The Black Box.

In Gestalt therapy, retroflexion is a disrupter - preventing you, me, them, from making 'contact' - and 'contact' is the whole person, full engagement with the all of 'it'. Doing the thing, asking for the thing, stepping forward and over the cliff!    I'm well aware that the cliff metaphor has turned up before in this blog! But for this post, think of The Fool in the tarot. He is at the beginning - stepping over the cliff ...as a symbol of ignorance, and at the end, as a symbol of faith. Anyway! Retroflexion is a doing it all in your imagination and believing that it can't work, whilst mistaking thinking as  the source of energy -  because thinking about it is exciting! Obviously there is a fine line between being a fool doing something that can't possibly work, as opposed to thinking things through and creating a sensible plan from real world knowledge. Retroflexion vs sensible plans. Well, plans are in progress. and I'm trying not to mistake ...

Over on substack... Over on Substack I realised that it isn't going to happen.  I dare not send the complaint. So I'm posting here the most part of what I was going to send...a lot missed out. No mention of him talking about the other client who wouldn't #1 'accept love'. Nothing about the references to #2 'coffee fuelled discussions..' So this begs the question, how can a victim complain safely? The usual answer is money...which I don't have. So, in time honoured fashion, if a victim doesn't feel safe in making an official complaint - though I want to hide away, the story has to be told. Back to good old, freeware...(CC) 3. What do you feel was wrong with the therapy/therapist? That the therapist needed to have been aware that by responding to me in a defensive and avoidant way he was repeating the erosive dynamic that had originally proved so harmful to me, and was the reason why I was in therapy. That the therapist had a defensive attitude when I ...

Closed...I've been thinking about what that actually means ever since writing it 20 days ago. My feelings are not resolved on any level, but on the other hand - I have a comprehensive 'crash report' and clarity on what not to do as a therapist when clients make complaints.  And I now have the information that I need to make the formal complaint. Thinking about writing that complaint, and even downloading the form again after saying so many times, that I wouldn't do this; because what good would it do?  Well Things have changed.  The black box has been deciphered. And the complaint isn't so much about him anymore, it should be made because clients rightly fear being disempowered and belittled by therapists. The way to resolve such disputes is up to me to bring forward, and to that end I'm reducing my hours working for a charity, but keeping my private practice,  and I'm going to have to learn something about marketing... OK, so the therapist's choice - go...