Le « maintenant et comment»

In Gestalt therapy, the therapist focuses on the « comment » (how) the person expresses themselves. This includes, for example, posture, gestures, or unconscious "micro-gestures," as well as breathing and voice intonations. The manner in which things are expressed is just as important as what is being expressed.

Working on the « maintenant » (now) does not, of course, preclude addressing past events or concerns about the future, provided these are preoccupations that emerge spontaneously in the client, as they form part of their current experience.

« Mieux vaut d’abord s’installer confortablement au rez-de-chaussée de sa maison et aménager sa salle de séjour actuelle, avant d’entreprendre un nettoyage exhaustif des déchets accumulés dans sa cave…ce qui peut prendre de longues année, comme chacun sait ! » (Serge Ginger).

The awareness

The therapist invites the client to focus attention on their feelings and emotions. This allows them not to remain solely "in their head," in the rational (left brain), but to reconnect also with their body, emotions, and imagination (right brain).

The Stance

The therapist does not remain fixed in the attitude of "the one who knows." They share with their client their feelings and questioning. They enable the client to discover themselves through this therapeutic relationship. The client is not passive; they are a full partner, active in their own therapy. This fosters the assumption of responsibility.

« C’est moi qui confère un sens à chaque acte de ma vie et si je désire changer, c’est en restant moi-même autrement et non un autre que moi-même» (Arnold Beisser).

This stance engages the psychotherapist as a person. They are an active participant in the situation. They discover alongside the client, express wonder, and accompany and support them in their uniqueness and difference. They are therefore deeply involved, but this involvement is controlled. It must benefit the client. The therapist always means what they say but does not say everything they think.

This is indeed a co-constructed relationship:

« cela se passe ainsi parce que c’est toi, parce que c’est moi, avec ce que chacun de nous induit dans l’actualité de ce moment partagé » (Chantal Masquelier-Savatier)

Experimentation

The therapist places less emphasis on "knowing why" the client acts in a certain way and focuses instead on "experimenting with how" they might act differently.

The goal is to help the client identify their blocks and difficulties and invite them to experiment with new ways of functioning in pursuit of balance and well-being.

The process

The Gestalt therapist and their client are constantly engaged in a back-and-forth movement between present and past, between internal fantasies (ideas, thoughts, fears, doubts...) and external behaviors, between the nonverbal and speech, between emotion and the awareness connected to what is experienced here and now.

Furthermore, one of the important tenets of Gestalt therapy is that the human being is inseparable from their environment. They belong to the world that includes them. They influence their surroundings while simultaneously being influenced. Organism and environment are therefore inseparable.