposition of the existential-phenomenological approach that individual experience can only be understood from a direct description of a person's unique situation. Perls argued further that the patient-therapist encounter is an existential meeting of two human beings, and not a variation of the traditional doctor-patient relationship.

Like most existentialists, Perls rejected the idea of ​​separating mind and body as two distinct aspects of existence. The Gestaltist point of view led Perls to deny not only this separation, but also the separation of subject and object, and even organism and environment. Refusing to consider man as a being opposed to the world experienced separately from himself, Perls argued that people create and create their own worlds: for everyone, the world exists as its disclosure.

Basic theoretical provisions

1. Every organism strives to achieve state of full operation, which means the addition (or completion) of the internal organization. Gestalt psychologists have shown that a person in the process of perceiving the external world does not perceive individual elements of reality as isolated and unrelated, but organizes them into a whole or into gestalts that are meaningful to him. According to Perls, this principle of creating gestalts, or figures, embodying the desire for addition, is not only the basis of the process of perception, but also the universal principle of organizing the functioning of all living organisms. Anything that hinders or interrupts the creation or completion of these figures is harmful to the organism and leads to the emergence of so-called unfinished situations that require completion. Each aspect of the personality can create such a figure, the addition and completion of which means assimilation and inclusion in the whole. If, in the process of creation and completion, too many of these gestalts are blocked, then the personality is subject to disintegration.

Maintaining balance in this area is the foundation of mental health. If a person experiences a violation of this balance, there is a motivation to change in their own functioning. Therefore, in contrast to the claims of psychoanalysis, a person is not motivated by drives, but by unfinished situations, or unfinished gestalts.

2. The functioning of the individual is carried out through a process of self-regulation, through which the body satisfies its needs (or incomplete gestalts) and maintains balance in a constantly changing environment. This process is continuous, since the next situations and interactions with the environment lead to the emergence of new needs (open, incomplete gestalts) and disrupt the temporary state of equilibrium. To effectively meet these needs (to complete the gestalts), it is necessary to form an internal hierarchy of their importance. When this happens, the currently dominant need can influence the course of thinking and behavior leading to its satisfaction (that is, the elimination of the completed gestalt). Then the next need, which has received a dominant position, acquires an influence on the organization of activities. Thus, if the need that stimulates activity arises from an integral internal organization, then there is the possibility of mobilizing all the energy that the body has and full concentration on the actions taken. However, very often it does not come to the creation of a clear hierarchy of needs, and many of them simultaneously stimulate different actions, often opposite ones, and a significant part of the energy is dissipated.

3. An individual can only exist within boundaries environment, which is an integral field, including it and its environment, and its behavior is a function of the entire field. The basis of the individual's existence is the isolation of oneself from the environment and the establishment of a contact boundary through which the exchange with the environment takes place and which ensures internal integrity.

In the area of ​​contact, the individual retains his difference from the environment, selects and assimilates those substances that are suitable, and rejects those that are unnecessary and dangerous. The ability to distinguish between these two kinds of substances is a condition for the healthy functioning and development of the individual. The definition of "substance" should be understood here in a broad sense, covering everything that a person can get from the environment, namely, food, information, judgments, assessments, values, patterns of behavior, thinking, etc. The difference between what is suitable and what is not suitable is produced in the course of assimilation attempts and is based on the current state of the ability to assimilate the given element in such a way that it becomes an integral part of the whole. Therefore, what cannot be assimilated by the individual at the moment turns out to be unsuitable for him. In this regard, it is of particular importance that assimilation process, whose model, created by Perls, contains an analogy with food and digestion. Contents that have come into contact must be destructured, fragmented and absorbed to the extent that is represented by the needs and actual possibilities of assimilation. In this case, they become the property of the individual and he can identify with them. Understood in this way, assimilation generates a change in integrity and is the basis of development.

Elements that have not undergone assimilation undergo alienation and removal (liquidation). In this process, an essential role is played by aggressive forms of activity, which are the equivalent of chewing and tearing food and are necessary for the destructurization of elements perceived from the environment. Such healthy aggressiveness means the mobilization of the organism in relation to emerging new, not yet assimilated contents, as well as the elimination of completed gestalts in order to create the possibility of constant assimilation and the emergence of new gestalts.

The main modes of functioning of the individual in his connection with the environment are contact and retreat (refusal). If the functioning proceeds without disturbance, then the person tends to objects or situations that are selectively identified as desirable for the organism as a whole, and refuses situations or affairs that are perceived as useless, dangerous or losing interest.

Consequently, self-regulation of the organism covers both the control of the rhythm of contact and retreat, and the control of the processes of assimilation and alienation at the moments of contact.

4. A characteristic element of Gestalt therapy is attention to the processes and phenomena occurring in the body as a whole, and not in individual elements of its structure. The whole organism is the subject of activity, encompassing physical and symbolic actions. According to Perls, the organism as a whole reacts and affects the environment with different intensities, using different amounts of energy. Mental activity is an activity involving the whole person that takes place at a lower energy level than physical activity. Man, using his ability to learn and manipulate symbols and abstract concepts, in his actions, in a sense, replaces one with the other. He symbolically does what he could do physically, and the transition of activity from one form to another is directed by a single requirement of the organism and circumstances.

The phenomenon of the holistic functioning of the body can also be called emotional manifestations, which are based on excitation, reflecting the experience of increasing the energy mobilization of the body. Emotions are the body's response to the experience of contact with a new or exciting situation. The appearance against the background of this increased excitation of some specific bodily sensations is the beginning of its transformation into specific emotional states. The final phase of this process is the knowledge of the relationship between the organism and the environment. From the connection of these three aspects - general arousal, specific bodily sensations and cognitive orientation - arises the experience of a certain emotional state. Distortion of any of these three factors can serve as a source of violations in this area.

Emotions can perform two essential functions in a person's life: they are a source of important signals for the body and a stimulus to action. The experience of a certain emotional state is a direct assessment of the importance of the task facing a person at a given time, its significance for the organism as a whole. Determining this meaning by clarifying for oneself the actual experience helps in the orientation and direction of one's own activity.

5. The main process integrating the functioning of the body is awareness. The principle of self-regulation means a constant orientation towards the phenomena and processes occurring in the body, the connection between them and the flow of information. In order to recognize the state of balance and its disturbance, as well as to find what is necessary to restore this balance, the organism must be aware of itself. The concept of "awareness" is used here in a broad sense, covering "know", "distinguish", "be aware". This integrating flow of information, which is the basis of self-regulation, begins at a level when thought is not yet clothed in a word. Thus, the phenomenon of awareness can be spoken of in cases where certain signals are received by all structures of the body, for example, when the body is aware of the appearance of some harmful factor (pathogenic bacteria) and sets in motion an activity aimed at restoring balance (an increase in phagocytes). One of the goals of Gestalt therapy is to expand awareness, increase its flexibility and ability to distinguish between various body signals.

The concept of violations

At the heart of all violations lies the limitation of the individual's ability to maintain optimal balance with the environment, a violation of the process of self-regulation of the body. Gestalt therapy describes the five most common forms of disruption in the interaction of the individual and his environment, in which the energy necessary to meet the needs and for development turned out to be scattered or misdirected. They are: introjection, projection, retroflexion, deflexion and confluence. Although these forms, in varying degrees, can be observed in the same person, their general characteristics can be represented by describing individuals in whom a particular form dominates.

The person who has introjection, blocks its energy by passive perception of various elements of the environment. Concepts, judgments, norms, patterns of behavior coming from the outside world are not subject to assimilation and assimilation, do not become an integral part of this person, although in general neither he nor those around him are aware of this. The presence of such unassimilated, "alien" elements is a burden for an individual who does not have an internal support. Since these unassimilated elements are isolated and often in conflict with the traits of his own personality, the individual is forced to expend much energy and attention in curbing internal division and in protecting himself from the threat posed by the disorganization of the personality.

projection, dissociates itself from certain aspects of its own personality and attributes them to the environment. This is due to the limited and rigid self-concept. Emotions, attitudes or behaviors that do not correspond or threaten such a self-concept are alienated and projected outward, and the "holes" that arise due to this are filled with the help of introjection. Associated with this mechanism is the refusal of responsibility for any actions or phenomena that occur in the personality itself, which are attributed to the environment or impersonal factors by objectifying oneself (“Something pushed me to this”, “Something made me do this”) . The energy at the disposal of the individual is misdirected or wasted because it is driven by an erroneous orientation towards the state of the self and the environment.

The person who owns retroflection(“turning on oneself”), tries to separate from the environment and direct actions on oneself, the primary purpose of which was the external environment. This means reducing the energy devoted to trying to change and transform the environment, which would be useful for meeting one's own needs, and directing this energy inward. These unsatisfied needs (incomplete gestalts) are often aggressive feelings. Retroflexion is manifested in muscle clamps. An indicator of retroflection is the use of reflexive pronouns and particles in speech, for example: "I have to force myself to do this."

The person who is characterized deflection, tries to avoid direct contact with the environment, other people, problems and situations. Deflection, or avoidance of real contact, can manifest itself in the form of talking in general phrases, talkativeness, buffoonery, avoiding eye contact with the interlocutor, ritualistic and conventional behavior, smoothing out conflict problems, etc. In this case, the energy is dissipated because the individual does not use it to the full extent, when necessary, in order to take well-targeted action. Interaction with the environment is random, the satisfaction of needs is due to the so-called luck, and the individual, first of all, tries to stay on the surface of the flow of everyday events and affairs, which is connected with the weakening of the sense of the meaning of one's existence in general.

If the boundaries between the individual and the environment are blurred and the sense of difference disappears, we are dealing with confluence(merger). In such a state is the infant, who is not yet capable of distinguishing between the world and himself. In moments of ecstasy, meditation, a person can also feel merged into one with the world. The feeling of merging and dissolving with other people is sometimes created by ritual behavior and complete identification with the group. However, if such a merging and erasing of boundaries between oneself and the environment becomes chronic, a person loses the ability to feel who he really is (and even whether he exists at all), and is not able to contact either with the environment or with himself. It seems that some of the qualities of psychotic experiences arise precisely from such a state. In a slightly different form, the phenomenon of pathological confluence appears in cases of strong psychological dependence on other people.

In the understanding of Gestalt therapy, a patient is a person who chronically prevents himself from satisfying his own needs and achieving his goals, does what does not suit him for the future, and does not do what would be valuable to him. This wording may raise some doubts, since it seems that the patient deliberately performs actions that disrupt his functioning. In reality, we are talking about emphasizing the subjective nature of all human actions. This emphasis is necessary to create the basis for the future expansion of the range of control over one's own behavior and increased responsibility for oneself. The patient generally has inadequate ideas about his characteristics and capabilities, and his previous experience has not developed in him an internal source of support that allows him to effectively overcome difficulties. The process of self-regulation proceeds inefficiently for him, since his personality is split into many isolated parts, and his behavior stems from erroneously directed efforts and attempts to maintain internal balance. Having not found in himself a solid support that arose from identification with his own organism and the processes taking place in it, he is not able to perceive himself in the present. Therefore, his condition is such that he is torn between the shackling memories of the past and frightening ideas about the future. His consciousness is filled with fantasies in assessing himself and the world around him, which prevents him from establishing contact with reality. He is often in an existential crisis because he feels that his needs are not met, his goals are not achieved, and what he does and how he lives, he does not perceive as meaningful and meaningful.

According to Perls, neurosis consists of five levels (layers) through which the process of therapy must pass on the way to the discovery by the patient of his true individuality.

The first level is the level of "fake relationships", level of games and roles. Throughout life, most people, according to Perls, tend to actualize their self-concept, instead of actualizing their true self. We do not want to be ourselves, we want to be someone else. The result is a feeling of dissatisfaction. We are not satisfied with what we do; or parents are not satisfied with what their child is doing. We scorn our true qualities and alienate them from ourselves, creating voids that are filled with fake artifacts. We begin to behave as if we actually possess those qualities that our environment demands of us and that our conscience, or, as Freud called it, the Superego, eventually begins to demand from us. Perls calls this part of the personality top-dog (conditionally: "commander"). Top-dog requires another part of the personality - under-dog (conditionally: "subordinate") (its prototype is Freud's It) - to live according to the ideal. These two parts of the personality oppose each other and fight for control over the person's behavior. Thus, the first level of neurosis includes playing non-human roles, as well as controlling games between top-dog and under-dog.

The second level is phobic, associated with the awareness of "fake" behavior and manipulation. But when we imagine what the consequences might be if we begin to behave sincerely, we are seized with a feeling of fear. Man is afraid to be who he is. He is afraid that society will ostracize him.

The third level is a dead end stalemate. If, in his search in therapy or in other circumstances, a person passes the first two levels, if he stops playing roles that are not characteristic of him, refuses to pretend to himself, then he begins to experience a feeling of emptiness and non-existence. A person finds himself at the third level - trapped and with a sense of loss. He is experiencing the loss of outside support, but is not yet ready or does not want to use his own resources. A good example of a dead end is marriage of convenience. Both partners do not love each other, but each has a concept of how the other should be. Each of them hardly knows the other, but as soon as the behavior of one does not correspond to what the other expects from him, he begins to experience dissatisfaction and reproach his partner. They reproach each other, instead of realizing that they are at an impasse, because they do not love each other, but love their image, their fantasy. As a result, they maintain the status quo because they are too afraid to go through a dead end.

The fourth level is implosion, where we can, with grief, despair, self-loathing, come to a full understanding of how we have limited and suppressed ourselves. Implosion appears after crossing a dead end. At this level, a person may experience a fear of death or even a feeling that he is dying. These are moments when a huge amount of energy is involved in the clash of opposing forces inside a person, and the resulting pressure, as it seems to him, threatens to destroy him: a person experiences a feeling of paralysis, deadness, from which the conviction grows that something terrible is about to happen in a minute. .

The fifth level is an explosion. Achieving this level means the formation of an authentic personality, which acquires the ability to experience and express their emotions. Explosion should be understood here as a deep and intense emotional experience that brings relief and restores emotional balance. Perls observed four types of explosions. An explosion of true grief is often the result of work associated with the loss or death of a person important to the patient. The result of working with persons who are sexually blocked is the experience of orgasm. The other two types of explosion are related to anger and joy and are associated with the revelation of authentic personality and true individuality. The experience of these deep and intense emotions fully engages the organism in the process of selecting and completing important gestalts (needs).

Therapy concept

According to Perls, the main goal of Gestalt therapy is to increase the potential of a person, or increase his strength and capabilities through a process of integration and development. He sees the genesis of emotional disturbances and limitations of opportunities in the connection between the individual and the environment. The socio-cultural environment creates different concepts and models of desired behavior, and the individual, in order to be accepted, perceives various elements of these models and requirements. By doing this, a person learns to give up his feelings, desires and needs, loses touch with nature and is guided mainly by calculation. He plays before himself and others roles that are not dictated by true desires and experiences. He is torn apart by internal conflicting demands and expectations. He does not know how to establish contact with himself and the environment, and directs a significant part of his activity to finding some kind of support outside of himself, because he does not believe in the ability to independently cope with his life.

In the process of therapy, an important task is to mobilize one's own resources - one must learn to "stand on one's own feet", find the right forms of connection with the environment. The main idea of ​​the concept of individual change can be expressed in the following formulation: “Change comes when you become who you are, not when you try to become who you are not.” This is the main idea of ​​Gestalt therapy.

The purpose of therapeutic work is to remove blockages and stimulate the development process, the realization of opportunities and goals (first of all, the creation of an internal source of support and optimization of the self-regulation process). The basis of the therapeutic process is the awareness and experience of contact with oneself and with the environment. The therapist's attention and activity is focused on helping the patient expand and enrich his awareness and ability to experience contact with what is happening in and around the patient. Much attention is paid to raising awareness of various attitudes, ways of behaving and thinking that have been entrenched in the past, as well as testing their meanings and functions at the present time. The therapist is not guided by certain attitudes and does not formulate the goals of therapy. Instead, he creates situations for the patient to conduct searches and experiments, during which the latter himself finds what is suitable and valuable for him, and what is inappropriate and harmful.

The main principle is the belief that nothing can adequately replace the capacity of the individual for self-regulation. This means that special attention is paid to developing the patient's willingness and ability to make decisions and make choices. In a therapy group, for example, no one is coerced or persuaded to do one thing or another. The therapist only makes suggestions, invites to perform certain actions, but at the same time makes sure that the patient does not feel compulsion under the pressure of another person or situation and is aware of the possibility of independent choice in his activity.

Technical procedures

The main method of psychotherapeutic work in most therapeutic approaches is to conduct individual or group conversations in which patients talk about their problems, ailments, past events, about themselves, about other people. In Gestalt therapy, much attention and effort is devoted to transforming the story into action.

Features of this form of work are as follows. First, this technique allows you to expand the range of specific behavior in a therapeutic situation by bringing in many elements that are missing from the story. Secondly, it leads to a change in the object of concentration of attention and the way of experiencing one's activity. When talking about something, a person focuses on his problems, on past situations and events. In Gestalt therapy, the patient focuses on himself as a subject, on what he does and how he experiences it in a particular therapeutic situation. This direction of concentration of attention seems to be the most important, since the process of psychotherapy is aimed at changing the organization of the functioning of a person, and the likely result of this change will be a change in the state of "affairs" and "problems" of the patient. The therapist suggests and encourages the patient to act in ways that take the form of active self-experimentation. The patient, being the subject of experiments, has the opportunity to discover the essential elements of the organization of his own functioning, experience actions that make changes in this area, and find support in himself.

Thus, Perls contrasts the causal approach to understanding experience with a functional approach. In other words, it is important not "why" this or that action occurs, but "how" it occurs.

The technical procedures used in Gestalt therapy are grouped around two main areas of work. They are called principles and games. Principles are introduced in the initial phase of therapy, and there are not too many of them, but the number of games is not limited. The principles are not a collection of rigid guidelines to which the patient must obey. They indicate the preferred directions of behavior and conditions that favor the expansion of awareness and the most complete contact with the environment and oneself.

Principles of Gestalt Therapy

1. The "now" principle or the idea of ​​focusing on the present moment, is the most important principle in Gestalt therapy. The therapist often turns to the patient with a request to determine what he is currently doing, feels what is happening to him and around him at this moment. If in the process of work there appears material connected with any important aspects of the personality, efforts are directed to the maximum possible transfer of this material to the present. If the patient talks about some events of the past, then he can be asked to transfer the action to the present with the help of fantasy and describe the events as if they were playing out at the moment. In such cases, it is easy to see how many people avoid contact with their present and tend to delve into memories of the past and fantasies about the future.

2. The principle of "me and you" reflects the desire for open and direct contact between people. Patients (and not only patients) often send their statements regarding other people to the wrong address, but “to the side” or “into the air”, revealing their fears and unwillingness to speak directly and sincerely, avoiding direct contact with other people.

Fearful avoidance of contact, superficial and distorted communication with others maintain the patient's sense of isolation and loneliness. Therefore, the therapist encourages members of the psychotherapeutic group to make attempts at direct contact and communication, often asks to address specific statements to specific individuals whom they concern, to address by name. In the first phase of the work of the psychotherapeutic group, the therapist organizes situations for the participants aimed at establishing contact between individuals through a series of short verbal and non-verbal exercises in twos and threes.

3. The principle of subjectivization of statements associated with the semantic aspects of the responsibility and involvement of the patient. Quite often, people talk about their own body, feelings, thoughts and behavior from a certain distance, objectifying them. For example: “Something is pressing me”, “Something is preventing me from doing this”, etc. Often such a simple trick as a proposal to replace the form of the statement with a more subjective one (for example: “I suppress myself”, “I interfere with myself do it”), confronts the patient with his essential problems of avoiding responsibility for himself. Paying attention to the form of the utterance can help the patient to see himself as an active subject rather than a passive object with which things are "done". Of course, taking into account the semantic aspects of statements alone is not enough to change this fundamental position regarding oneself, especially since when subjectivizing statements, responsibility is often taken for activities that are considered to be involuntary, for example: thinking, memories, fantasies, the nature of breathing, the timbre of the voice, etc. n. However, the application of this principle can help in initiating and conducting deeper searches and experiments aimed at increasing the ability to control one's own functioning.

4. Continuity (continuum) of awareness as the basis of therapeutic work means deliberate concentration on the spontaneous flow of the content of experiences, self-reporting in what and how is happening at a given moment. The continuum of awareness is an integral part of all technical procedures, but it is also applied autonomously, often leading to unexpected and significant results for the patient. It is a method of bringing the individual to his own experience and to the rejection of endless verbalizations, clarifications and interpretations. Awareness of feelings, bodily sensations and observations is the most definite part of our knowledge and creates the basis for the orientation of a person in himself and in his relations with the environment.

The application of the awareness continuum is well illustrated by the following dialogue.

Therapist. What are you realizing now?

A patient. I am aware that I am talking to you, I see other people in the room, I am aware that it is spinning, I feel tension in my shoulders, I am aware that I am overcome with anxiety when I talk about it.

Therapist. How do you deal with your anxiety?

Therapist. Are you aware of what your eyes are doing?

A patient. Yes, now I realize that my eyes are looking somewhere to the side.

Therapist. Can you explain it properly?

A patient.…I try not to look at you.

The use of the continuum of awareness helps to shift the focus of therapeutic work from the question "why?" on the knowledge of "what and how" happens. This is one of the significant differences between Gestalt therapy and other psychotherapeutic approaches, in which the search for the cause of a certain behavior is considered the most essential part of the therapeutic work. However, a closer observation of the many lengthy conversations and reflections aimed at trying to establish why someone doing this, and not otherwise, shows that even getting reasonable answers to this question does not lead to changes in behavior itself, and often these conversations are nothing more than fruitless intellectual exercises. The benefits derived from such psychotherapeutic conversations are often the result of side factors that are secondary to the main topic of the conversation, such as the atmosphere of the conversation, the influence of the therapist, or the state of relief after an emotional reaction. Therefore, in Gestalt therapy, they tend to focus on the features and process of specific actions performed by the patient (“what and how”), since their awareness and experience create more immediate prerequisites for both understanding them and trying to control them.

Therapist. What are you feeling now?

A patient. I'm afraid.

Therapist. How do you experience your fear, how does it manifest itself now?

A patient. I can't see you clearly, my palms are sweating.

Therapist. What else are you doing now?

A patient. Imagine what you think of me.

Therapist. How do you imagine it?

A patient. I... you think I'm a coward.

Therapist. And now?

A patient. Your image is completely blurred, I see as if through a fog. My heart hurts.

Therapist. What are you imagining now?

A patient. I don't know... now I see my father. Yes, he looks at me and says. He always said that: "You are a coward and you will remain one."

Therapist. What are you feeling now?

A patient. Some confusion inside, something bothers me.

Therapist. Try to take responsibility for what you are doing now.

A patient. It is I who hinder myself now, I refrain ... I do not allow myself ...

Therapist. What are you trying to interfere with now?

A patient. Don't know…

Therapist. You've been clenching and unclenching your fingers for several minutes now.

A patient. I don't allow myself to… tell him that I hate him and I'm afraid of him.

Therapist. And now?

A patient. I'm a little less stressed, breathing easier. My heart is beating fast, as if I'm preparing for something.

Therapist. What would you like to do or say now?

A patient. I would like to finally say something to him, not to be a coward.

Therapist. What are you aware of now?

A patient. What I say about myself these words.

Therapist. Do you want to say it loudly, as if your father were sitting here and listening to what you say to him?

A patient. Yes ... father ... you had no right to consider me like that, it was inhuman, terrible, I can’t forgive you for this, I hated you (in tears appear in his eyes, continues to speak with a childish sob)... you did so much harm to me, but I ... did not stop loving you.

Therapist. What is happening now?

A patient. I feel a flow of warmth, I am all hot, touched, I am no longer afraid ... What I am doing now is something important, I would like to go further.

It is not difficult to see that the main steps taken by the patient in a dramatically developing therapeutic situation were mainly the result of concentration on alternately conscious content elements and actions.

5. In addition to the above basic principles, A. Levitski (A. Levitski) and F. Perls give a description of more specific principles, more precisely the preferred forms of behavior in the therapeutic group:

1) patients are encouraged to such forms of relationships that exclude gossip or discussion of someone present without his participation;

2) the method of drawing attention to the patient is often used, which manipulates questions, wanting to secretly provoke certain reactions of others under the guise of searching for information. In these cases, the therapist may suggest that such a patient say directly what he specifically wants to communicate;

3) Another form of communication that patients are sometimes encouraged to do is autoexpression- the utterance of a certain content, mainly or exclusively for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction caused by the very fact of the utterance. For many patients, this is a completely new experience that helps to increase self-esteem and reduce dependence on the reaction of the environment.

Gestalt Therapy Games

These procedures are also called gestalt experiments and are a variety of exercises based on the patient performing some of the actions suggested by the therapist. Games promote more direct confrontation with meaningful content and experiences, and also provide the patient with the opportunity to attempt experimentation with himself and others. However, it should be remembered that the game contains only the idea of ​​action, which contains the beginning of a more developed process of working with the patient. By itself, it is not an autonomous and valuable element of therapy. E. Mellibruda warns against such exercises being applied randomly, as, unfortunately, often happens, without tracing the integrality of their participation in the therapy process as a whole, and also without taking into account the situational context and the nature of the contact between the therapist and the patient.

The following are the most famous games used by Gestalt therapists.

"Dialog". This exercise is connected with the question of the existence of various splits, fragments, opposites within the personality. One of the goals of therapy is to increase the integration of the functioning of the individual, which requires the identification of split or opposing fragments of the personality, overcoming internal barriers and establishing a connection between these fragments.

When a split is observed in a patient, the Gestalt therapist suggests that the patient conduct an experiment: identify with each part of the conflict in turn and conduct a dialogue between them. Internal conflict is often observed when the personality is split into two parts, the so-called top-dog and under-dog, which in free translation can mean "commander" and "subordinate". Top-dog is approximately the equivalent of the psychoanalytic concept of the Superego, it personifies duties, requirements, assessments. Underdog personifies passive-defensive attitudes, looking for tricks, excuses, excuses, justifying evasion from duties. Quite often, there is a struggle between these parts for complete control over the personality.

Top-dog tries to exert pressure by threatening punishment or predicting the negative consequences of behavior that does not meet the requirements of the ego. Under-dog does not enter into a direct fight, but uses tricks - aggressiveness is not characteristic of him. Fragments of a dialogue between these parts of the personality sometimes arise in the mind of an individual in various situations of everyday life, when, for example, he tries to force himself to do something and at the same time manipulates various excuses and self-justifications. With the help of a systematic and sincere dialogue during the exercise, the individual can become more fully aware of the fruitless manipulations performed on his own personality, become more sincere and able to manage himself more effectively.

Similar dialogues can be held between other significant divisions of the personality - between aggressive and passive, male and female, etc. Often the dialogue is carried out between parts of the body, for example, the right and left hand.

"Walking in a circle" ("Rondo"). This exercise creates a condition for expressing a certain content or feeling directly to each member of the psychotherapy group. A patient who reports that he is afraid of the rest of the group may be asked to approach each one in turn and say the words "I am afraid of you", and then add some remark reflecting the peculiarities of his feelings towards this person. This often allows for a more differentiated definition of one's own experiences and connections with others. It can also be a form of meaningful work on attitudes towards a particular opinion or idea about oneself and other people. The repeated repetition of a phrase expressing some deeply rooted belief may change its meaning and content for the patient. The performance of such games in a group may also include non-verbal actions.

"Unfinished business". This exercise is applied at the beginning of work. It is intended to settle and complete all sorts of cases, situations and actions started in the past. Most people have many of these unresolved issues related to interpersonal relationships with parents, relatives, etc. According to Perls, the most common types of unfinished issues in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthis relationship are unspoken complaints and complaints. Such unfinished business requires concentration and wastes the patient's energy unproductively.

In this game, the patient is asked to complete a task that was previously unfinished. For example, if the issue is an unexpressed feeling towards a member of the therapeutic group, then the patient is asked to express his feeling directly. If we are talking about a feeling of resentment, then a game is offered in which communication is limited to statements beginning with the words “I am offended ...”.

"I have a secret." This game aims to explore feelings of guilt and shame. Each member of the therapy group is asked to think of some important and well-kept personal secret. The therapist asks participants not to share these secrets, but to imagine how others might react if these secrets became known to them. The next step might be to give each participant an opportunity to brag to others about "what a terrible secret he is keeping within himself." Quite often it turns out that many unconsciously are very attached to their secrets as to something precious.

Projective games. Patients' perceptions and judgments of the environment are often projective. When the patient believes that another person has a certain trait or feels some kind of feeling, he is offered to check by experiment whether this is his projection: “try on” this trait or feeling on himself. Often the patient discovers that he is actually experiencing the feeling that he suspected in others.

The game - "Playing a projection". In this case, the patient is asked to play the role of a person onto whom he projects his own qualities. For example, a patient who says "You can't be trusted" might be asked to play the role of an untrustworthy person, and it may turn out that in this way he will reveal his internal conflict in this area.

Reverse game ("Revealing the opposite"). One way of dealing with some of the patient's problems is to investigate whether his overt behavior does not represent a contradiction or denial of deep and hidden desires. The therapist may suggest that a patient complaining of stiffness and excessive shyness play the role of an exhibitionist. Thus, although it requires considerable effort and risk, the patient deliberately plunges into that area of ​​his own experience, which is especially strongly suppressed by his fear and anxiety. This allows the patient to achieve a more complete contact with those aspects of his personality that were previously hidden. Another example: a person playing the role of "darling" can be asked to play the role of angry and fenced off.

"Exaggeration". Much attention in Gestalt therapy is given to the so-called body language. It is believed that physical symptoms convey a person's feelings more accurately than verbal language. Involuntary movements, gestures, postures of the patient are sometimes signs of important contents. However, these signals remain interrupted, undeveloped, distorted. By asking the patient to exaggerate an inadvertent movement or gesture, an important discovery can be made.

For example, a constrained, overly restrained man taps his finger on the table while a woman in the group speaks at length and at great length. When asked if he would like to comment on what the woman said, he refuses, assuring that the conversation is of little interest to him, but continues tapping. Then the therapist asks to increase the tapping, to knock louder and more expressively until the patient is aware of what he is doing. His anger builds up very quickly, a minute later he hits the table with force, ardently expressing his disagreement with the woman. At the same time, he exclaims: “She is exactly like my wife!” In addition to this realization, he gets a glimpse of the excessive control of his strong affirmative feelings and the possibility of expressing them more directly and therefore less brutally.

"Rehearsal". According to Perls, people spend a lot of time rehearsing different roles and behavioral strategies in relation to specific situations and persons on the “imagination stage”. Often the lack of success in actions in specific life situations is determined by how this person in the imagination prepares for these situations. This training in thought and imagination often takes place in accordance with rigid and ineffective stereotypes, which are the source of constant anxiety and defective behavior. Rehearsing behavior aloud in a psychotherapy group with the involvement of other participants allows you to better understand your own stereotypes, as well as use new ideas and solutions in this area.

Checking the prepared opinion. It happens that the therapist, listening to the patient, picks up some specific message in his words. Then he can use the following formula: “Listening to you, I have one opinion. I want to invite you to repeat this opinion aloud and check how it sounds, how it suits you. If you agree to try, repeat this opinion to several members of the group.

This exercise contains the factor of interpretation of the hidden meaning of the patient's behavior, but the therapist does not try to communicate his interpretation to the patient, he only allows him to explore the experiences associated with testing the working hypothesis. If the hypothesis proves fruitful, the patient can develop it in the context of his own activities and experiences.

The above games represent a far from complete list of various technical procedures developed in the practice of Gestalt therapy. Erwin Polster and Miriam Polster (E. Polster, M. Polster) attempted to systematize various technical solutions and described five main forms of therapeutic experimentation. These include: dramatization, direction of behavior, work with fantasy, work with dreams, homework.

Dramatization. This group of procedures is based on the development in a dramatized form of a certain aspect of the patient's existence, revealed by him in the therapeutic situation. The beginning of this action may be some statement or gesture of the patient, which attracted the attention of the therapist. Later, by developing the content contained in the original statement or gesture, the patient, in cooperation with the therapist, is gradually led to a complex action in the form of a verbal-motor monodrama aimed at fully revealing the meaning and emotional content. The therapist helps the patient to focus on successively emerging contents, to search for appropriate forms of expression, to act in accordance with the stimulated successive experiences, to reveal the meaning and meaning of the whole scene and its individual elements.

Dramatization can relate to very different contents and aspects of the patient's personality, for example, unfinished situations from the past, current situations, desires, attitudes, etc. It happens that the course of some procedures takes on a particularly dramatic form, but the therapist should not strive to achieve external, "aesthetic "effects, since the desired therapeutic result is not caused by the richness of expression, but by a change in the internal system of meanings associated with the actions performed.

direction of behavior. In some situations, the therapist asks the patient to perform certain actions, gives instructions and directions as to what can be done at the moment. Such instructions do not determine how the patient should proceed in life, they only indicate the direction of specific behavior during therapeutic work. Such an experiment causes certain experiences that can change the patient's point of view on his previous behavior, experiences, relationships with people.

For example, a person who constantly seems to groan (groan) when talking, but is not aware of the sound of his voice, the therapist may ask for an intentional and amplified groan during the conversation. A person with a very quiet and soft voice can be asked to speak as if others were at a great distance from him. Someone who usually pomps might be invited to address the other members of the group with a special solemn speech. Although this procedure contains some elements of dramatization, it is limited to specific behavior and is directed by the therapist's instructions. The therapist's suggestions provide the patient with an opportunity to experience behavior that he avoids or that is new or difficult for him. Testing and testing this behavior can reveal some important aspects of his personality. For example, to a patient who was very reluctant to speak out in a psychotherapy group for fear of interfering with her work, the therapist suggested that from time to time to interfere with the rest of the group. He began behaving as instructed and really interfered with the work, but as he became involved in the group discussion, his behavior changed from a nuisance to a constructive leader. The therapist's instruction was not to teach the patient to interfere with others, but to give him the opportunity to release his energy, blocked and associated with the idea of ​​himself as an uninvited guest among other people.

Fantasy work. In Gestalt therapy, there are a number of fantasy exercises that illustrate the projection process and help patients identify and, in some cases, correct fragmentary aspects of their personality. "Old abandoned shop" and other exercises have been described by J. Stevens. The value of these exercises lies in the fact that patients can touch aspects of their personality that they never fully realized. Instructions for the exercise can be given to all members of the psychotherapy group, and then the participants alternately report the content of their fantasy: “Lie on the floor, close your eyes and relax. Imagine that you are walking down a city street late at night. What do you see, hear, feel? You notice a small side street that contains an old abandoned shop. Its windows are dirty, but if you look into them, you can see some object. Consider it carefully. Move away from the abandoned store, walk until you return to the city. Describe the item you found outside the window of an abandoned store. Then imagine yourself with this object, describing it in the first person. How do you feel? Why are you left in the store? What is your existence like as this subject? After a few minutes, be yourself again and look at the object in the window again. Do you see anything new in it? Is there anything you want to say to him?"

There are many variations of this exercise. For example, patients may imagine that they are walking around an old large house, and when they leave it, they take some object with them. Or imagine that they are flowers, and describe their color, shape, inflorescences, the soil on which they grow, how they feel the sun, rain, wind. By identifying with objects, we project some of our personal aspects onto them.

Dream work. Much attention is paid by Gestalt therapists to work on dreams. To paraphrase Freud, Perls said that "sleep is the royal road to personality integration." Unlike psychoanalysts, Gestalt therapists do not interpret dreams, but process them. Perls believed that a dream is a projection of our personality, and the individual elements of a dream are alienated parts of our personality. To achieve integration, it is necessary to combine the various elements of the dream, to recognize the projected, alienated parts of the personality as one's own. By working through the individual elements of the dream by identifying with them and uttering monologues on their behalf, the hidden content of the dream is revealed through its experience. Here is an example of dream work described by J. Simkin. An anxious, dominant, manipulative woman dreams that she is walking along a winding path in a forest with tall trees. Becoming one of these trees, she feels calmer and more deeply rooted. Returning to real life, she experiences the lack of these feelings and the possibility of gaining them. When she becomes winding path, her eyes filling with tears as she begins to intensely experience the tortuousness of her own life and, again, the possibility of straightening it to some extent.

Another example illustrating the same game "Exaggeration"(own observation). A young married woman dreams of a man walking his dog. When the patient identifies with the dog, her behavior changes - she becomes more involved, expressive and spontaneous. Saying a monologue: "I am a dog, I have an owner ...", she suddenly asks a question that seems unexpected and significant to herself: "Why are you holding me?" Continuing the monologue, the patient makes a stereotypical hand movement in the neck, reminiscent of shaking. When asked by the therapist about what her hand is doing now, she answers in bewilderment: “I don’t know.” At the suggestion of the therapist, he intensifies this movement and repeats it many times (while the face is more and more distorted in an anguished grimace) until he suddenly stops and exclaims: “It's a collar! I'm trying to get my collar off!" This discovery is regarded by the patient as a small flash of awareness. When asked by the members of the therapeutic group who, in her opinion, the man represents, she replies that this is most likely an allegorical image, behind which both her father and her husband stand.

Some therapists develop dream work to such an extent that it involves other members of the therapy group in addition to the dreamer. The work on the dream then becomes like a theatrical performance in which the members of the group play different "parts" of the dream. This makes it possible to dramatize aspects of the dream that may be relevant to the rest of the group.

Homework. The actions of the patient and the therapist during the next sessions do not create the conditions necessary for deep therapeutic changes. They are a source of important experiences that mobilize the process of change, but they require continuation and development in the normal conditions of everyday life. Therefore, the Gestalt therapist continues to cooperate with the patient outside the therapy room.

The patient's homework should be directed to a specific area of ​​his conflict. The therapist might, for example, suggest that patients do the following: Praise themselves daily in front of a person; arrange a date with a girl younger than yourself; tell his wife everything that happened to him during the day; write down every day for half an hour any thoughts that come to mind in connection with the dissertation, regardless of the usefulness of such information, etc. Such suggestions are always associated with the direction of the patient's search, incline him to situations in which confrontation with some aspects of his own personality is possible, blocking his actions or awareness.

Application of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is traditionally regarded as the most effective method of treating "overly normative, socially shackled, reserved individuals" (that is, anxious, phobic, depressive patients and persons prone to perfectionism), whose limited functioning is associated with the presence of internal blocks (I. Shepherd) (I. Shepherd). Such people usually get little pleasure from life.

Although Shepherd outlines quite accurately the range of problems for which Geshalt therapy is most effective, modern clinical practice of Gestalt therapy includes the treatment of a much wider range of problems.

In discussing the use of Gestalt therapy, Shepherd notes limitations that apply to any therapist, but are more relevant to Perls' "workshop" and to therapists who do not have sufficient experience with difficult patients.

Working with patients suffering from psychosis and other serious disorders is more difficult and requires "care, sensitivity and patience". Such patients need the support of a therapist and, however little, faith in their own healing abilities before they begin to intensely experience the pain, rage and despair that underlie the psychological processes that overwhelm them.

Working with such difficult patients requires experience in balancing the use of support and frustration, the use of additional means (such as day care and pharmacotherapy), etc.

Gestalt therapy has been successfully used in the treatment of many psychosomatic disorders, including migraine, ulcerative colitis, neck and back spasms. Gestalt therapists successfully work with couples, with patients who have difficulty interacting with authority figures, work with a wide range of intrapsychic conflicts.

Application forms. Gestalt therapy has gained a reputation for being primarily a group method of treatment. Group Gestalt therapy is practiced in three forms.

1. Patient-centered option. Here the work of the therapist in a dyad with the patient against the background of the group takes place. Other group members are asked to refrain from interacting until the work is completed. The patient being worked on is said to be sitting in a "hot chair" (because of the intensity of the emotions he experiences). Opposite the "hot chair" have an "empty chair". The patient is often asked to have a dialogue, for example, to talk to a person who is significant to him, as if he were sitting in an empty chair. The patient is asked to develop a dialogue according to his own script, changing places with an imaginary interlocutor and speaking on his behalf. After the experiment is over, other members of the group share their experiences. This feedback serves as a source of group interaction (interaction). In doing so, it becomes apparent that the other members of the group identify with the patient in the "hot chair" and do a great deal of independent work on their own problems, becoming aware of unfinished situations or fragmented parts of their personality. This helps other participants to recognize their maladaptive attitudes and behavior patterns.

2. Group-centered option. This method of work involves the interaction of all group members. Observing the interactions of patients, the therapist, based on the context of a particular therapeutic situation, from time to time asks one or another member of the group to take a “hot chair” or “make a circle” in order to perform some exercise (gestalt experiment).

There are certain limitations on what can be regarded as valuable or meaningful in the interaction of group members. Intellectualization, psychologization, advice are considered a waste of time and energy. Any attempt to fit the behavior of the individual into a theoretical framework - to analyze and explain it on the basis of psychological theory - is inappropriate. In Gestalt therapy, "explanations" are regarded as "apologies" for avoiding the present. Patients are encouraged to focus on what they are experiencing and how they act in the now situation.

The group creates a safe environment for taking risks in experimenting with new behaviors. The position of open self-expression enables group members to establish authentic relationships with each other. Self-expression of patients is strongly encouraged by the therapist. Attempts to convince another, to impose their opinion or point of view are regarded as manipulations that lead away from a true relationship. Games and other Gestalt procedures offered by the therapist are designed to increase awareness of the "here and now" as well as the development of authentic relationships between group members.

3. "Workshop". This form of group activity is time bound, sometimes up to one day. Weekend workshops can last from 10 to 20 or more hours. Long workshops last from one week to several months. A typical end-of-week workshop consists of one therapist and 12–16 group members. If the workshop lasts more than a week, then 20 people can participate in it, but in this case there is usually a co-therapist.

Since the workshop is limited to a certain period, and the participants are given a lot of time, there is usually a high motivation to “work” in these groups. Sometimes a rule is established that no one can be the focus of the group again until each of the participants has worked with their problems once. When there is no such rule, then the "impertinence" of some members of the group allows them to acquire intense therapeutic attention to their personality several times.

A specific feature of Gestalt therapy is the fact that the possibility of its application is not limited to working with patients and the actual treatment. This therapy is also becoming an effective method of educational work that helps healthy people in personal growth and in the realization of their potential, therefore, to a large extent, Gestalt therapy is popular outside the clinical environment, its methods and ideas are included in humanistic psychology and the “movement for the actualization of human potential”. ".

Gestalt therapy methods in the system of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy

Gestalt therapy, one of the main branches of humanistic psychology, is gaining more and more recognition due not only to its powerful therapeutic and educational potential, but also to its ability to integrate with other psychotherapeutic approaches. The phenomenological approach of Gestalt therapy, which emphasizes the importance of the patient's awareness of the present through the experience of current thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, was opposed by Perls to the causal approach, in which the efforts of the therapist (and patient) are directed to search for the causes of a painful disorder. However, the orthodox model of Gestalt therapy, with its deliberately dismissive attitude towards causality and interpretation, is gradually being replaced by a more flexible model that allows interpretation. It becomes obvious that the strength of Gestalt therapy lies not in its opposition of the functional (phenomenological) approach to the causal (pathogenetic), not in opposition of direct experience (experience) to analysis, but in its ability to integrate the two approaches, to the synthesis of analysis and experience. The principle of causal therapy "then" is complemented by the main principle of Gestalt therapy "now". The integration of these principles allows the most effective work on the patient's problems, to restore the connection of actual behavior, difficulties in social functioning with past life experience. In Western psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy techniques are successfully combined with transactional analysis.

Gestalt therapy techniques can be used both in individual and group personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy. Individual psychotherapy, as we have seen, is historically oriented, focusing on the patient's life story, biographical material. At the same time, the psychotherapist and the patient are more focused on the “there and then” questions, busy finding out the reasons for the patient’s troubles. The emotional involvement of the patient may not be high enough, especially if he is prone to the formation of such psychological defense mechanisms as rationalization or intellectualization. To comprehend the unconscious psychological content (insight) requires a deep emotional "living" of the conflict, its emotional reaction. As a result of the psychological impact aimed at emphasizing the emotional aspect of the relationship through the confrontation of the patient with experiences that are significant for him, there is an awareness of previously suppressed or projected feelings, desires, needs, aspirations.

Unlike the causal approach, in which the patient talks about his feelings, experiences, the Gestalt approach is expressed in direct experience in the “now” situation. The patient, with the help of a psychotherapist, is immersed in psychological material that is significant for him. At the same time, the most complete emotional response is encouraged. Let's consider the most famous methods of Gestalt therapy from the point of view of the possibility of their integration into the system of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy.

A gestalt technique called "unfinished business" has a pronounced cathartic effect. Unfinished business is any unsatisfied, often not fully realized need of a person. The most relevant unfinished business is unreacted emotions, unexpressed feelings, various claims to emotionally significant persons. The patient is asked to express his feelings to an imaginary person using verbal and non-verbal means of communication. It happens that the situation becomes very dramatic when it comes to loved ones who have passed away. For a more complete response, the patient is invited to imagine as vividly as possible an imaginary person, his face, smile, voice. At the same time, the patient can perform any manipulations: for example, touch the hand of an imaginary person, stroke his hair, etc. If at the same time the patient has tears, the psychotherapist does not console and, moreover, does not call for restraint - on the contrary, he encourages tears: “ Let them shed, those cleansing tears." In the process of such work, the patient's relationship to significant other people is clarified, previously unconscious aspects of the relationship are realized, the contradictory, ambivalent nature of the relationship becomes apparent - emotional purification is accompanied by intellectual clarification.

The technique of "exaggeration" is often used. It allows you to more fully come into contact with repressed emotions, repressed psychological material. The psychotherapist pays special attention to the patient's body language, noticing "what" and "how" the patient does to avoid confrontation with actual experiences, feelings, needs. Blocking awareness can be expressed in shortness of breath, in a feeling of constriction in the throat, various muscle contractions, small movements of the fingers. Noticing such manifestations, the psychotherapist asks the patient to exaggerate some of them, for example, tighten the fingers, increase the tapping of the foot, etc. In the process of performing this task, the patient gains awareness of the repressed psychological content, as well as an understanding of how he avoids contact with painful experiences. To expand awareness, a special procedure called “awareness continuum” is also used, during which the patient focuses on the thoughts, feelings, experiences, sensations that alternately appear in the stream of consciousness, followed by their verbalization. This procedure allows the patient to better understand his needs, desires, to delve into that area of ​​his mental life that is hidden from awareness. At the same time, the psychotherapist helps the patient to overcome the resistance that arises, encourages him to spontaneity, to deeper immersion in the area of ​​insufficiently conscious experiences. Expanding awareness is one of the most important principles of Gestalt therapy. Whatever the talk is about, whatever technical procedures the patient performs, the psychotherapist constantly brings him back to his feelings, to the awareness of “what” and “how” is happening at the moment.

Among the various methods of Gestalt therapy, an important role is given to the game "Dialogue between fragments of one's own personality". In the context of developing an integrative approach, this procedure is of particular importance, since it contains great potential for understanding intrapersonal conflict. According to the theory of Gestalt therapy, a neurotic personality is fragmented: a patient with neurosis alienates (projects) aspects inherent in his personality and appropriates (introjects) alien, not dictated by his own needs, but offered by society patterns of thinking, feelings, behavior. The goal of Gestalt therapy is the integration of the personality, the restoration of its integrity, harmony, violated in the process of socialization. The patient must accept himself as he is, realize which aspects of his Self he alienates, what he does not accept in himself, and what, on the contrary, he appropriates from what does not rightfully belong to him or passively accepts under the pressure of society. An integrated, or mature, personality - a person with a high degree of awareness - chooses the "middle path", the path of reconciliation of one's own conscious needs with the requirements of society, which achieves harmony with the outside world. "Dialogue between fragments of one's own personality" is a procedure that promotes the integration of a fragmented personality, the merging of opposites. The most universal, significant opposites for a person are: masculinity-femininity, aggressiveness-passivity, dependence-autonomy, rationality-emotionality. The procedure is performed using an empty chair, which is placed in front of the patient. The patient alternately changes chairs, identifying himself with opposite sides of his personality and having a dialogue between them.

If we consider this procedure from the point of view of the psychology of relationships and ideas about neurosis as a conflict-prone disease, then in essence we are talking about awareness of the attitude towards oneself, awareness of the inadequacy of self-esteem, about the clash of conflicting aspects of attitude towards oneself, underlying the intrapsychic conflict. The integration of the individual in the context under consideration corresponds to the moment of formation of an adequate self-esteem, the rejection, on the one hand, of claims that do not correspond to the capabilities of the individual, from unrealistic attitudes, excessively high demands on oneself or others, and on the other hand, the acceptance of previously rejected needs, tendencies, attitudes, increasing the value of one's own capabilities, abilities, recognition of the uniqueness of one's self.

The study of intrapersonal conflict using the Gestalt technique is carried out as follows. In the process of discussing with the patient his problems, difficult life situations, collisions, while analyzing emotionally significant relationships for him (attitude towards himself, towards significant others), the patient is asked to play the dialogue between “desire” and “opportunities”, between “desire” and “duty”. ". More often, however, the dialogue takes place between the substantive elements of the conflict. For example, a mother who, with the help of neurotic symptoms, keeps her adult son with her, is asked to replay the dialogue between the "holding" and "letting go" mother. Or a man who has reached the limit of his professional competence and cannot cope with increasing demands can be asked to act out a dialogue between "erudite" and "ignorant" or between "successful" and "ordinary", etc.

Dialogues are also played with imaginary significant others (parents, spouses, children, bosses, etc.). This psychotechnics vividly embodies the theoretical proposition about the identity of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict, the concept of internalization-exteriorization. In the process of dialogue, the patient projects his own problems related to the intrapersonal conflict onto the “interlocutor” that is significant for him. The patient realizes that the source of difficult relationships with other people is himself, those contradictions that lie in himself, and not some external, "objective" reasons.

Gestalt therapy techniques can be used in group personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy. Biographical orientation sessions can use the classic Perls model of group psychotherapy, which is based on the dyadic interaction of a doctor and a patient against the backdrop of a group. The psychotherapist directs the patient, asks him to repeat words that are significant for the patient, directs him to monologues and dialogues, asks him to intensify some actions, etc. The role of the group is reduced to reflecting the patient's experiences and to internal work associated with identification with the patient and his problems.

With the interactionist orientation of group psychotherapy, dyadic contact is not carried out against the background of a relatively passive group, but is organically included in the structure of the group lesson: spontaneous interaction among group members leads to the need to connect at some point in the therapeutic situation of one or another method of Gestalt therapy. With this option, the psychotherapist acts as an expert, to whose help the group resorts from time to time to facilitate the solution of the tasks facing it. Having fulfilled his expert role, the psychotherapist again steps into the background, allowing the group to develop spontaneously. When working with a member of a one-on-one group, the therapist uses the same techniques as in individual psychotherapy. Here it is necessary to emphasize once again that in the practice of group pathogenetic psychotherapy, the division of sessions into biographical and interactionist ones is rather conditional: usually different types of orientations are combined in one session.

Gestalt therapy has developed special techniques designed for its group form. They are based on interactions between group members and the group member in the spotlight (sitting in the "hot chair"). The most famous of these game techniques are: "Walking in a circle" ("Rondo"), projective games, reverse game ("Revealing the opposite"). During the "Walking in a circle" the patient approaches each member of the group and addresses him with some statement that is significant for him, expresses his feelings, his fears, doubts, fears, at the suggestion of the psychotherapist, performs any actions aimed at expressing his relationship with group members. In the form of "Rondo" unfinished business is often played out. In projective play, the patient is asked to identify with that aspect of his personality that he alienates, to “try on” the trait that he projects onto others, and from the standpoint of a person who has this trait in a grotesque form, to interact with each member of the group, performing “ Rondo. In reverse play, the patient must act out a behavior that is opposite to that which he demonstrates in the group and which is protective for him. So, a woman who plays the role of a “darling” in a group is asked to reincarnate as an aggressive, arrogant, offending other. If in the course of the game the patient succeeds in complete identification, he begins to realize that the role played and the personality traits are his own, authentic. Thus, intellectual awareness arises at the height of direct experience in the "now" situation. According to the concept of Gestalt therapy, the connection with “then” arises naturally and does not require special psychotherapeutic efforts, because “now” is the actualization of past experience. However, practice shows that a full-fledged insight, full awareness does not always arise - more often these are only “lightnings”, short-term “glimpses” of awareness. It is in connection with this that there is a need to combine the pathogenetic (causal) and Gestalt (phenomenological) approaches. So, during group pathogenetic psychotherapy classes using Gestalt experiments, after the patient performs one of the described techniques, the group members exchange opinions, provide feedback, and interpret the material obtained during the experiment. Group discussion contributes to the “ripening” of the patient, the transformation of “glimpses” of awareness into “enlightenment”. If a psychotherapist working in pure Gestalt technique constantly (and this is his main task) returns the patient to the situation "now", then with an integrative approach, the psychotherapist's skill lies in the skillful combination of two principles - "now" and "then".

So, personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, based on the principle of causality, is more connected with the analysis of the patient's history, with the impact on the cognitive aspect of his relationship; Gestalt therapy based on the "now" emphasizes the "experiencing" of the current situation and is therefore more associated with influencing the emotional aspect of the relationship. It follows that the optimal psychotherapeutic impact should be based on a combination of two approaches: causal (historical) and functional (phenomenological).

case from practice

An integrative approach in psychotherapy, in particular, the integration of the principles and methods of Gestalt therapy into the system of personality-oriented (reconstructive) psychotherapy, can be illustrated by the example of working with a patient during three sessions of group psychotherapy using Gestalt experiments.

First session

Therapist. Who is ready to bring their problem to the discussion? Who has some difficulties that he would like to solve with the help of the group?

Sergey (member of the group). I have a difficult relationship with my mother, and I would like to sort it out. It depresses me that she overprotects me, interferes in my affairs, restricts my freedom. This causes a feeling of irritation, quarrels between us.

Sergey said the following. He is 27 years old, single and lives with his mother. The mother is 53 years old, she has a dominant character, and she suppresses it. The father abused alcohol, the parents divorced at the initiative of the mother when the boy was 9 years old. The father lives in another city, has another family. The first four years after the divorce, the boy did not meet his father. He remembers that he missed his father, he wanted him to return; he told his mother about this, but the mother was categorically opposed to her father, reproached him for ruining her life, humiliated him in the eyes of her son: “Your father is a nonentity”, “Weak man”, “Willless drunkard”, etc. In subsequent years, Sergei met with his father every year, came to visit him. Mother tried to arrange her personal life, but to no avail. At one time, “Uncle Slava” appeared in the family on short visits, but he had his own family.

After graduating from the medical institute, he left for distribution to another city. He missed his mother, called by phone almost every day, often came to her.

He spoke about his intimate life. He dated women, but it didn’t come to a strong relationship: either he left, or he was soon left, because he did not dare to propose. Often it did not reach even close relationships. He speaks very confusingly about the motives of his indecisive behavior towards women, he tries to explain this by a tendency to platonic relationships, to the idealization of love, as well as social unpreparedness for marriage (lack of suitable housing conditions, low wages, etc.). It seems that the motives are not sufficiently understood, resorts to rationalization.

He said that relations with his mother were especially tense in recent years. His mother annoys him by not sleeping at night when he is not at home, waiting for his return, constantly asking where he spends time, when he returns home, etc. He does not feel free. At the same time, the mother does not object to him getting married, she perceives this as an inevitable fact.

When asked if he made an attempt to marry, he said that when he came to his mother, when he worked on a distribution in another city, he met a girl and after a while made her an offer. He declined to answer the question of whether he was in love with her: "I liked her." The very first question of the girl about where they would live caused confusion and bewilderment, since he considered it natural that they would live with him and his mother. Received an evasive answer to his proposal, the girl asked to give her a month to think. In the days that followed, he felt tense. It was unpleasant to have to come to her house to introduce her to her parents, she was afraid that she would have to live in a strange house, with a strange mother. The girl's mother did not like her, felt her authority, the desire to insist on her own in everything, the thought was unpleasant that she would have to obey her. Mother started talking about the plot. Understood: they want him to live with them. He took the girl’s remark especially painfully: “I understand the tender relationship between my son and mother and even appreciate them, but I would categorically refuse to live with my mother-in-law.” Tired of the waiting situation. I decided to force things in order to get rid of unpleasant experiences, I was in a hurry to "decide everything once and for all." I called the girl and demanded to give an answer. Again the girl evaded a direct answer. After that, he left for work at the place of distribution and did not call again.

Even before that, he told his mother about his intention to marry. The mother took it outwardly calmly. Almost did not talk about this topic. When, after a while, his mother cautiously asked how things were going, he replied casually that there was nothing more to talk about. More to this topic did not return.

Therapist. Now you have the opportunity to close the gestalt, to finish the unfinished situation with the girl. Imagine that she is sitting on a chair opposite you, and have a dialogue with her. When you speak on her behalf, then sit on her chair, and try to reincarnate, become her, to feel into her feelings, to look at the world through her eyes, from the point of view of her needs, interests. Try to realize the motives of your act, what moved you from the inside, why did you break up with her, what internal barriers stood that prevented you from connecting? For this dialogue to take place, one must be extremely sincere and spontaneous. So, your girlfriend, Oksana, is sitting opposite ...

Sergey. Hello!

Oksana. Hello!

Sergey. Well how are you?

Oksana. Never mind.

Sergey. How is it going? (To the therapist: during that period?)

Therapist. Here and now! You need to complete that unfinished situation. You didn't call then and there was no explanation, let that explanation happen now. You have now met and are trying to understand what happened, why you broke up.

Therapist.(interrupts) Let's get closer to the topic, so we can talk for a long time. Ask Oksana: “Do you regret that everything turned out this way?”

Sergey. Don't you regret what happened?

Oksana. I'm sorry. But you didn't call. Well, who proposes marriage like that?

Sergey. Well, I would marry you, and then ... (Pause, doesn't know what to say)

Therapist. So tell me what would happen next.

Sergey. Probably, I would still be tired, I would be tired ... (again long pause)

Therapist.(Co sides of Oksana) What would you be tired of?

Sergey. I would be tired of fighting. Fight your urge to dominate. Constantly worry about you. Or maybe even jealous of you. I would just be jealous of you for other men ... Or maybe I was just afraid of losing you.

Oksana. Why were you afraid?

Sergey. You know me - I like to stay at home, in general I want to be at home ... (A pause, then with a dreamy off-key) I want to be with you... I want to get to work, after all.

Therapist. Ask Oksana: “Why do you think I did this?”

Seryozha.(repeat question)

Oksana. Yes, you are inept, you do not know how to take care of a girl! You are waiting, you are waiting. And you are going somewhere... (With annoyance) And then you meet your cold face.

Therapist. Ask Oksana: “And yet, what do you think, why did I do this?”

Seryozha. Why didn't I marry you?

Oksana.(Quiet) I don't know... Maybe you got scared, maybe you... (Long pause) indecisive… maybe you listen to your friends… I don’t know… maybe you… (in a quiet voice, timidly) listen to your ... mother. I dont know. (With readiness) Yes, tell me yourself! Aha! You don't want to talk, you don't want to... You just don't love me, most likely. After all, a man should look after, be a knight, give flowers, and you gave them to me so rarely ... (Then he goes into general reasoning from the attained awareness, “talks”)

Therapist.(Insists from Sergey) Oksana, I still want to hear from you what you think of me, tell me sincerely.

Seryozha.(Decided) Tell me how it really is.

Oksana. I think that you are like all men (Speaks without delay, readily, as if he had found an explanation) You all want one thing and do not want to understand ...

Therapist.(interrupts) Seryozha, I want it to be sincere. What are you doing now?

Seryozha. I pass on what she says.

Therapist. You are flirting now!

Seryozha. That's what she always says!

Therapist.(Insists with slight annoyance) Find out what she thinks of you now.

Seryozha.(From Oksana's side) (Changes his manner, becomes serious, thoughtful, after a long pause). I think you are weak... (Turns to therapist) These are my thoughts, I can't tell what she thinks, I can't know! It's just a coquetry!

Therapist. Imagine that the moment of truth has come, now there is no time for coquetry. You have reached such a point when a lie becomes simply ridiculous and indecent, and only the truth must be told!

Seryozha.(From Oksana's side) (Head down, slowly, impressively, with great expression.) What a scum you are... you scum... I really feel sorry for you... I loved you, and you... (Pause)

Seryozha. You don’t perceive me as a man at all, well, I didn’t feel it! These short meetings, arrivals. You didn't think about me... (To the therapist) I want to leave! I have nothing more to say!

Therapist.(From Oksana) No, I first want to know from you what happened!

Seryozha. I came up with some kind of will, I read a lot, I came up with some kind of force ... Yes, yes, there were prohibitions, self-restraints, analysis. And I ... I loved you, loved and cheated.

Therapist.(From Oksana) Tell me why are you better off without me?

Seryozha. I don’t need to burden myself with anything, I don’t need to fight with anyone, think about anyone, I feel more comfortable. All! But tell me, why are you so loved in the family? Why did you behave like this? You are a person of little interest, I was often bored with you. You attracted my attention with some primitive forms. Complete coquetry. I felt that you took a lot from your mother - her directiveness, dogmatism. You often say “my opinion” without arguing… (Continues listing claims, analyzing Oksana's character)

Therapist.(interrupts) Seryozha, translate to your own personality. Let's leave mutual reproaches aside! Let it be strong words. Even if they are objectively unfair, but so that they come from the heart.

Seryozha.(loudly, decisively) I was afraid to take responsibility... to have my own family! Constantly smooth out, beat conflicts between you and your mother. I was afraid of all this. I was scared, you know, just scared, and I didn’t want it! (Long pause) I can't say more. All!

Therapist. What do you feel?

Seryozha. Warm feet. Heat in the face. Backache. Feeling some kind of release. Very tired. Muscular relaxation. All!

Second session

Therapist. Seryozha, do you have specific claims, grievances?

Seryozha. Yes, there is.

Therapist. Imagine that your mother is sitting on this chair in front of you and is silent, she will not object to you, and you tell her as sincerely as you can all your claims and grievances.

Seryozha. You see, I don’t like the fact that you constantly blame me for almost everything, for any little thing. I do not like that you often indirectly try to impose your point of view on me regarding the solution of some issues. I don't like the fact that you don't share my attachments to people, that is, to my friends. Now, of course, less, but in childhood ...

I don't like the fact that you don't know - but now, thank God, learned - the names of my friends. I do not like your pragmatism, in everything you are trying to look for some kind of benefit. I don't like the way you speak your mind about the women I date. I don't like that you interfere in everything and prevent me from making my decisions. I don't like that you don't try to listen to me when I want to give you sound advice. I don't like your indecisiveness. I don't like your conflicts at work. I don't like that you talk to me about things I don't care about. I don't like that you used to read, and now you have abandoned your profession. I don't like your pettiness. I don't like that you didn't hide your negative attitude towards your father from me. I don't like the fact that you constantly brought up in me some kind of contempt for my father. I do not like your attitude towards relatives, although formally everything is fine. I do not like that you seek to dominate, which you often repeat: "Mother is mother, son is son." I don't like that you don't take care of yourself, I don't like your poor wardrobe, walking around in old shoes. Who is this for? I don't like that you're calling me to do some of our family program, which is pretty much flawed all the time. I don't like that you want me to do agriculture, I want to be a doctor, I still do not give up hope of being a doctor. I don't like the fact that even now you can humiliate me. I do not like that any of my tough behavior you regard as rude.

Therapist. You made a lot of claims to your mother. Now name the most important one.

Seryozha.(With deep thought, quietly) Because of you, I can't feel like an independent person. Nothing!

Therapist.(Pay attention to the fact that the patient constantly rubs his palms together during the monologue) What are you doing with your hands now?

Seryozha. I rub my fingers. I dont know…

Therapist. Try to increase this hand movement and understand what is behind it.

Seryozha.(increasing arm movement) I see her look. I feel a mother's look... Maybe it's a deep father there... I convey the relationship between us, between me and my mother. Either she will press me to her, or she will humiliate me, yell at me, insult me. She has it often. Since childhood. I hate her for it. For the fact that from the very beginning she raised me to be something special, she constantly noted some virtues in me and she herself could immediately humiliate me. Everything was forbidden. (Referring to mother) You forbade coming home late, meeting ... with girls: “You must first finish school, go to college.” Yes, you strongly opposed my meetings with girls. I remember one moment when you said: “Don’t you dare marry before graduation!” You often called me scum. Often. As soon as I came home late at the age of 24 - that's it! (thinks aloud, slowly) Or maybe those men who… I often didn't see them… whom she dated. She often consulted with me, I was already 14-15 years old. She consulted with me, as if she herself was afraid of something ... (back to mother) I'm tired of your reproaches that you gave me everything, and I'm so ungrateful. I'm tired of your constant desire to be with you all the time. I'm tired of your tears ... I felt so good when you were not around. Although sometimes I want to see you. I'm tired of holding myself back all the time. I can't talk to you seriously about any of my problems. You do not take my words on faith or completely reject them. I'm tired - if I come in the morning, you throw me tantrums. I'm tired of your constant reproaches and desire ... to marry me, although you know that with such an attitude I will not do it. I'm sick of your pretense, when I see, when you date someone, you are formally interested in the person. You think I don't notice it. In general, you have a formal relationship. I'm tired of your reproaches regarding domestic problems. When I start to repair plumbing, you climb there, when I undertake to repair the iron - you climb again! I'm tired of seeing you all the time. On-to-e-lo! Here I am now ... you are gone - and I feel great! Fabulous! I don't see you for ten days and I'm resting! You think that when you leave, I will definitely bring someone. I'm tired of your constant peeping. Where slippers are wrong, where something else is wrong. God forbid I forget to wash the cup - it's a nightmare! "And who did you have?" Can't I invite someone? I'm tired of all this! Everything is your choice! You decide! I am tired of this!

Therapist. Aren't you tired of continuing these accusations?

Seryozha. Yes, some trace remains, something else ...

Therapist. Apparently, you do not pronounce the most important thing. You're spinning, you understand? That's why the trail ... We need to make the same push or jerk that we talked about yesterday. A breakthrough needs to be made. (Long pause)

Therapist.(Offers to sit on mom's chair) Let mom tell you now.

Seryozha.(on behalf of mother) You know perfectly well your father ruined my life. You know what it cost me to get you on your feet, what it cost to get this apartment. I wanted you not to experience the difficulties that I experienced. You know perfectly well that I sacrificed my personal life to get you back on your feet. I wanted you to get an education. You got it - I'm happy with it. I did everything for you, and now you answer me with black ingratitude! All children are like children, and you are an ungrateful son. I knew it. Ungrateful son. I knew that you would want to leave me, that you would want independence, that these girls would not bring you to a good place. I knew it perfectly. And so I received. I got what I deserved. For the fact that I always denied myself everything! You know that I'm alone, I'm alone. I worry when you are gone for a long time.

Therapist.(Ask to take the same place) Look at your mother now and tell me how you feel about her?

Seryozha. I feel some kind of emptiness ... Now her eyes are in front of me. I feel some kind of fatigue in my body, although my consciousness is clear. My state has changed, it is completely different ...

Therapist. After you have expressed claims to each other, there is no desire to just talk with your mother, try to understand what is the matter, what is happening to you, why are you feeling bad separately, but even worse together?

Seryozha.(referring to mother) I don't feel like you want it now.

Therapist. It probably depends on you too.

Seryozha.(Slow, difficult, depressed) Let's discuss this problem from the position of adults now. You say that I often forget about you in various situations. Why do you say that?

Mother. You know I'm afraid. When you are near, I feel calmer. I'm scared to be alone. You are the only thing I have left, you are the only person I need.

Seryozha.(Quietly, with tenderness) Mom, I'm not going to leave. You know very well that I often think of you. When I left, you remember, I called you every day. You felt my presence, you knew that I was there, that I was worried about you. I would like us to solve all our family affairs together, to inform each other. Maybe then I will get married ... and there will be children, grandchildren ...

Therapist. Ask your mom: "Mom, do you want me to get married?"

Seryozha. Do you want me to get married?

Mother. Yes, I want, but I want... (Pause) so that you get a wife who would respect and appreciate you. I want you to get married. I want you to be happy, I want ... I am also tired of all this.

Therapist. Ask on behalf of your mother: “Do you want to get married yourself?”

Seryozha.(on behalf of mother) Do you want to get married?

Seryozha.(Long pause) Not!

Therapist.(on behalf of mother) So what do you want? Seryozha.(Quietly, after a pause) I also want to be with you. I want to live the way they lived ... To be content with what we have ... (Louder, more lively, as if coming to life) All this satisfies me ... Everything is fine!

Seryozha.(More lively): What are children? What are the children now? There is nothing to feed them even now. You know that I always created an idyllic image for myself, some kind of love ... although I myself am practically in it ... But I remember how you prevented our meetings with Marina. (with sarcasm) Rare sight! You did not like everything, absolutely everything! You crushed all the emotions in me. Everything pressed. All!

Therapist. Once again, looking at your mother, could you repeat what you want?

Seryozha. I want us to understand each other and treat each other with respect.

Therapist. And about the future life, about marriage? Repeat what you already said.

Seryozha. I want us to understand each other and respect each other. I want you not to interfere with my choice of a woman. So that you do not interfere with my choice of my path. I want you not to impose on me ...

Therapist.(Interrupting) Serezha, I want you to repeat only what you have already answered the questions, do you want to get married and what do you want.

Seryozha. I want you to… (Pause) did not crush my emotions, I want you not to express your attitude in such forms.

Therapist.(Persistent) Seryozha, say again what you have already said here to your mother's questions about whether you want to get married.

Seryozha.(careless) No, I probably don't.

Therapist. So tell that to your mom again. What do you want, say again.

Seryozha.(in a low voice, softly) I want... to be together... I want you to decide everything for me. I did everything, but I would live like this ... In principle, everything suits me, I'm ready for anything. (With childish resentment in his voice and with protest) I need nothing! Nothing! There is work - everything! This is quite enough. I want everything to stay where it is. All I want is that you don't yell at me too much, that's all. For our family to be together. All. I don't want anything more.

Therapist. Now try to responsibly tell your mother which of your confessions bothers you the most in a relationship with her.

Seryozha. What annoys me the most, I feel the most discomfort when I tell you that today I will not come home to spend the night. And this moment, when I leave, gives me a lot of trouble. Hear your internal reproaches - I feel them. I feel it with every fiber. (sighs heavily) Being in bed with a woman, I can get up a little light and leave, formally explaining this with some reasons. I return to you so that you feel calm ... (Pause) And further. When you're too protective of me, it bothers me. All.

Therapist. Did you say the most important thing that annoys you?

Seryozha. Yes, that's the main thing. Other moments, other pictures that now arise in my mind are being successfully resolved. The two most important points... (Convinced)… and perhaps the first is the most important, because I find the strength to fight with others. The first point is the most important. She understands everything! And further… (Turning to mother with bitterness and bitterness) I don't want you to insult me. She called me rubbish and scum. And this is from childhood - as if you were being whipped in the face. Then I have problems, why I have some kind of insecurity with a woman. First they drive in childhood like this, like a hammer drives a nail.

Therapist. Have you finished work?

Seryozha. Yes all.

Therapist. Did Mom hear anything new from you today?

Seryozha. Yes, in general, my mother heard a lot of new things. Usually our conversations, if they were serious, took the form of tears or slamming the door.

Therapist. Have you heard anything new for yourself?

Seryozha. There is nothing. All this has already been played.

Therapist. Well, well, but when you told your mother that you would like to stay with her and you don’t need anything else, did you always think so or did it come now?

Seryozha.(Quiet) No, it's now.

Therapist. What feeling did you have at that moment?

Seryozha. Feeling of being thrown, thrown... off the tongue. Some pain appeared in the back of my head, I immediately tried to look inside myself. It was a feeling similar to yesterday, but with some kind of light fog.

Third session

Seryozha. After the first session, in which I talked with Oksana, I realized that the topic of the next sessions would be the relationship with my mother. Despite the fact that I really felt significant relief after the first session, there was still some dissatisfaction. After the second, yesterday, session - a conversation with my mother - I really ... well, I just didn’t think about anything, I slept great, I got up rested, I just felt some kind of satisfaction, even if I remembered the lesson, that’s all there was some kind of indifferent stream of thoughts.

Therapist.(To the group) Until now, we have worked more "here and now". But isn’t there such a need to throw a bridge from what we are observing “here and now” to what was “then”, in the past, in order to try to find out the origin of these relationships with the mother, why they developed this way, who responsible for this? What is the backstory that caused such a strong bond with the mother? What is so attached?

Seryozha. I subjectively do not feel such a need.

Therapist. Do you understand this connection?

Seryozha. Yes!

Therapist. What do you associate it with?

Seryozha. I associate the presence of my problems ... This is, first of all, love and affection for the mother. On my part - unwillingness to leave her under any pretext ... I, most likely, could explain to myself, in some words, conclusions, reasoning, but not recognize this unwillingness to leave her. This eventually led to a complex…

Therapist. It seems to me that you are now trying to analyze not the causes, but the effect. And we are interested in the reason. So I want to ask you, Seryozha. Take other boys - they also have a mother, and they also love their mother and are attached to her, but there is no such attachment that makes it impossible for a person to emancipate, create his own family. These are the reasons - you tried to analyze them, do you have any version?

Seryozha. Yes. Some of my, perhaps, sexual attachments to my mother, which arose very early. I remember how often I told my grandmother that I love my mother, I remember this for sure, that I would like ... no, I regretted ... that I could not marry my mother. That was it.

Therapist. What age was that?

Seryozha. Well, five years.

Therapist. In my opinion, all boys at this age dream of marrying their mothers, at least they talk about it. But then they grow up and marry other women, but that doesn't happen to you. So, you have such a version that you were little Oedipus and remained so, in love with your mother.

Seryozha.(Thoughtfully) It's understandable that everyone has an Oedipus complex, but why exactly am I stuck on this? Do you want me to tell you what I imagined when yesterday I increased that movement with my hands that you noticed when I was talking to my mother? I didn’t say then ... It seemed to me that I was stroking that very place with my mother. When I was little, I once spied, and this memory appeared ...

Therapist. Now would you like to talk with your father about your experiences, feelings, about what worried you in childhood and what you remember with pain even now?

Silence, long pause...Therapist. What is holding back?

Seryozha.(in a quiet voice) Nothing… I just don’t want to… I presented our conversation on this topic… in general, I don’t feel any need… Of course, I missed him… but I don’t feel a real need to talk to him… I just feel some kind of emptiness . When I talked about my versions, then, in general, this one arose ... a version of a person who was an example of a man for me ... episodic men who appeared in my mother's life ... in general, some gave me a certain image, but, as for my father… it was he who gave very little… all those drinkings of his… they irritated me very much. I clearly feel, even now, when I imagine my father drunk, annoyance ... he was very drunk.

Therapist. Now you could talk to your father about these issues.

Seryozha.(Quietly, doubtfully) I don’t know ... I’m afraid to tell him some truth, I don’t know what kind ...

Therapist. So maybe you will start this conversation and you will come to it, understand what you are afraid to tell your father. Start: "Father..."

Seryozha. Father, I feel sorry for you. I think the mother is right. On the one hand, you achieved quite a lot, you were valued as a specialist, many turned to you, but nothing more ... Look at yourself, how you got fat, drink and look for reasons outside yourself ... (Long pause… To the therapist) I don't want to say anything.

Therapist. But you're already talking. Keep talking! Tell your father how you perceive him: as a specialist, as a man, as a father, as a person - that's it!

Seryozha. I don't like that you generally can't do anything about the house, that you drink, that you rarely visit your mother, although you live very close to her. I don’t like that you rarely write to me, although you require me to write more often ... I don’t like that you don’t take care of yourself, although you went in for sports in your youth. I don't like that you live like a hermit. I don't like what you are. (in a quieter voice) did not make any attempts ... to return to the family ... This is the worst thing that I cannot forgive you ... You have not seen me for five years ... you could not see me for a long time ... and not write anything about yourself. And during my arrival, you made scenes, portraying the person who had been waiting for me for so long. (Long pause) All! (Pause. Then with renewed strength) You taught me more bad than good. You could have given me a drink, but you didn't contribute to my education. You were far away from me, and I could do without your alimony. You didn't educate me! Therefore, I often did not know how to behave, I did not have fatherly support, advice. I saw only mother's tears, tantrums, prohibitions... Mother's advice did not give the desired result for me, they were of some kind of defensive nature... As a child, and later I began to acquire... (With effort and voice rising) female reactions. I could cry, I could be offended. (Long pause, deep breath) Probably all... (Long pause. With new impulse.) Actually, I want to tell you that I hate you for spitting on my mother. I hate.

Therapist. Tell your father: "You are to blame for that ..."

Seryozha. Father, you are guilty before me that you did not even try ... to bring me back to you ... (Sigh) You are to blame before me for forgetting me for five whole years. Guilty.

Therapist. Could you now tell the most important thing to your father?

Seryozha.(Decided) The most important thing is that… (Speaks slowly, with notes of tragedy, but confidently and firmly) You weren't there when I needed you. (He straightens up in his chair with a deep breath)

Therapist. Have you said everything now?

Seryozha.(With relief and a sense of joy): Yes! Some things have become more conscious to me. The fact that I missed my father, I could suspect this before - “it would be nice if you were here,” but I always gave myself this attitude: “father is father, mother is mother. And nothing can be done about it." And in today's experiment, this idea... the father was not there when he was needed... it would seem so simple... the whole point is precisely in this... it became very understandable and significant to me, I only now truly realized it.

Group discussion

Therapist. Now we can discuss Serezha's problem, allow ourselves to express both feelings and thoughts.

Nina. Seryozha, your father did not come to you. Did you explain it somehow? What did it mean to you?

Seryozha.(With a sigh) I don't need... He doesn't need me! He left me! He does not love me…

Nadya. You have an ambivalent attitude towards your father, like towards your mother: I love and I hate. I hate that I left, I don’t love ...

Zinovy. You said you hated him. By the way, I've been waiting for this. When you said that, I confess, I wanted to kick the chair on which he was sitting!

Valya.(passionately) And I have such a desire ... I was all overwhelmed. I cant. Yesterday's conversation ... as you said, with what intonation you accused your mother of this and that. You turn to your father, to the person who, in fact, is to blame for everything, in your misfortunes, in the fact that your mother was left alone, in the fact that, in fact, life has been lived, and you treat him like that, it's terrible!

Nina. Valya, it seems that you feel like Serezha's mother.

Valya.(laughs nervously) Okay, so be it...

Therapist.(To Vale): You are completely on your mom's side. Yesterday you defended your mother, and today you scold your father. This means that you are identified with the mother. And you are basically protecting yourself.

Valya. Well, maybe… (Laughs) Oh sure. Well no! Well, this is ... Yes, okay! You want to say that these are my problems ...

Nina. Exactly. There are several of us here about the same age, and we have adult children, but we don’t have such feelings, which means they are yours. (To Seryozha) Seryozha, when you attack your father in this conversation, accuse him, who do you think you look like?

Seryozha. Probably for my mom...

Therapist. Stop asking Serezha questions already. It's time for Serezha to hear how we perceive him, what we feel and what we think about him and his problem.

Seryozha. Nina, tell me.

Nina. I have great sympathy for you. Yesterday, when you finished your work, you sat in such a free position, so beautifully lounging on a chair, and your expression was interested, you just listened to us, and I admired you. And as for my feelings throughout your work, I just seethed and gurgled. Um, I'd whip your mother, that's how I felt! Now, of course, I have cooled down, I understand that in her own way, of course, she is an unhappy woman. I was indignant. It seemed to me that by the time you broke up with your father, she had already focused on you, she already wanted to stay with you together, she already unconsciously wanted you to say now: “I want to be with you ". That's when. And then, no matter what she did, she unconsciously did it in such a way as to keep you close to her.

Nadya. Moreover, she played on your best feelings. She evoked pity, sympathy, compassion. You did it well in the dialogues. “I gave you my whole life, everything for you, I didn’t get married, and you are an ungrateful person!”

Nina. In fact, she cultivated guilt in you. This kept it. And if you accept that you felt like an abandoned father, it's terrible! The child involuntarily raises the question: what did I do wrong? Maybe I'm bad if my father left me? I don't know if you asked yourself this question, but you kind of felt it latently. It's just adding to your guilt. And what does a person who feels guilty do? On the one hand, he behaves in such a way as to atone for his guilt, on the other hand, he wants to somehow get rid of this heavy feeling. How to get rid of guilt? It is necessary to make the other person who is trying to put this feeling on you to blame. And you defend yourself by attacking. This is the scene you described when you went to a woman for the night. You, as it should be for a son who does not want to disturb his mother, tell her: I will not spend the night at home. What is interesting is what you said next: even if she is silent, I feel guilty. And what do you do after that? You break out of a warm bed with a woman at the dawn and run to your mother, right? It’s interesting when you run to your mother, what will you say: “How happy I am to see you?” - you will give it away! Because it's her fault that I had to run to her. And what are you doing? You take out your aggression on your mother. Thus, you are freed from guilt. You are torturing each other. Have you left Oksana? Gone. You are from your grandfather, from your grandmother ... and you will leave everyone like a bun ... What did you do after that? You began to beat your mother even more. You are guilty! You are to blame for this! You are in this connection, loving and blaming and hating each other - it's so hard! That's how it's been all my life! In the end, when she tells you: “A mother is a mother, and a son is a son,” she is not cultivating a son in you. A son is something that inevitably grows up and flies out of the nest. She did not cultivate a son in you, but a person who will be with her all her life, in fact, she raised her husband. And you, of course, you play along with it. Because you also treat her as a person with whom you must live your whole life.

Therapist. Okay, it's mother! But there is also a father ... (To Seryozha) By the way, how do you feel about alcohol?

Seryozha. I practically don't drink.

Therapist. This is also an interesting thing!

Seryozha. Sometimes, when I have to drink champagne with friends, I then make a vow to myself: “I will not drink!” For the whole last year from January 1 to January 1, I did not use at all.

Zinovy. I won't do anything like a father!

Seryozha. Yes!

Therapist. This is called negative identification, when a boy transfers his negative attitude towards his father to everything connected with him, for example, to alcohol. Serezha's father gave few reasons for strong identification with him compared to his mother. Mother is strong, directive, strong-willed, leader. The father is weak, weak-willed, drinking, evading. That is, the father plays a kind of female role. This is where this weak identification with the father, with the man, comes from. Nina talked about her mother with such intensity that one might get the impression that only the mother was really to blame. Don't forget the role of a father. These are two equivalent roles. Why does the mother have such a powerful transference to her son? Probably because of some problems with her husband? What was the trigger here, we don't know.

Nina. From my point of view, the father here is the same victim as the son.

Therapist. From your point of view.

Nina. The proof of this is that he ended up in another family, and he is still different there.

Therapist. We don't know what the problems are. In your opinion, Nina, the husband is a victim, because his wife found him like that.

Nina. Yes!

Therapist. And I can just as well say that he found himself such a wife. They walked towards each other, and the son turned out to be the victim! Nina. In general, of course, they both found each other. Renat. The father left, and there was a vacuum that ...

Nina.(interrupts) He didn't leave! Needless to say, he's gone. The active role belongs, as it were, to the father; in fact, it has always belonged to the mother.

Therapist. He went first into alcoholism, and then left altogether.

Nina. It wasn't there from the start.

Renat. The mother could fill this vacuum with anything, she filled it with her son.

Valya. If you think, then the mother could have left in the first year, and she lived with him for nine years and, therefore, she wanted to somehow change something, but it didn’t work out, he started drinking.

Natasha. He was a weak man, but he didn't have to be an alcoholic.

Nina. Serezha does not know this. He judges his father by the way his mother introduced him to him. And the mother spoke badly about the father. What he was, we do not know.

Seryozha. For the father, in general, quitting drinking was an easy thing.

Therapist. This is absolutely not important - he drank a liter or half a liter a day. The problem is not that he drinks. This is not a cause, but a consequence of the problem.

Nina. Yes! By the way, what we say about the relationship between mother and father, that they found each other, that they kind of share responsibility in half, we, in the end, can transfer the same thing to the relationship between mother and son. Maybe the son could not be so malleable.

Therapist. About responsibility. Perls has such a phrase that as long as we adults blame our parents for our failures, as long as we remain children ... We must stop these accusatory games. The person must take responsibility.

Nina.(Seryozha): You are already big!

Valya. How well said!

Therapist. I saved this phrase for the climax of this session. What should Serezha do now? Become a responsible adult. Mom - mom, and Serezha - Serezhino. To each his own!

Feedback at the end of the group

Nina. You have changed these days. When I saw you for the first time, you made such an impression on me: such a big and handsome guy and at the same time a child. You seemed to have matured, become more confident, something masculine appeared in you, as if the same manners, and at the same time something new, more confident appeared in you.

Volodya. You know, Seryozha, I have to thank you. I have not spoken about this before ... I have empathized with you all this time very much. The thing is… that I also solved my problems together with you. I found a lot in common between us. Not everything is the same, but I experienced a lot, I decided a lot for myself thanks to you. And so you have become close to me and especially sympathetic now.

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 restraining 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.

Gestalt therapy is a popular direction in psychological counseling today. Its main developer is Frederic and Laura Perls, as well as Paul Goodman. In translation, Gestalt therapy means “a holistic image” - this is the task that specialists set themselves when working with clients according to the main provisions, techniques and theory of g.

To explain what exactly Gestalt therapy does, the online magazine site will give a parable. For a long time, a poor man sat near his shack. He sat near the river, along which a good man passed. One day a poor man asked a kind man to feed him. To which a good man caught fish for him and fed him. The next time the situation repeated itself. A good man was tired of constantly catching fish, which is why he showed the poor man how to do it so that he would not ask for help in the future.

Gestalt therapy helps a person achieve a holistic image through self-awareness. Here the therapist is not a passive participant, he is actively involved in the process, however, not with the aim of doing all the work for the client, but in order to help the client learn to achieve understanding.

What is Gestalt Therapy?

The two main problems that many modern people suffer from can be called: the inability to cope with existing problems that can drag on for many years, and the inability to take responsibility. Gestalt therapy solves both of these problems. What it is? This is a method of psychological counseling, which has its own tasks and techniques.

The main task of Gestalt therapy is to eliminate emotional experiences, clamps and fears that prevent you from enjoying life and achieving your goals in the present. This is done thanks to the awareness of all the experiences that block a person on the path to performing the necessary actions, resolving problems that could bother the individual for years, as well as taking responsibility for their own emotions and feelings.

The specialist works with a person in a state of "here and now", which is also a "trick" of Gestalt therapy. The therapist doesn't care about the problems, the person's past or what they've experienced. He is only interested in what at the moment still worries his client, influences him, influences him. This problem may have happened in the past, but emotional experiences and thoughts about it still affect behavior.

Only those feelings and experiences that a person experiences so far are worked out. When analyzing a problem that happened in the past, the specialist is not interested in what the individual felt then, in the past, he is only concerned with what the person is experiencing now, when he returns with his thoughts to this event from the past.

Being "here and now" a person can more calmly talk about a problem that happened to him in the past, because it has already happened, it has remained in the past, now it does not physically hurt a person in any way. An individual, in the course of working with a specialist, must realize that he is talking about events that are not happening to him now, at a particular moment. Now next to a person there is no enemy who in the past humiliated or insulted him. Now a person is not in the situation that happened to him in the past. This means he is safer. He can talk more calmly about what happened. Moreover, he realizes that now everything is calm and good in his life, nothing threatening exists.

You can look at the situation from the past from different angles. The more a person realizes that there is no problem now, it is in the past, and he may not worry about it as he did when he was directly in it, the better he begins to see it. You can look at it from different angles. At the same time, nothing threatens a person.

In Gestalt therapy, not only consideration of a specific problem that worries a person is practiced, but also hypothetical situations that have not yet occurred or, in principle, disturb a person. Various techniques are used here, for example, the “empty chair” method, when a person imagines an opponent on an empty chair with whom he would like to talk, get some kind of answer from him, learn to communicate with him.

The tasks of the Gestalt therapist are several:

1. To help the person maintain awareness and the state of "here and now" when considering an exciting situation that can be frightening.
2. To help a person realize what specific experiences he experiences when considering a situation.
3. Understand the reasons why the situation arouses in a person the emotions that he experiences. Based on this, together with the client, an action plan can be developed on how to no longer allow these experiences, how to cope / eliminate those feelings that already exist.
4. Restore inner balance, become a whole person who must live "here and now", and not in the past or in the future.
5. To help the client take responsibility for the experiences that he allows to influence his decisions and actions in the present.

Theory of Gestalt Therapy

The developers of Gestalt therapy did not consider it necessary to create various theories, since they created a completely practical system. Gestalt therapy acts as a method when the main task of the specialist is to keep the client's consciousness in the state of "here and now" (so that he does not fly away into the past or future). Also, the main aspect is placed on the ability of the individual to be creative.

However, over time, the developed technique began to be considered by many psychologists, who brought many theoretical bases to it:

• Contact-border is the line on which a person begins to contact with the environment, while he can separate himself from the world.
• Resistance is a way of interaction of an individual with the external environment. At present, a person is in contact with the world in the way that is available to him, or in the way he is accustomed to. If problems arise as a result of this contact, then the methods that a person uses were appropriate in the past, but are ineffective in the present.
• Realizing your true needs. Often a person, unable to satisfy his basic need, covers it with another, tries to compensate for it with something else. However, this does not allow a person to remain happy to the end, which is why he continues to compensate for his basic need, not being fully satisfied, because he is not even aware of it.

Gestalt therapy considers the individual as a whole system. He does not share it as specialists in psychoanalysis, although he can consider its individual aspects. The fact is that what happens in one area of ​​a person's life directly affects the rest of his aspects of the system. Thus, if feelings change, then experience, beliefs, worldview, behavior, and even goals for a future life change.

Gestalt therapy does not aim to eliminate the problems that people came with. It aims to eliminate those emotional clamps that prevent a person in the present from enjoying life to the fullest, and not just partially. Here the emphasis is on becoming aware of the present experiences and problems, and not receding into the past.

The founder of the already established Gestalt therapy is Perls. He sets as his main task the maintenance of homeostasis - the balance that a person strives for at any moment of his life. Here it is necessary to satisfy all his needs, which allow him to achieve this balanced state, by any means.

Gestalt therapy is based on 5 main pillars:

1. The relationship between background and figure. The figure is a gestalt - a kind of integral being or the person himself, or his need. The background is a situation that is currently significant and interesting for the formation of a gestalt. If the need is satisfied, then the background disappears and a new one appears to form a new gestalt. If the need is not satisfied, then the gestalt remains incomplete, where the person gets stuck. Here it is important for a person to learn how to satisfy his needs, so that over time he does not go into the “fantasy zone”, from where hopes, neuroses, etc. are formed.
2. Awareness and focus on the present moment. If a person is able to realize his own needs in the present, then he must look for methods to satisfy them in what is available today. If he goes into fantasies, then various abnormal states arise when a person begins to wait, hope, aggressive because of the unfulfillment of desires, etc.
3. Opposites. This is the division of the world and man into opposites. However, man or the world cannot be divided. In Gestalt therapy, everything is perceived as a whole, as black and white in the aggregate.
4. Responsibility and maturity. Here Perls saw a man who does not wait for outside help, but tries to find a way out of any situation, based solely on what he himself can do for this.
5. Protection functions.

Gestalt Therapy Techniques

Techniques in Gestalt therapy are based on the principles and games:

1. Principles:

• "Here and now". Awareness of one's experiences that are present in the present, not in the past.
• "I, you". Awareness of oneself separately from other people in order to be able to contact them.
• Subjectivization of statements. Transformation of subjective judgments into objective ones.
• continuum of consciousness. Elimination of control in order to simply observe one's own experiences, thoughts that are happening at the moment, without exposing them to interpretation and evaluation.

1. Games.

Why do we need Gestalt therapy in the end?

People resort to Gestalt therapy when they want to get rid of the influence of past problems and possible future events, due to which various emotions and thoughts arise that interfere with a full-fledged real life. Gestalt therapy brings a person back to the present moment, so that he finally realizes that the past and future do not affect him in any way now, so he can remain calm and direct his forces to satisfy his needs and desires.

In the process of Gestalt therapy, experiments (games) become important, during which a person reproduces situations that excite him in various ways, tracking his own emotions and thoughts, in order to later understand how they affect his further behavior and building the future. Only with understanding can something be changed in the direction that is beneficial to the person himself.

Gestalt therapy also contributes to the development of the ability to constantly maintain a state of “here and now”, so as not to plunge into memories that frighten or fantasize about a future that may not happen, but to live and look for resources in the present moment.

Gestalt therapy. Gestalt groups

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2. The main provisions of the theory of F. Perls

The theoretical discoveries of Gestalt psychology were first applied to the practice of psychotherapy by Fritz (Frederick Solomon) Perls (1893-1970) in the 40s of the twentieth century..

Gestalt therapy appeared as a kind of antipode to psychoanalysis. When developing the ideological base of Gestalt therapy, Perls tried to synthesize some postulates of existential philosophy (existential impasse, emptiness, death, etc.), as well as Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy. This connection found its expression in Perls's views on the absence of a gulf between the mental and physiological activities of the organism.

Gradually, Perls came to understand man as part of a wide field of life, including both the organism and its environment. Perls rejected the idea of ​​separating body and mind, separating object and subject, and, further, separating man and environment. From this, he draws a conclusion, very important for his time, that there is no gap between the mental and physical activity of a person.

The development of this point of view allowed him to create an original concept of human mental health, which is based on his ability to flexibly, creatively contact the environment, and interrupt contact with it when necessary, because. the rhythm of contacting and avoiding contact is determined by the shifting relevance of the individual's needs. Perlet used the law of figure and ground as a model for changing needs. The dominant need appears as a figure against the background of everything that is in the mind. After its satisfaction (completion of the gestalt), it goes into the background, and a new urgent need takes its place as a figure.

One of the tasks of Gestalt therapy is to use the law of unity and struggle of opposites to help the patient isolate the figure from the background, complete the gestalt and return it to the background environment again.

Perls relied on two basic laws of Gestalt psychology: the whole dominates the parts, and the individual elements combine into a whole. In 1940-1950 he made an attempt to apply the main provisions of Gestalt psychology. to the study of the dynamics of personality changes, reformulated some of the principles of Gestalt psychology in relation to psychotherapy, creating a new effective psychotherapeutic direction - Gestalt therapy.

The result of his reflections was the book "Gestalt Therapy", published in 1951. The first part of this book, which is a practical guide to self-study, was repeatedly published in Russian under the title "Workshop on Gestalt Therapy".

The point of Gestalt therapy is not to explore the past in search of masked traumas (as Freud believed), but to help the patient focus on awareness (awareness) of the present.

Such key concepts of Perls' Gestalt therapy as the organism as a whole, here and now, how more important than why, form the basis and stages of awareness. Perls introduced and developed the concept of the continuum of awareness. Maintaining a continuum (continuity) of awareness seems very simple at first glance. You need to gradually, from second to second, realize what exactly, what event is currently being experienced. In fact, it is very difficult: extraneous thoughts, associations appear ... and the continuum is interrupted.

Perls also talked about internal opposites, which do not just exist, but are in a state of constant contradiction, struggle with each other. According to Perls, these opposites are not unacceptable, and, on the contrary, help to form and complete the gestalt. Being fully aware of the opposite poles of our Self, our aspirations and desires, we begin to become more deeply aware of ourselves. The opposite sides of our Self in Gestalt therapy are called Attacker and Defender.

Healthy people who can clearly form a gestalt and draw a line between their own Self and the environment respond adequately to emerging difficulties.

When a neurosis occurs, the defense mechanisms are distorted and impede the growth of the personality. Among the reactions that impede the growth of personality, Perls identifies four main ones: the fusion reaction, retroflection, introjection and projection.

In the fusion reaction, the individual cannot differentiate himself from others, he is not able to clearly determine where his self ends and the self of another person begins. In such people, the boundary of their own I is so blurred that they hardly distinguish their own feelings, thoughts and desires from others. Merging makes impossible the self-regulating rhythm of contact and withdrawal, which in turn makes it impossible to form a gestalt. At its core, the fusion reaction is a neurotic mechanism for avoiding contact.

Retroflection means "turning back on yourself" (Perls, 1973). With retroflection, the boundary between the individual and the environment shifts towards the individual. If an attempt to satisfy his need meets resistance, then the retroflexing individual, instead of directing the energy of the struggle to change the environment, directs it to himself. A retroflexing individual develops an attitude towards himself as a foreign object. There is a separation of I as a subject and I as an object. By separating himself in this way, the retroflexing person becomes both the subject and the object of his actions. All the efforts of such a person are aimed not at fighting external difficulties, but at self-condemnation, self-flagellation, at best, at correcting their own emotions and behavior.

Introjection is the tendency to appropriate the beliefs, ways of thinking, and actions of other people without criticizing or trying to make them your own. As a result, the boundary between the Self and the environment is transferred, moved inside the Self. The individual is so busy assimilating other people's beliefs that he fails to form his own personality.

Projection is the opposite of introjection. The boundary between one's own Self and the environment shifts towards the environment. Projection is a tendency to transfer one's own mistakes and responsibility for what happens inside the Self onto others, onto the environment. Such a person believes that the world around him is cold and indifferent to him, that it is he, this world, who is to blame for his disorder, lack of initiative, and failures.

Perls believed that every act is a gestalt, and it is more important to realize how this act is done, and not why it is done.

Thus, F. Perls laid the foundation for modern Gestalt therapy. Fritz Perls developed the Gestalt therapy method primarily for the treatment of neuroses and other painful disorders, but even during his lifetime, Gestalt therapy went beyond purely medical practice. Gestalt therapy is a universal psychological method that is applicable to a wide range of human problems.

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