b. Research Summary and References.

In addition to the research already mentioned,⁶-⁷-²² let me mention some current work on the teaching of focusing and its applications in other fields. (Numbers refer to works cited in the reference section.)

Focusing is being studied in relation to concerns as far apart as spirituality,⁸'²³ business,¹⁷ problem-solv­ing,^18,24 creative writing,² and dreams.¹⁵

Focusing applies to more than personal problems. Creativity, originality, and depth require something like focusing in any field: the capacity to attend to what is not yet verbalized. This might be about something intel­lectual, practical, or anything else.

The above studies are with especially able or normal people, but focusing has been taught successfully to peo­ple labeled "schizophrenic"¹⁸ and "borderline person­ality type"¹⁴ with some good effects. A new method, not focusing but a building up of experiencing, has been developed with retardates.²¹

In one study, focusing was found helpful both to teachers and to normal kids with learning difficulties. Murray¹⁹ writes: The basic instruction is to say to oneself: "I understand this, I got this thing I'm study­ing down." Then shut up and wait -- go to the queasy spot -- let it identify itself -- formulate your question -- rearrange the pieces to help you answer it.

In a study¹⁸ of old people, the focusing measure we used in psychotherapy (EXP Scale) was applied to their answers to some personal questions. These answers had been recorded ten years earlier, as part of a large project. The people were then in their seventies. Those high on our measure were significantly more often still alive ten years later. This was the only one of many measures that predicted longevity.

The bodily aspect of focusing is also being studied in dance and body movement¹ and in healing.²⁰

Brain waves (EEG) show a characteristic pattern when there is a "body shift" during focusing.⁴ This means a biofeedback machine to teach focusing is a possibility.

These are a few of the studies I know of. They all need replications. One study is never a proof. Much new work is in progress, here and in other countries. I would like to hear of new studies or replications, and of any applications of focusing.

REFERENCES

1. ALPERSON, E. D. Carrying experiencing forward through authentic body movement. Psychotherapy, Theory, Research, and Practice, 1974, 2i,(3), 211-214.

2. BONIME, F. Creative writing course. New School for Social Research, New York, N.Y.

3. CAMPBELL, P., and McMAHON, E. Cosmic Congruence. In press.

4. DON, N. S. The transformation of conscious ex­perience and its EEG correlates. Journal of Altered States of Consciousness, 1977-78, 5,(2), 147-68. (Also in Brain Mind Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 13, May 16, 1977.)

5. GENDLIN, E. T. Experiencing and the Creation of Meaning. New York: Macmillan, Free Press, 1962.

6. GENDLIN, E. Т., BEEBE, J., CASSENS, J., KLEIN, M., and OBERLANDER, M. Focusing ability in psychotherapy, personality, and creativity. In J. SHLEIN, (Ed.), Research in Psychotherapy Ш. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1967.

7. Focusing, Psychotherapy: Theory, Re­search, and Practice, 1969, 6, 1.

8. A theory of personality change. In A. Mahrer (Ed.), Creative Developments in Psy­chotherapy. Cleveland: Case-Western Reserve, 1971.

9. Experiential psychotherapy. In R. Corsini (Ed.), Current Psychotherapies. Itasca, Ш.: 1973.

10. --------    Experiential phenomenology. In (M. Natanson (Ed.), Phenomenology and the Social Sciences. Evanston, Б1.: Northwestern University Press, 1973.

11. -------- The newer therapies. In S. Arieti (Ed.), American Handbook of Psychiatry V, 14. New York: Basic Books, 1975.

12. --------  Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams.Chiron/Open Court, 1986.

13. GENDLIN, E. Т., and OLSEN, L. The use of imagery in experiential focusing. Psychotherapy, Theory, Research, and Practice, 1970, 7,(4), 221-223.

14. GORNEY, J. E., and TOBIN, S. S. Experiencing among the aged. Presented at 20th Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society, St. Petersburg, 1967.

15. GRAY, J. P. The influence of experiential focus­ing on state anxiety and problem solving ability in "borderline" patients. Ph.D. dissertation, Cali­fornia School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles, 1976.

16. HENDRICKS, M., and CARTWRIGHT, R. Ex­periencing in dreams. Psychotherapy, Theory, Re­search, and Practice, 1978, 75,(3), 292-298.

17. HINTERKOPF, E., and BRUNSWICK, L. K. Teaching therapeutic skills to mental patients. Psy­chotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1975, sj  (Also in Evaluation, 1977, 4, 63.)

18. IBERG, J. R. The effects of focusing on fob inter­view behavior. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1979.

19. KANTOR, S., and ZIMRING, F. M. The effects of focusing on a problem. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1976, 13,(3), 255-258.

20. MURRAY, V. Experiential focusing and class­room verbal behavior. Ed.D. dissertation, Rutgers State University, 1978.

21. OLSEN, L. Focusing and self-healing. Cassette tape from Continuum Montage, 3640VU Watseka Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. 90034, 1978. Also: The use of visual imagery and experiential focus­ing in psychotherapy. Ph.D. dissertation, Univer­sity of Chicago, 1975.

22. PROUTY, G. Pre-therapy -- a method of treating pre-expressive psychotics and retarded patients. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 75,(3), 1976.

23. VAN DEN BOS, G. R. An investigation of several methods of teaching experiential focusing. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Detroit, 1973.

24. WEISS, J. The effects of meditation on experiential focusing. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern Uni­versity, 1978.

25. ZIMRING, F. M., and BALCOMBE, J. K. Cogni­tive operations in two measures of handling emo­tionally relevant material. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 191 A, 11, 3.

D. Focusing: Short Form.

Clear a space

How are you? What's between you and feeling fine?

Don't answer; let what comes in your body do the answering.

Don't go into anything.

Greet each concern that comes. Put each aside for a while, next to you.

Except for that, are you fine?

Felt sense

Pick one problem to focus on.

Don't go into the problem. What do you sense in your body when you recall the whole of that

problem?

Sense all of that, the sense of the whole thing, the murky discomfort or the unclear body-sense of it.

Get a handle

What is the quality of the felt sense?

What one word, phrase, or image comes out of this felt sense?

What quality-word would fit it best?

Resonate

Go back and forth between word (or image) and the felt sense. Is that right?

If they match, have the sensation of matching several times.

If the felt sense changes, follow it with your at­tention.

When you get a perfect match, the words (images] being just right for this feeling, let yourself feel that for a minute.

Ask

"What is it, about the whole problem, that makes me so?"

When stuck, ask questions:

What is the worst of this feeling?

What is really so bad about this?

What does it need?

What should happen?

Don't answer; wait for the feeling to stir and give you an answer.

What would it feel like if it was all OK? Let the body answer: What is in the way of that?

Receive

Welcome what came. Be glad it spoke.

It is only one step on this problem, not the last.

Now that you know where it is, you can leave it and come back to it later.

Protect it from critical voices that interrupt.

Does your body want another round of focusing, or is this a good stopping place?

[1] Ward Halstead, my colleague at the University of Chicago, spent a lifetime working on "biological intelligence." He devised many tests to measure bodily ways of discriminating different things: time, rhythms, spatial arrangements, interpersonal impressions, faces. When he read my book on "felt sense" he applied his term "biological computer" to it. The equivalent of hundreds of thousands of cogni­tive operations are done in a split second by the body.

⇐ Предыдущая17181920212223242526

Поделиться: