Floundering and the Art of Gestalt Therapy

By: David Henrich
Date Posted: 1/28/2005

GTIP Director and resident humorist David Henrich writes:

At the GTIP 20th Anniversary Conference last June 2004, I put a drawing of a flounder on the podium. Such an image might be a good logo for our Institute.

Linda Horn, one of our extraordinary graduates, gave me a quote from Laura Perls. Linda wrote this down when she heard Laura speak here in January, 1988. Laura said, "Floundering is a way of keeping afloat".

I enjoyed hearing this because in my early training in Gestalt Therapy, we often used the term "flounder" to describe those moments when the therapist is stumbling, blank, and doesn’t know what to do. Our teachers taught us to allow ourselves to "flounder". They encouraged the befuddled trainee to relax, breathe, and allow her/him self to be blank. "Floundering", like resistance, was identified as something positive when you allow yourself to go with it; you can pay attention to the present and make contact with the patient instead of demanding of yourself that you be smart.

We have never really had an official logo at GTIP. Maybe it could be an image of the flounder -- an asymmetrical, funny-looking, bottom-feeder. I can identify.