FOCUSING: Selected Essays 1974-1999
Reviews

Review by John Rowan | Review by Rusty Fischer

A Review by John Rowan
Author of The Therapist's Use of Self

Eugene Gendlin's discovery of the experiential technique of Focusing has now spread to thirtyone countries, and the basic book has been translated into ten languages. Neil Friedman's Selected Essays is a book about the life and work of one practitioner. It explains what Focusing is, and how it works, and what it is like to experience it.

Like some other experiential approaches (Mahrer 2002), Focusing can be practiced on one's own, without the need for a therapist. Some of the most interesting episodes in this book are examples of Friedman working on himself. This follows a humanistic tradition. And like other humanistic practitioners, he believes in the real self. The real self is lived experience as it is presently felt. He links strongly with other humanistic practitioners, showing how focusing can be used informally to enrich other approaches and make them stronger.

There are also a number of extracts from therapy sessions, showing exactly how Focusing can be used to illuminate and transform painful experiences. What these extracts also make clear is that the Focusing practitioner is humble. If he gets it wrong, he stands to be corrected. There is a refreshing honesty about this book.

Friedman is not a purist. He adopts an integrative style, which enables him to use techniques from bioenergetics, gestalt, object relations, person-centered work, and so on. Also he adopts a nondefensive style: "A gives me advice on how to get my avocado to grow. I suggest to M that she read Maya Angelou's autobiography. H and I share a joke. I make D a cup of coffee. R recommends I see the movie Swept Away. B and I discuss the financing of condominiums. L shows me his sleeping bag. R and I gossip... sometimes I help clients devise
behavioral strategies for change."

He discusses catharsis. It is not enough, he says, to simply give permission for this: it is so much against the general rules of our culture that the client actually has to be given a lot of encouragement: the therapist has to lend the client some of his energy if the thing (catharsis) is to happen. Friedman is fond of group work, and often leads workshops at a couple of favorite centers.

He finishes the book by talking about meditation and miracles. I loved this book, and would like it to be read by many people. I can't think of a single therapist
who would not find it interesting and useful.

JOHN ROWAN, an AHP member since 1970, works in London as a psychotherapist and teaches at the Minster Centre. His latest book, co-written with Michael Jacobs, is The Therapist's Use of Self.

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A Review by Rusty Fischer,
Author of Systems for Success

Focusing was discovered when Professor Eugene Gendlin of the University of Chicago researched the question: "Why is psychotherapy helpful for some people, but not others?" He and his colleagues studied tapes of hundreds of therapy sessions and made a fascinating and important discovery: successful therapy clients had a vague, hard-to-describe inner awareness, a bodily felt sense about their problems. Paying attention to the felt sense in specific ways proved to be a key component of successful psychological change. Gendlin discovered how to teach this skill, which he called "Focusing."

Until just recently there have been two books to turn to in order learn Focusing: Gendlin's classic volume, Focusing, and Ann Weiser Cornell's The Power of Focusing. Now there is a third: FOCUSING: Selected Essays, 1974-1999 by Dr. Neil Friedman. This book deserves to take its place along with the other two as a "go to" book to turn to in order to learn and understand and, better yet, appreciate what Focusing is all about

This is a book that describes the Focusing process in plain English, with picturesque examples and a down-to-earth, no-nonsense tone that helps the reader get closer to Focusing - without getting caught up in the tiresome terminology that impedes many readers from seeing the forest for the trees. The book also talks of Focusing's relation to psychotherapy and meditation, and even further out occurrences like "miracles," using Friedman's flair for language with his adventuresome, almost impish love of life.

And what is therapy but a way to help someone live his life more fully?

More than anything else, and something concrete that tends to elevate it among its handful of competitors: this book teaches one how to focus. It teaches what Focusing is. It makes Focusing understandable.

Focusing is not some obscure or occult or New Age creation that takes five hundred years to learn -- or that requires a Ph.D. for use. It is the name Gene Gendlin has given to a very specific use of awareness or attention; namely, turning it inward in order to touch base with the ongoing bodily felt experiencing process that is in each and every one of us.!

This is a superbly written and well-organized book. It is clear. It is interesting. It makes Focusing both accessible -- and understandable. Neil's passion for Focusing comes through loud and clear on every page, and his writing is as accessible as it is entertaining. The message is clear: Focusing is here to stay.

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