Focusing: Eugene Gendlin’s Body Psychotherapy

This therapy based on the humanistic psychology of Carl Rogers became popular at the end of the century.

Body psychotherapies appeared in the middle of the last century as a reaction to the hegemony of behaviorism, psychoanalysis and humanism, which neglected physical sensations, a fundamental element of human experience.

The tool called "Focusing", developed by Eugene Gendlin, is one of the most important psychotherapies in the world.is one of the best-known body psychotherapies, along with Wilhelm Reich's character-analytic vegetotherapy and Alexander Lowen's bioenergetic analysis.

Biography of Eugene Gendlin

Eugene Gendlin was born in Vienna in 1926; his original name was "Eugen Gendelin," although he later anglicized it. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a child to escape persecution by the Nazis.

After earning a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1958, he taught at the university from 1964 to 1995. Existentialism and phenomenology were the two currents on which he focused. Although he did not obtain a degree in psychology, GendlinGendlin became an expert in the field throughout his training.

During his studies at the University of Chicago Gendlin met Carl Rogers, founder of client-centered therapy and one of the driving forces behind the humanistic paradigm in psychology. While Gendlin had Gendlin had Carl Rogers as a teacheras a teacher, the influence of these authors on each other was reciprocal.

In addition to writing several books containing his therapeutic proposals, for which he was recognized by the American Psychological Association in 1970, 2000 and 2001, Gendlin was founder and editor of the journal Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice. He died on May 1, 2017, at the age of 90.

In the 1950s and 1960s Gendlin developed his most relevant contribution to psychotherapy: Focusinga tool with which he aimed to help clients connect with their bodily experiences. This non-verbal technique is part of the group of therapies known as "body psychotherapies".

Body psychotherapies

Throughout the 20th century, several therapies appeared that called for greater attention to physical sensations, which had been neglected by clinical psychology. In particular, the predominance of psychoanalysis and behaviorism had led to an almost exclusive focus on mental content and observable behavior.

For body therapy theorists, including Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen and Gendlin himself, human identity is centered on the body, human identity is centered on the bodywhich constitutes its basis and core. From our bodily experiences we construct our personality and perceive the world around us.

Although in recent years body psychotherapies have regained currency due to the increased focus of clinical psychology on the sensory aspect of human experience, these interventions continue to be viewed as unscientific by a significant part of the psychological community.

Focusing and the "felt sense."

During his collaboration with Carl Rogers, Gendlin began to theorize about the existence of a type of experience that he called "felt sense. a type of experience that he called "felt sense". ("felt sense"). Specifically, he detected that the maintenance of improvements in patients was related to their being able to access a global bodily sensation around the problem that brought them to therapy.

For Gendlin, the felt sense are related to the bodily awareness of the vital process at a given time. at a given moment. According to this author, all people can access these general sensations about the satisfaction of our organism with the current conditions of our life, although it is easier to do so with training.

For this purpose he developed Focusing, the therapeutic method that would constitute the core of his career.. Although its initial purpose was to be applied to clinical intervention to improve therapy outcomes, research showed that it could be useful in other contexts; over time this made Focusing a popular tool.

The 6 steps of Focusing

In his book "Focusing," published in 1978, Gendlin outlined six steps for accessing a felt emotion and using it for psychological symptom reduction and personal development.

1. Clear a space

First, relax and pay attention to the pay attention to the inner bodily experience. Then ask yourself, "How is my life going? What is most important to me at this moment?" and detect the feelings that arise, letting the answers flow. If feelings of worry appear, an emotional distance should be maintained.

2. Identify a felt sense

The next step consists of select one of the vital problems that have arisen with the previous exercise; however, do not "enter" it, but continue to keep your distance. with the previous exercise; however, one should not "enter" into it, but continue to keep one's distance. The objective at this point is to notice the global feeling, still undetermined, that arises from the multiple individual sensations that will appear.

3. Handling the sensation felt

At this point the goal becomes to find a "handle", that is to say, a word, phrase or image that represents the sensation that represents the sensation felt as a whole. This handle should accurately qualify the felt sense.

4. Resonate

"Resonate" consists of alternating the focus of attention between the handle we have chosen and the sensation felt to check whether the former truly represents the latter. If either of these two elements changes spontaneously, allow them to do so until the fit between the two is perfect.

5. Ask questions

Next you will have to ask yourself a question: what is it that gives this quality (the grasp) to my problem as a whole (the felt sense)? Let the answers flow; you will notice that the one you are looking for will appear when you notice a change in your physical experiencepossibly a sense of liberation.

6. Receive the sensations

Once these new sensations appear, Gendlin advises staying receptive and paying attention to them for a few moments. Continue to do this with the physical and psychological experiences that follow.