ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, Professor Eugene Gendlin at the University of Chicago videotaped and studied hundreds of psychotherapy sessions with the aim of finding out why psychotherapy was helpful for some and not for others. Focusing has also found a myriad of applications based on the focuser’s enhanced ability to pay attention to what is occurring naturally in the body. There is a significant body of theory that informs the practitioner on boundary, contact, awareness, self, organismic self-regulation, etc. Certainly, psychotherapy and therapeutic interventions such as these may take longer than the usual office visit, but they have a plus side. They reduce the need for repeat office visits. Holistic medicine cannot exist without understanding of a vital dimension of the patient – the psyche. The alternative approach of referring the patient to ‘mental health’ usually requires a wait of weeks for an appointment, and further weeks or months to establish rapport between therapist and patient.
