European Focusing Conference, Loutraki/Greece, May 2018
Over the many years of our professional lives as trainers and supervisors we have both re-visited the essentials of the person-centred and experiential approach many times. Each time we have learned more. Now that we have moved on from our respective institutions (in Switzerland and in the UK) we finally have more time to take our understanding to a new level. And we are especially aware of the contemporary social relevance of our thinking, which takes on particular urgency, as the world around us seems to be ‘going mad’.
It is interesting to re-visit the origins of Rogers’ ideas and consider how Gendlin’s thinking has significantly expanded Rogers’ theory. But, like all radical approaches that relate to living processes, these concepts cannot simply stay the same in our ever-changing situations. So, while we remain inspired, we are also critical. We want to look with new eyes and breathe some fresh air into wellknown concepts.
Some assumptions of the approach we consider to be non-negotiable, but we have also found some ‘gaps’ in the theory – for example, there is a tendency to speak in generalisations (what would be helpful for all clients, what would be the source of all ‘disturbances’…). Our contention is that a more refined understanding of individual differences and an examination of how our interactions and our thinking are coloured by them will enable us better to understand ourselves and learn more about our successful and our failed communications.
Our main concern and curiosity is with the phenomenon of a ‘frozen’ or ‘structure-bound’ manner of experiencing, which means that processes in a shared interactional space need to be differentiated. Moreover, we find that all theory-building – including that of Rogers and Gendlin – might in itself be ‘structure-bound’!
Christiane Geiser/Judy Moore