Thinking at the Edge

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Eugene T. Gendlin, Mary Hendricks · 2004 · Chicago

What it is

Thinking At the Edge (TAE) is not a psychotherapy. Gendlin developed it from his Philosophy of the Implicit as "a second practice, alongside Focusing". It is a systematic way to put into new words something a person knows from experience but cannot yet say. It grew out of Gendlin's University of…

Format

• Session count. No fixed number is given. The crux sentence needs no long deliberation. Step 12 is repeated "as many times as necessary". Step 14 may continue for years.
• Clinical delivery formats: (a) therapist alone or with a TAE partner, 6–12 sessions of 1.5–2 h, to articulate a piece of practice knowledge (cf. Suetake 2013); (b) with a client, Phase I only (Steps 1–5, sometimes 6–8), woven into Focusing-oriented sessions over 2–6 sessions. Phase III (logic and…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Format in the originating tradition. The original training was a four-day course. Participants work in Focusing partnerships with roughly two-hour turns. For about half the time the listener attends only to the speaker, says little, writes down the speaker's exact words and reads them back on request. The Focusing Institute's current online course has one individual session, then six 2-hour sessions in a group of…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• absorbing the new theory back into familiar models.
• filling in forms without contact with the felt sense.
• your terms being swallowed by an established theory (see the Step 14 warning).
• forcing the felt sense to accept logic, or abandoning logic as soon as it surprises.
• decorative analogies with no surprise. It is working when an application yields a non-obvious, checkable claim.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.