The Origin of Focusing

Focusing was developed by Dr. Eugene Gendlin, for the University of Chicago.

He posed the question: why doesn’t psychotherapy succeed more often? And what is the critical factor in its success? What he found was surprising.

Upon studying thousands of hours of psychotherapy treatment, Gendlin discovered that neither the type of therapy nor the skill of the therapist were the determining factors in the treatment’s success. Rather, the patient’s own approach to the process is what made the difference.

Successful patients all had a similar internal process that became easy to identify in the very first sessions. Gendlin and his team studied this process carefully and determined that it could be broken down into steps and widely taught.

Organizations and individuals around the world are now doing just that, and Focusing has become an international phenomenon.