Self Therapy: A Focusing Guide

This keeping of our attention on the problem as a whole, while allowing new details to emerge, requires serious concentration, as Rodin noted in connection with artistic creation. What we are trying to attend to is what lies beyond the things we already feel and think. To use Gendlin’s picture-language, it is as if there are unclear ‘edges’ surrounding the things we can say and think clearly. There is always more to a situation than we can think or say, and we usually don’t know where exactly in this haziness lies the way forward in our difficulty. Focusing is essentially about giving attention to the hazy edges of what we already know. It involves noticing where something feels just a bit awry, or incomplete, where something ‘niggles’ us, or we have a hunch, or an inkling about something, but can’t yet put it into words.

(Campbell Purton, Self-Therapy: A Focusing guide, pp. 37-8)

Introduction to Focusing

• Purton introduces the Focusing technique, originally developed by Eugene Gendlin, explaining how individuals can tap into their felt sense—the body’s inner knowledge—of experiences to access deep emotional insights.
• Focusing involves tuning into one’s physical sensations as a way to unlock feelings or concerns that might not be accessible through thinking alone.

Step-by-Step Focusing Process

• The book provides a clear, step-by-step guide on how to practice Focusing independently. It breaks down the process into six key stages:
  • Clearing a space
  • Allowing a felt sense to emerge
  • Finding a handle (a word or image to describe the sense)
  • Resonating the word with the body’s feeling
  • Asking questions of the felt sense
  • Receiving insights

Practical Exercises

• Purton includes practical exercises and examples to help readers practice Focusing in everyday life. These exercises encourage the reader to connect with their inner feelings and bodily awareness to process emotions and thoughts.

Therapeutic Benefits

• The guide explains how Focusing can be used to work through emotional issues like anxiety, depression, grief, and personal conflict. The practice is shown to enhance self-awareness, emotional regulation, and self-compassion.

Focusing in Everyday Life

• The book emphasizes the use of Focusing not just as a formal therapeutic tool but as a way to deal with daily stresses, challenges, and emotional responses.
• It encourages the reader to integrate Focusing into ordinary situations, promoting emotional resilience and mental well-being.

Self-Guided and Self-Paced

• The book is designed for individuals to use on their own, without the need for a therapist or facilitator, although it acknowledges the value of having a Focusing partner.

Exploration of Felt Sense

• A key feature is the detailed exploration of the felt sense, emphasizing that this bodily awareness is often vague but holds important meaning for the individual. Purton stresses patience and openness in allowing the felt sense to clarify.

Philosophical and Theoretical Context

• Purton connects the Focusing process to broader philosophical and psychological ideas, particularly the works of Carl Rogers and Eugene Gendlin, giving readers a deeper understanding of the experiential therapy framework behind Focusing.

Personal Development

• The book is not just about emotional healing but also promotes personal growth and development. It supports the reader in accessing new insights, resolving personal dilemmas, and fostering a deeper understanding of oneself.

Accessible Writing

• The book is written in an accessible and practical style, making it suitable for both beginners and those with some prior knowledge of Focusing or therapy in general.

These features make Campbell Purton’s “Self-Therapy” an effective, user-friendly guide for individuals seeking to engage in Focusing as a tool for personal healing and emotional growth.

Contents

Acknowledgements and Note on the Notes

Introduction

1 Therapy and self-therapy

2 Focusing basics

3 The Focusing process

4 Elaborations and difficulties

5 Trauma

6 Moods and medication

7 Action steps

8 How does it work?

Notes

References

Index