GestaltUK

10/10/2025

Today is World Mental Health Awarness Day. On the front page of my website, GestaltUK.com, I have included a panel that offers links to posting I have made in the past that relate to Su***de. Whilst not the theme of the day, I have chosen to highlight the posts I have on su***de since there is also, today, media coverage of the Prince of Wales and his promoting of awareness regarding su***de
https://news.sky.com/video/prince-of-wales-gets-emotional-in-film-on-world-mental-health-day-13447710
and
https://royalfoundation.com/national-su***de-prevention-network/

Gestaltuk.com was created at the beginning of my journey as a psychotherapist. My approach for psychotherapy encompasses a wide range of issues of anxiety and difficulties, dilemmas and confusions; depression, loss, change and relationships. I am mainly based in Lichfield

23/08/2025

Historic Parallels: Treaty Conflict, Greed, Power, Resources and Wealth

This question was put to President Zelensky during his recent meeting with President Trump, in the White House:

"Are you prepared to keep sending Ukranian troops to their deaths for another couple of years or are you going to agree to redraw the maps."

https://www.youtube.com/live/tTz6E_uCG6I?feature=shared

What a question! Rephrased "You want to keep killing Ukranian troops because you will not give up Ukranian territory attacked and occupied by your oppressor!

Equally, this sounds very much like what could have been said by Putin when Ukraine rejected the offer to become part of his new Russia; and very much equivalent to what Putin has done.

Maybe this attitude of domination y power represents a deeply implanted attitude within the American psyche becuase, for example, in 1868 a treaty was signed stating

No white person or persons shall be permitted to settle upon or occupy any portion of the territory, or without the consent of the Indians to pass through the same. —TREATY OF 1868
When the incursions and demands to occupy Indian territory continued the overtures to purchase the land from the Indians. The response from Sitting Bull was
"We want no white men here. The Black Hills belong to me. If the whites try to take them, I will fight."
—TATANKA YOTANKA (SITTING BULL)
In parallel:
Ukraine belongs to Ukraine, not Russia and we will fight to retain our country - President Zelensky to Putin.

So Putin used force to acquire the territory he wanted; as did President Grant, in 1875, after proposals to purchase the Black Hills were rejected.

Imagine Sitting Bull in the Oval Office alongside President Grant and a reporter saying something like "Are you prepared to keep sending you warriors to their death or are you going to sign over this land to us".

Perhaps it is necessary for President Trump to be supportive of Putin since the USA have acted again and again in the same way towarda the American Indian over the period 1795 to 1890; this is not the too distant past.

As then, this is about resources, power and wealth for both Putin and Trump.

On another matter, there is another historic record of American manipulation that seems to parallel claims and events in the Middle East.

In the earlier expansion of territory in 1829, President Jackson, known as Sharp Knife,
'recommended that all these Indians be removed westward beyond the Mississippi. “I suggest the propriety of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi … to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes, as long as they shall occupy it.” '
(written in Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (p. 5). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.)

President had acknowledged the White Americans and the Indigenous American Indians could not live together and wished to separate and establish a seperate territory and the border would be the Mississippi.
These recommendations were passed into law May 28, 1830.

In 1848 gold was discovered in California. Within a few months, fortune-seeking easterners by the thousands were crossing the Indian Territory - and this leads to the Washington's claim of: MANIFEST DESTINY

To justify these breaches of the “permanent Indian frontier,” the policy makers in Washington invented Manifest Destiny ...
The Europeans and their descendants were ordained by destiny to rule all of America. They were the dominant race and therefore responsible for the Indians—along with their lands, their forests, and their mineral wealth. Only the New Englanders, who had destroyed or driven out all their Indians, spoke against Manifest Destiny. (In Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (p. 8). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.)

In his second inaugural address, Trump directly referenced potential territorial expansion, and became the first U.S. president to use the phrase manifest destiny during an inaugural address (wikipedia)
reference:
"Trump's Second Term Begins - 538 Politics Podcast". ABC News. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
and
Spetalnick, Matt (January 20, 2025). "Trump vows to take back Panama Canal, talks of 'Manifest Destiny' in space". Reuters. Retrieved January 21, 2025.

Now, when my emotions simmer down from how they have been raised whilst reading of how other treaties with other tribes were broken and tribes annihilated by the invasion of 'white Americans' I will look to continue and expand on this writing.

08/08/2025

Beginning to develop my 'Library' pages. Following the help pages to understand dynamic list and item pages to get me to this point. Very pleased so far 👍 I am utilising existing tables of information and bibliographies to help build up the details of books and authors.

Clinical Practice: From Psychopathology to the Aesthetics of Contact (Gestalt Therapy Book Series 2). Gianni Francesetti, Michela Gecele, Jan Roubal, and Leslie Greenberg

31/05/2025

18/05/2025

Anthony Jannetti, a leading clinician, supervisor and trainer of the Dr. Richard Erskine Developmentally Based and Relationally-Focused Integrative Psychotherapy. Learn more about his work and insights here: https://wix.to/0UZarX6

an international presenter and clinician of the Richard Erskine Developmentally Based Relationally Focused Integrative Psychotherapy.

08/01/2025

A Gestalt therapy orientation to the “what” and “how” of dependent behavior and
treatment.
Trauma affects the wholeness of the person... some traumas surpass the range of human capability to process and to assign meaning to the experiences.
classification, description, analysis of the structures of the self are the subject matter of phenomenology.
the experience of self deserves a phenomenological scaffold to hang the features of dependence, addictive and self-medicating process.

Check it out! https://wix.to/k0LK9pX

Combining two chapter quotes/notes with reference to the treatment of Trauma

12/10/2024

Check out my blog post, Touch in Therapy.
These are the workshop notes that accompanied a one day workshop for psychotherapists and counsellors. The workshop was to provide participants to explore the use of touch in a setting that was supportive and safe for explorationand experimentation.
The premise of of the workshop was the use of touch need not be considered a taboo in therapy; because for some individuals and in some training settings touch is considered a prohibition. The underlying philosophy is a humanistic, relational, experiential approach to working with the human condition.
Touch is about communication. Touch is one aspect of our actions and as part of a situation of activity is to be seen as one part of many in the whole. As such the absence of touch, and the resistance to touch, is also part of the situation and plays it part to form the whole action. In keeping with the Gestalt position an absence is as valuable as a presence; and a resistance is as valuable as an acceptance. As such each has a place in how the individual has adjusted to be in the world. An absence or resistance of touch, therefore, is not something to be changed; it is something to be aware about.

Read the full workshops notes here:
https://wix.to/TXNv1rF

Workshop: Touch in TherapyIn this workshop, my intention is to provide an opportunity to explore what touch evokes. As the starting point of our own experience and thoughts about touch there is some guided experiments for how touch may be described and utilised in the therapy room.Consider that touc...

05/10/2024

Check out my blog post of Book Notes:
Life scripts: a complex set of unconscious relational patterns.
Scripts are often developed by infants, young children, adolescents, and even adults as a means of coping with disruptions in significant dependent relationships that repeatedly failed to satisfy crucial developmentally based needs.
Life scripts are a result of the cumulative failures in significant, dependent relationships!
Reference: Erskine, Richard G.. Life Scripts: A Transactional Analysis of Unconscious Relational Patterns (p. 1). Karnac Books. Kindle Edition.

Read more here https://wix.to/uG2WtFG

Life scripts: a complex set of unconscious relational patterns. Scripts are often developed by infants, young children, adolescents ...

10/06/2024

Check out my blog post
I Want To Know Myself: The activity of our relationship with another
I want to know myself; I want to know who I am. I feel empty, like nothing. I don’t react to anything, or anyone. It’s like I am just existing, on autopilot.

https://wix.to/jwgSHqv

I want to know myself; I want to know who I am. I feel empty, like nothing. I don’t react to anything, or anyone. It’s like I am just existing, on autopilot.

03/06/2024

Check out my latest post addition to Book Notes
https://wix.to/epYHiBP

We define the function of the ego as identifying and alienating and determining the boundaries or context

22/05/2024

and ... ACTION!
How am I responding in this situation? Action
At some point you will act; you will have to take action. However doing nothing is itself and action. Whatever the situation, you will be involved in performing some form of action. Someone saying “i will not retaliate” or “I will not be intimidated”, or even “I’m just going to sit here and ignore you” is performing an act of resistance to the impulse being felt. With the examples given maybe the impulse was more along the lines of “I will fight you”, “I will leave this situation” and “let me tell you”
Key to appropriate action is ownership. To own your responsibilities in you actions. This is sometimes difficult as doing so is to acknowledge being wrong.
A particular way out of this is to deny responsibility, or to give excuses why it is like this; or you blame someone else. In this way you avoid taking ownership for your actions. Another difficulty is not wanting to draw attention to yourself, thus maybe you stay inconspicuous, hidden, even when, perhaps, there is praise to be received.
At the other end of the responding spectrum rather than owning their responsibilities the person takes on the responsibilities of everyone. At the extreme a person sees themselves responsibility for the woes of those around them. This can particularly show thinking they are responsible for others are feeling and leads to neglecting their own feelings. There is a pattern of thinking that they are responsible for solving all the world’s problems. In addressing everyone’s problems the person is seeking control; control of outcomes from being adverse, bad, tragic etc.
The ends of the Responding Spectrum are infused with false actions that do not address the action required to fully satisfy and resolve the unfolding situation. However these false action can convey to the person that something appropriate has taken place and therefore is complete, and they can move on. As an example
A child is playing, and a favourite toy gets broke. The appropriate action is to express disappointment, or dismay, or shock. However the parent intervenes saying you have many other toys, be happy you have these to play with. As a result instead of being disappointed, or expressing shock, or upset, the child replaces these expressions with thought process to be grateful and happy and over times never completes fully an expression of disappointment to appropriate situations and instead reflects something like “oh well at least there is something else to be happy for”
This examples also indicates how our actions are never solitary or independent from others; all is in relationship

19/05/2024

Shall I, Shan’t I? Do I do this , or do I not?
Do you recognise the times when you want to do something, and hesitate, or withdraw from taking action? Sometimes this is a necessity, like not interrupting quite yet, and waiting to go to the bathroom? Or, wanting to speak, or go somewhere, and feeling unsure about the reception you’ll get?
This hesitation is the avoidance of committing to act; instead, there is stalling. The stalling will range from inhibitions that are felt to be necessary.
‘I was told that it is not polite to do behave this way’; ‘doesn’t everyone remove their shoes?’; ‘ I know that will just lead to trouble’ ‘it’s dangerous’ ‘it’s silly’.
At the other end of the spectrum from inhibiting thoughts and behaviour there is over questioning; analysing and misdirecting interest. There is a pretence of commitment by ‘talking about’ and ‘not doing’. Curiosity can often be an avoidance from getting on with things.
‘How would you do it?’; ‘are there other ways to do this?’; ‘I think I need to know a lot more about this’ ‘have you always been like this?’ ‘tell me more’
Because we are talking about a spectrum there is the middle range that overlaps where over questioning and inhibition has a value. The distinguishing feature is how ready are you to view the present situation and make a present-moment analysis by chewing over the situation; and not be constrained by old patterns.