From the Perspective of Our Psychotherapists

The "From the Perspective of Our Psychotherapists" column is designed to help you get to know our psychotherapists better through questions from the fields of psychotherapy and mental health.

KREŠIMIR TABAK: Psychotherapy contributes to life balance and a more creative way of being

• You often say that Gestalt psychotherapy is "applied philosophy" – how does this approach help people cope better with anxiety, stress and life crises?

Reading philosophical classics, especially those preoccupied with anthropological questions, we come to the conclusion that almost everyone seeks a balanced life. And while contact with literature is primarily cognitive, Gestalt psychotherapy is experiential. This means that what we read in philosophy or literature, in the psychotherapeutic process we have the opportunity to experience as a whole, and this is an immeasurably stronger and more complete experience. The psychotherapeutic approach actually allows us to embody insights and, on a refreshed foundation, set out on new life choices. Psychotherapy is a safe and supportive place, a place where the client becomes aware of the way they function, of their own responsibility, but also of different possibilities in facing challenges and difficulties. It is a place of growth and development, of unconditional acceptance and strengthening of the client's capacities that have the potential to enable them to live a happy and fulfilling life.

• Many people today feel chronic fatigue, exhaustion or "burn out" – how do you recognize that it is not just tiredness, but a deeper psychological problem?

The dynamics and pace of modern life grow greater with each passing day, and the individual is not an isolated entity; rather, they are shaped primarily by the family system as well as by social, cultural and economic norms. Our reality is dominated by the belief that we must be useful in order to be valued. This drives us to engage beyond our own limits. Our current collective exposure, stress and anxiety reach a level at which, only a few decades earlier, psychiatric patients were. This leads us to the conclusion that various support mechanisms are needed for a balanced life. Psychotherapy is one of them, and it is important for every person to check with themselves to what extent they are satisfied with the way they live and whether they want to improve the aesthetics of their own being. As someone who has been in a process of personal growth and development for many decades, I can confirm that psychotherapy is precisely the place that can free us from resistance, increase our life energy and creativity.

• How problems in communication and low self-esteem affect relationships in the family, at work and in partnerships, and how therapy can help in resolving them?

Personally, I live with the deep conviction that every person can be in good contact with themselves and in good contact with others, and can lead a creative and fulfilling life. Today it often happens that we unconsciously give up on ourselves and our own needs and unconditionally adapt to others. Such adaptation in all relationships (family, partnership and professional) brings us into a submissive position, that is, a place that does not naturally belong to us. By investing effort in this inauthentic adaptation, our life energy weakens and unpleasant moods intensify. This often leads us to become invisible in all our relationships. In the psychotherapeutic process, together with the client, we search for the place that is most favorable for them, and we support the building of boundaries and the protection of personal integrity. All of these are prerequisites for an adequate relationship to oneself, to others and to life in the broadest sense of that word.

• Perfectionism and constant self-criticism are often seen as an advantage – when do they in fact become an obstacle to personal growth and mental health?

Perfectionism and excessive self-criticism are the dominant ailments of our age, and if we accept and adopt them as our own norms, it means we have chosen the path of unattainable satisfaction or lasting discomfort. Along with this, a series of resistances will surely come that will stop the realization of almost all of our potentials. The alternative to perfectionism is satisfaction with what is good enough, and to excessive self-criticism, cultivating a caring attitude toward oneself. These are skills that can be internalized extremely well in the psychotherapeutic process.

• As an active athlete, you work with both recreational and professional athletes – how can psychotherapy help athletes cope with pressure, expectations and mental blocks?

Professional sport is truly a special story, and success often requires superhuman efforts. In the media we most often see only the bright side, while the background is completely different from what is in the foreground. The life of an athlete demands exceptional discipline, dedication and complete commitment to the sporting identity or subself. That is why it is extremely important that the other dimensions of identity be in order. My personal experience is that psychotherapy in this field can offer a great deal, and at the same time can help a person more easily bear all the challenges they face daily from the place of their sporting identity. Many sporting careers end early precisely because of a lack of adequate mental support, and for satisfactory athletic performance, mental stability and overall life balance are just as important as physical ability and sporting skill. All the national-team athletes I work with have confirmed this, and I am especially pleased that psychotherapy is finding its place in this sphere too, making athletes' efforts easier and their lives more pleasant and effective.Upo