James Simkin was a clinical psychologist and founder of the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles. He and Frederick Perls co-led Gestalt Therapy training from 1964 to 1969. He died in 1984. "Gestalt Therapy: Mini Lectures" offers a dialogue between interviewer and James Simkin in respect of some specific topics, theoretical and practical issues, technique and review of his clinical work.
Erving Polster, in his introduction to the book, offers a reminder of the historical time frame and cultural background in which early Gestalt therapists such as Frederick Perls and Simkin practiced, and perhaps the foundation upon which current day Gestalt therapy rests.
"A most powerful instrument of this optimism, one which helped shape the history of psychotherapy, was Frederick Perls' advocacy of therapeutic pointedness by heightening the concentration on one's own experience and heightening the contact with other people"
Awareness and Contact are two fundamental concepts of Gestalt Theory, and are evident in Perls and Simkin's work, as well as apparent in contemporary theory and practice of gestalt therapy. In addition, the relational aspect through the dialogic process has since developed (although also apparent in Simkin's work), and contributes to the foundations laid by the early pioneers of Gestalt Therapy.
The book gets off to a slow and tedious start, in Section One, titled Gestalt Therapy in Groups, and offers a historical overview of Gestalt Therapy , theoretical foundations and an example of early work in a gestalt workshop. As Simkin himself points out, the early part of the book is designed to facilitate a base knowledge for the novice to gestalt concepts.
However, Section Two, "Theoretical and Practical Issues", and Section Three, "Some Issues on Technique" were particularly interesting in that they offered the reader the opportunity of almost listening in on the thoughts, processes and understandings of James Simkin. The mini lectures are transcripts of taped discussions, and as such, offer the reader a sense of listening in on a live conversation, which in gestalt language is that of the lively figure, or has some energy about it.
In Section Two, Simkin talks about the "shoulds" (introjects), Top-dog - Under-dog (polarities and impasse), Five layers of you, talking about roles and different characteristics of the individual (implosive and explosive), the should versus is, (which was very important in the historical & cultural context of the 60's) and talks about the process of staying with what is, and has implications about here-and-now.
He also offers reflections on self-support and environmental support, on contracts and the idea of constantly renegotiating a contract as a means of aliveness and choice. He touches on specific topics such as shame and disgust, resentment and guilt, attention, emotional blackmail, the needs of self and the needs of others, assumptions, breathing and anxiety, enough room (for everybody in the world), love and hate, martyrdom, on pleasing others and being rooted (grounded).
As such, this book offers an easy reference to some key ideas on various topics and themes from every day living.
Section Three
Simkin discusses therapeutic style and presents his version of therapy in the form of "follow the leader", and likens the therapeutic process to midwifery, stating that the client is the leader and he follows.
He talks about the first few seconds determining the direction rather than creating a goal, and that in following the direction set by the client, unexpected things can happen.
Once again in this chapter, Simkin speaks on various topics/themes, for example I-Thou, Blank Screen, readiness to work, frequency of interviews, self-discovery for the patient, interpretation, completing a situation (not necessarily in the session), terminating a session.
Section Four is about working on a dream, and the first line of the chapter states "according to gestalt therapy framework, everything in your dream is an aspect of yourself ....you are writing your own script". He uses a patient's dream to illustrate the exploration of various parts of the dream and raise awareness about different aspects of the self.
Finally, Section Five, Clinical Work, offers snippets of work with various clients who attended a two-hour workshop. He works with each of them, and through the dialogue, contact and awareness work, offers the reader of this book a glimpse at his therapeutic style.
The style of this book offers the reader the opportunity of witnessing therapy at work, as well as overhear conversations on many themes and specific ideas from one of the pioneers in gestalt therapy.
The beauty of the mini lecture style, where there is another in conversation and asking questions, is that sometimes those questions direct the author/speaker to clarify or expand on the topic, and can be aligned with what the reader may have asked, given the opportunity.
