Scribbles
Scribbles is a set of eclectic material that includes brief, single page, resource materials; informational pages for specifics, whatever thart might mean.
Mainly Gestalt Psyhotherapy related, as you might expect. Therapy theory as well as educational and training texts that I have utilised in my clinical therapy work; in my role as lecturer in psychotherapy at several UK universities; and in the preparation and delivery of my workshops.
Scribbles are material that does not fit:
Book Notes, a set of pages that focus on material from theory books (mostly Kindle copies)
Essays, comprising material written for workshops; Assignments in my training; and poetic expressions that have sprouted out of my therapeutic work.
Research, comprises material that has related interest to the variety of topics I have, or am, exploring.
Articles, material coming out of my own research topics and reading
Excitements Life Abilities And Risks Of Each Domain
The domain becomes, for us, the experiential realm relative to a certain capability of contact. In other words, the being confluent, introjecting, projecting, etc. cannot be phases of development, but are modalities of contact of which the child is capable and which continue to be developed throughout life. The therapist asks, not to what phase of development the patient’s block refers, but how the patient’s present capabilities of projecting, retroflecting etc. (developed through time) are combined in a Gestalt represented now by the patient’s being-in-therapy. The domains are competences of an intersubjective experience, of modalities of contact that become more evident at a certain point of the child’s development and which are developed throughout the course of life, as autonomous-in-mutual-interaction capabilities.
Gestalt Therapy in Clinical Practice: From Psychopathology to the Aesthetics of Contact (Gestalt Therapy Book Series) (Kindle Locations 2626-2632). Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy. Kindle Edition.
Could you just listen
When I ask you to listen to me, and you start giving me advice, you have note done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me, and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
Panic Attacks
first published by davidforrest on Sat, 27/10/2012 - Based on: Panic Attacks and Postmodernity: Gestalt Therapy Between Clinical and Social Perspectives. Gianni Francesetti (Editor) 2007.
Those suffering panic attacks tend to describe their condition as something unsayable. This unsayability would seem to lie at the very heart of the panic attack experience.
The unsayable is in the very essence of the panic attack; defying the logic of the experience - in every other sense the client 'knows' (mostly) they are not going to stop breathing; not going to have a heart attack; is not going to suffocate.
The unsayable is not a failure or deficit of language, rather is itself in the origin of the panic attack.
The daily life of those who suffer panic attacks is suddenly interrupted, as if they had suffered a severe trauma. In panic attacks, as opposed to a trauma event, there is no phenomenological source for the client's anxiety; a trauma has occurred - its nature, however is unsayable.
As therapists we are dealing with the consequences of a trauma that has not been fully experienced. Our task is to construct a new ground of security. We cannot recreate the previous sense of security; it is no longer here, it is gone; it has past, forever.
Gestalt Contact Cycle Explained
At the point where the self is balanced, between cycles, after completion and prior to the next fore-contact there is either internal or external disturbances will impinge upon the self heralding the start of the figure/background formation process.
The self feels, senses, (a) disturbance, a change of status and so (a) figure forms to the fore front. The person is ready to notice, to be aware
Egan Skilled Helper Model
Comment about the book:
Emphasizing the collaborative nature of the therapist-client relationship, THE SKILLED HELPER is internationally recognized for its successful problem-management and opportunity development approach to effective helping, using a practical, three-stage model. In this new ninth edition, Egan continues to build upon the "positive psychology", solution-focused theme by adding insightful new discussions on evidence-based practice, research, and philosophical perspectives.
Change Stability
Resistance - Stability versus Change
The Gestalt therapist rejects the role of "changer," for his strategy is to encourage, even insist, that the patient be where and what he is. He believes change does not take place by "trying," coercion, or persuasion, or by insight, interpretation, or any other such means. Rather, change can occur when the patient abandons, at least for the moment, what he would like to become and attempts to be what he is.
Ten Things Your Teen Is Reluctant To Tell You
1. It's hard to be a PG teen in an X-rated world
2. When you say "absolutely not," it takes the monkey off my back
3. You used to drive my monsters away, but now I have different ones
4. I'm not being moody
5. I don't know how else to respond
Teenage: Self Harm
The most common reasons given by pupils for deliberate self harm were 'to find relief from a terrible state of mind' or because they had 'wanted to die'. Contrary to popular belief few were 'trying to frighten someone' or simply 'get attention'.
The majority of those who self-harm cut themselves.
Girls are nearly four times more likely to self-harm than boys.
The most common reason given was 'to find relief from a terrible situation,' the least common reason was 'to get my own back.'
up to half of those who self-harm seek help from friends before acting.
However I would like you to read through this information...
Teenage Anger
In anger - not rage - the person is expressing more clearly what is happening; what is wanted; what is going wrong; what is not being done; and so on. This does not mean this expression is correct - for the situation - nor that the expression needs to be given in to. When not angry the person may not be saying something that inwardly is waiting to be said. Sometimes only in anger is it safe to say what's inside. Safety is ... emotional safety.
Embracing the Adolescent
The Teenager and you, contact...between child and adult.
The adolescent’s sense of self is not yet so strong that words and thoughts - symbolic representation - are enough to anchor its reality in the world.
The adolescent self is a tentative reality, not yet proved.
In many instances the answer to What is he trying to prove? It’s simple.
He is trying to prove that he is who he takes himself to be.
Gestalt Contacting Process
Contacting Process
Contact with anything not novel - not different - does not require adjustment because the familiar, by definition, has been adjusted to (either by integration or rejection).
The Novel
Contact with anything not novel - not different - does not require adjustment because the familiar, by definition, has been adjusted to (either by integration or rejection). What is pervasive is not an object of contact, ie, not assimilable. Essentially, what is not different is not contacted. Therefore what is assimilated is always novel
Panic Attacks
Those suffering panic attacks tend to describe their condition as something unsayable. This unsayability would seem to lie at the very heart of the panic attack experience.
The unsayable is in the very essence of the panic attack; defying the logic of the experience - in every other sense the client 'knows' (mostly) they are not going to stop breathing; not going to have a heart attack; is not going to suffocate.
The unsayable is not a failure or deficit of language, rather is itself in the origin of the panic attack.
