Focusing: Eugene Gendlin's Body Psychotherapy

Body psychotherapies appeared in the middle of the last century as a reaction to the hegemony of the behaviorism, the 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 best known body psychotherapies, together with Wilhelm Reich's character-analytic vegetable therapy and Alexander Lowen's bioenergetic analysis.

• Related article: "The body psychotherapies of Reich, Lowen and Gendlin"

Biography of Eugene Gendlin

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

After obtaining a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1958, he taught at this university between 1964 and 1995. Existentialism and phenomenology were the two currents on which he focused. Even if did not obtain degrees in Psychology, Gendlin became an expert on the subject throughout his training.

During his studies at the University of Chicago Gendlin met Carl rogers, founder of client-centered therapy and one of the promoters of the humanistic paradigm in psychology. Yes OK Gendlin had Carl Rogers as a teacher, the influence of these authors on the other was reciprocal.

In addition to writing various books that contain his therapeutic proposals, for which he was recognized by the American Psychological Association in 1970, 2000, and 2001, Gendlin was the founder and editor of the magazine 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: Focusing, a tool with which he intended to help clients connect with their bodily experiences. This non-verbal technique is part of the group of therapies that we know as “body psychotherapies”.

• You may be interested: "History of Psychology: main authors and theories"

Body psychotherapies

Throughout the 20th century, various therapies appeared that demanded 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 focuses on the body, which constitutes its base and its core. From our bodily experiences we build the personality and perceive the world that surrounds us.

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

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

Focusing and the "felt sense"

During his collaboration with Carl Rogers, Gendlin began to theorize about the existence of a type of experience he called a "felt sensation" ("Felt sense"). He specifically he detected that the maintenance of the improvements in the patients was related to that they could access a global corporal sensation around the problem that made them go to therapy.

For Gendlin, the felt sensations relate to bodily awareness of the vital process on a certain moment. According to this author, all people can access these general feelings about the satisfaction of our organism with the current conditions of our life, although it is easier to do it with training.

For this purpose he developed Focusing, the therapeutic method that would constitute the core of his career. Although his initial objective was to apply it to clinical intervention to improve the results of therapy, research in this regard 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 described 6 steps to access a felt emotion and use it for the reduction of psychological symptoms and personal development.

1. Clear a space

First of all you have to relax and pay attention to the inner bodily experience. Next you have to ask yourself “How is my life going? What is the most important thing to me at this moment? " and detect the sensations that appear, letting the answers flow. If feelings of concern appear, an emotional distance should be maintained.

2. Identify a felt sense

The next step is to select one of the vital problems that have arisen with the previous exercise; however, you do not have to "enter" it, but continue to maintain your distance. The goal at this time is to notice the global feeling, still undetermined, that arises from the multiple individual sensations that will appear.

3. Manage the felt sense

At this point the goal becomes find a “handle”, that is, a word, phrase or image that represents the felt sensation as a whole. This handle must accurately qualify the felt sensation.

4. Resonate

"Resonar" consists of alternating the focus of attention between the handle that we have chosen and the felt sensation to check if the first represents the second in a truly faithful way. If any of these two elements change spontaneously, they must be allowed 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 handle) to my problem as a whole (the felt sense)? Let the answers flow; You will notice that the one you are looking for appears when you notice a change in your physical experience, possibly 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. He continues to do this with the physical and psychological experiences that arise afterward.