ABSTRACT
Although the moderations to contact can be a useful map when considering how we creatively adjust to our situation, they do offer only one pole of a continuum. When considering these processes in this unilateral manner there is a tendency to view them in a predominantly negative light, as something to overcome, rather than seeing them as a skill that has been developed and can still be of considerable use today depending on our situation. Some of these processes rest less easily upon the ground of an individualistic culture than others. This is the case with confluence and introjection both of which, broadly speaking, are about a loosening of our boundaries rather than a rigidifying or distancing which may be more acceptable in a culture that values individualism rather than communality. Consequently, I agree with Erving Polster:
Yet, though Gestalt therapy theory broadly interpreted, is neutral on the health and unhealth of introjection and confluence, they have been almost invariably spoken of in pejorative terms.
