Campbell Purton – Self Therapy: A Focusing Guide. Athens: Eurasia Publications (2022)
Campbell Purton is an English Focusing teacher. His career somewhat mirrored Eugene Gendlin’s in that he studied philosophy to PH.D. and then trained as a person-centred counsellor and Focusing teacher.
The cover of this relatively short book shows Rodin’s sculpture, ‘Le pénseur/The Thinker’ – an apt image for how, in his introduction, Campell describes Focusing as “giving sustained attention to our trouble in a way that leads to steps of change" (p.15). He also suggests that in the sculpture’s stance of stillness and apparent waiting and attending, Focusing may be likened to a kind of ‘pondering’ (p.109).
While set as it were in the world of psychotherapy it is primarily a book about Focusing and more specifically Focusing alone. At the outset he says that the book is intended as a self-help guide to working with the kinds of difficulties that move people to seek counselling help. From a therapy perspective he sees Focusing having a place alongside psychotherapy in the same way that complementary medicine can have a place alongside traditional medicine and possibly as a way of continuing the process after formal therapy sessions have ended. His first chapter is a broad, wide-ranging review of the psychotherapeutic scene particularly in the UK and of Focusing Oriented Therapy.
In the following three chapters Campbell, adopting the Gendlian approach, explains and explicates the classic six movements of Focusing, along with an exploration of some of the difficulties that can arise and how to work with them. He provides a wealth of examples of Focusing experiences, some of them quite detailed. He points particularly to the role of metaphor in the process and draws on the analogies and metaphors of Lu Ji a third century, Japanese lyric poet.
There are some aspects of Focusing that he repeatedly emphasises throughout the book; the usefulness and effectiveness of Focusing in everyday life; deliberately not attending to the familiar details of a problem or difficulty when beginning a Focusing session; “… keeping of our attention on the problem as a whole, while allowing new details to emerge” (p.37); “attending, not so much to what is already there, but to what is on its way, or what could come if we give it a chance” (p.38).
Chapters dealing briefly with Trauma and with Moods and Medication are interesting and informative. In regard to the former particularly, while he commends the use of Focusing he urges caution about going it completely alone. There follows an important chapter on Action Steps, an often glossed-over or neglected aspect of Focusing. Finally, there is the chapter called ‘How does it work?’ which he says is for those people who are curious about what is involved in the process of Focusing and which looks at some of its more philosophical aspects.
Though he writes in a deliberate, methodical way, as becomes a philosopher, the book is very accessible. It is probably most suitable for counsellors/psychotherapists and people who have already begun their Focusing journey or/and those who have some familiarity with the process. Experienced Focusers would benefit from his distinct perspective on Focusing. I think this is a welcome and helpful addition to the growing library of books on Focusing.
Campbell has written a number of books on therapy and Focusing and many articles on Focusing, Buddhism and Philosophy (see his website for a list and access - http://www.dwelling.me.uk/focusing.htm)
Written by Tom Larkin
