Work with psychosomatic symptom in gestalt:
 From awareness to integration of experience.

Work with psychosomatic symptom in gestalt approach

In gestalt therapy, the psychosomatic symptom is considered not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a manifestation of interrupted contact between the organism and the environment, frozen energy that did not find its way out in a complete and finished gestalt. This is a bodily expression of unfinished situations, unexpressed feelings and needs that were suppressed or suppressed.

 As noted by Frederick (Fritz) Perls, the founder of gestalt therapy, "we lose ourselves, when we try to be something else, not what we are". In the context of psychosomatics, this means that the symptom can occur when a person suppresses their true nature, their emotions and desires, trying to meet external expectations or avoiding confrontation with painful reality. The body in this case becomes a "witness" and "keeper" of these suppressed aspects.

Work with psychosomatic symptom in gestalt approach begins with awareness. This is a key element that allows the client to notice how the symptom manifests in the body, what sensations, emotions and thoughts are associated with it. The therapist helps the client to pay attention to the "here and now" manifestation of the symptom, without trying to interpret or analyze it at the initial stage. Laura Perls, co-author of gestalt therapy ideas, emphasized the importance of bodily experience, saying: "The body is our primary way of being in the world." In gestalt, the body is considered as a source of information, not just as a machine that needs repair. The symptom is not a disease, but a message that needs to be heard.

The process of work includes the following steps:

* Phenomenological description: The client is asked to describe the symptom without evaluations and interpretations. "Where exactly do you feel this sensation? What is it like in taste, smell, color? How does it change?" 
* Symptom amplification: Sometimes the therapist suggests that the client amplify the symptom to better feel it, to get in touch with it. This can be through movement, sound, focusing attention. The goal is not to get rid of the symptom, but to fully experience it, "to be" with it. 
* Identification with the symptom: The client may be offered to "speak on behalf of the symptom". This allows exploring the symptom as a separate part of personality, which has its own history, its needs and messages. For example, a person with back pain can say: "I am your back pain, and I am tired of you always carrying such a burden."

* Research of polarities: Often a psychosomatic symptom reflects a conflict between opposite desires or needs. For example, the desire to be active and the need for rest. The therapist helps the client to realize these polarities and integrate them. As Paul Goodman, one of the first theorists of Gestalt therapy, said, "health is the ability to be in contact with reality and enter into it". In this context, "reality" includes internal conflicts.
* Completion of unfinished gestalts: As awareness increases, the symptom may reveal underlying unfinished situations - unexpressed resentment, suppressed anger, unrealized desire. The therapist helps the client to find ways to complete these situations, express suppressed emotions, which leads to a release of tension and the disappearance or weakening of the symptom.
* Integration: The goal of Gestalt therapy is the integration of fragmented parts of the personality into a whole. When the symptom is realized, its message is understood, and the underlying needs are met, energy is released and becomes available for healthy functioning. A person begins to function more holistically, realizing themselves in the unity of body, mind, and soul.

In conclusion, working with a psychosomatic symptom in Gestalt therapy is a path from alienation from one's own body to deep awareness and acceptance, from fragmentation to wholeness. This is a process that allows the client not only to get rid of unpleasant sensations but also to understand the deep messages of their body, restore broken contact with themselves and the surrounding world, which leads to greater vitality and authenticity. As Fritz Perls said, "loss of control is a way to return to oneself". And it is this return to oneself that is the essence of working with psychosomatics in Gestalt.