From the author: I took this interview with Harm Siemens about 8 years ago. When he was still alive... In recent years, he thought a lot about death and told his students that there was no need to be afraid of it. She is like a dream. And so he died. In a dream. Harm Siemens is a Gestalt therapist from Holland, one of those who worked after the first Teachers of Gestalt therapy. Member of the European Gestalt Association (EAGT). His uniqueness is that he is the only therapist to receive the highest honor from the Queen of the Netherlands for his work with drug addicts, alcoholics and homosexuals. Interview with Elena Shuvarikova. - Harm, tell us about yourself... - I have been doing Gestalt therapy since 1970. Before that, I taught psychotherapy. At some point, I felt the need for my own therapy and in 1972 I attended Gestalt training, which was attended by representatives of the first generation of European Gestalt therapists. It was led by Fritz Perls. I began to study Gestalt therapy, and for 4 years I went to Sanyago and then to New York to Isidor Fromm, whom I consider my main teacher. He influenced me a lot. Since 1985 in Holland, I became a trainer at the institute in which I was certified. Now I work in different cities and countries - Greece, Macedonia, Spain, Israel, India. In India, I have been a freelancer for the last 7 years - 3 months a year, and have prepared a good team of therapists who can already work without me. I really love Gestalt therapy. It is no exaggeration to say that this is my love. - Tell us about your work with people of homosexual orientation, for which you were awarded by the Queen... - Many homosexuals receive a good education, develop and have no problems until the age of 13. And from about this age they begin to experience loneliness and close themselves off. This is the period of first love, the creation of the first relationship. Against the backdrop of their own feelings, many experience great pressure from society, environment, and family. That's why we, as therapists, have to be very careful with them - they have their own illusory, fantastic world. If you intrude into this world ineptly, a person may close himself off from you because he is easily vulnerable. Especially at the very beginning of work, it is necessary to support his fantasies. If you make a mistake in something, he may say: “I don’t know if I’ll come to you again, but I definitely won’t come in the near future.” An empathetic, sensitive therapist will not call such clients homosexuals. He understands that these are easily vulnerable people who cannot support themselves. It is difficult for them to live with this, and they do not have a self-support resource. There is a certain portion of homosexuals who tend to be narcissistic. I wrote about this in the article “Homosexuality and Narcissism.” But not all of them are narcissists. In general, these clients are very open to Gestalt therapy, because it is a therapy that has accepted homosexuality as a way of life. Gestalt says: “Why should we condemn homosexuality if it is simply our own path, as individual as any other?” - Why Gestalt, and not the humanistic direction as a whole? After all, in the time of Fritz Perls there were both Karl Rogers and Rollo May... - Gestalt therapy is part of humanistic therapy. This is a democratic rather than hierarchical approach to people. This is alien to psychoanalysis. But still, it was in the field of Gestalt therapy that real recognition of the right to such a path occurred. - How did this happen? - This was in the 60s of the 20th century. Among the old Gestalt therapists there were homosexuals before, but they did not talk about it. In the 60s, a new generation arrived, which, against the general background of freedom, openly recognized their choice. They were not condemned in the community. This is how more trainers and therapists appeared who openly talked about their path. They appeared in the group (at that time all Gestalt therapy was only in groups) and shared this, talking about themselves. Homosexuals came out when they felt trusted and supported, and understood that there was nothing wrong with it. The biggest problem was that many.