Can Psychotherapy be a happy ending adventure?

Even Wikipedia knows and says that ‘The objective of Gestalt therapy is to enable the client to become more fully and creatively alive and to become free from the blocks and unfinished business that may diminish satisfaction, fulfillment, and growth, and to experiment with new ways of being.’ Very true.

We start from unfinished business with the client in the ‘here and now’ of the present situation in a secure, confidential setting that protects and encourages the privacy and the uniqueness of each person in therapy. Thus, we tend to focus on ‘how’ the client tends to be in those situations which result in any form of suffering or dissatisfaction in order to explore new ways to achieve better results.

Finally, when the client feels and sees what they have just discovered in the therapy session and it finally works on the following occasion, we then see the business or ‘Gestalt’ as finished and it’s time to face the following unfinished business to work on it. After all unfinished businesses have been successfully completed, the client is prepared to put an end to the therapy process and face the same issues with a new approach that should result in a more satisfying outcome.

Gestalt Therapy helps many people express hidden feelings they have been avoiding to show for different reasons such of ‘appropriateness’, ‘correctness’, ‘respect’ or merely the anxiety attached to the mere prospect of showing their anger, rage or whatever other feeling repressed. By letting those repressed feelings emerge and be expressed, the client often feels relieved and can start to be and act more coherently, without having to pretend that certain situations are good for them anymore.

Written By

Dr Antonio Jose Femenias