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Resistance is fertile

Bristol Therapist BlogJune 23, 20173Comments

At the heart of every course of therapy sits a struggle between change and resistance. Traditionally, the therapist is seen as an agent of change. In this view, it is the therapist's job to help bring about change, be that the explicitly desired change of the client, or an unwanted albeit necessary change. In gestalt therapy, this…

What is gestalt psychotherapy?

Bristol Therapist BlogMay 3, 20174Comments

From time to time, I like to return to first principles to remind myself of what I'm doing, and to what end. I haven't written a "what is gestalt therapy?" post for a while, so here we go. "What is gestalt psychotherapy?" is really three questions in one. And I think those questions are best approached…

Chewing digital food in my pocket

Bristol Therapist BlogMay 2, 20170Comments

An enduring metaphor in gestalt therapy is to imagine experiences as food. Whilst this was a concern of the founders back in the 1950s, social media has given emphasis to its appropriateness. We regularly refer to what's appearing in our feeds, mostly without pursuing the hint that the information delivered by our feeds is a…

Resentments and regrets: working with unfinished business.

Bristol Therapist BlogApril 12, 20170Comments

Any incomplete gestalt is unfinished business demanding resolution. Usually this takes the form of unresolved and incompletely expressed feelings. Patients are encouraged to experiment with finishing business which heretofore was unfinished... Gestalt therapists have found that resentments are the most frequent and meaningful unexpressed feeling, and often deal with this with a game in which…

The psychopathology of boredom

Bristol Therapist BlogApril 3, 20172Comments

Psychopathology is a great word. It has three parts: 'psyche' (the soul), 'pathos' (suffering), and the suffix 'ology' (the study of). If you're ever writing about something in the context of its impact on human suffering, you can't go far wrong by dropping in psychopathology (incidentally, given those meanings, that makes the meaning of 'psychopath'…

EU Referendum: 3 gestalt therapy exercises for undecided voters

Bristol Therapist BlogJune 22, 20160Comments

Tomorrow (Thursday 23rd June 2016), millions of us will go to a polling station, and decide the fate of our nation by putting a cross in one of two boxes in the much anticipated EU Referendum. Polling puts the result on a knife-edge, which means that the votes of undecided voters will decide the result. I've…

Therapy pro-tips: 6 emotional survival tips for England fans this Euro 2016

Bristol Therapist BlogJune 18, 20160Comments

Bristol 24/7 asked me if I could provide some professional advice for England fans facing the emotional roller coaster of Euro 2016, and I duly obliged. See: 6 emotional survival tips for England fans. ~ ~ ~ Photo credit: The Telegraph.

Simple questions, complex therapy

Bristol Therapist BlogFebruary 10, 20160Comments

The most elaborate of complexities can arise from the most elegant of simplicities. In gestalt, simplicity is achieved and maintained through a rigorous attention to the present moment, the legendary here and now. Gestalt therapy can be stripped back to three basic questions: 1. What are you aware of now? 2. What do you need now? 3. What does…

introjection visualised by jennydrewsomething

Shoulds: the internalised wants of other people

Bristol Therapist BlogJanuary 21, 20130Comments

One of the arch-villains of gestalt therapy is the word “should”. If you’re in therapy with a gestalt therapist, and you start talking about things you should be doing, chances are your therapist’s self-talk has started going, “holy shit! Introjection at twelve o’clock! Kill it! KILL IT WITH FIRE!”. This is because “should” is treated as…

Towards an evidence based gestalt therapy: the gestalt CORE project

Bristol Therapist BlogFebruary 5, 20120Comments

The latest issue of The British Gestalt Journal features an article writing up the findings of the gestalt CORE project (hereafter Stevens et al). In their own words: This is the account of a three-year research project within the Gestalt therapy community in the UK. It is an example of clinically-based, mostly quantitative research carried out…