The Here and Now: A Historical Perspective
Unlike other forms of psychotherapy, what was important to me with Jim in this first session was not understanding his history or his concerns in detail. Rather, from the very beginning of the session, I was paying attention to how we were together. What was important to me was the nature of contact, how we engaged each other. In this case, what I focused on was the experience of Jim not being able to listen to me, his talking a mile a minute, his inability to respond, and the fact that he was semi-disengaged from me and what I was saying.