From the author: The process of human changes in Gestalt therapy can be described as a path from the anxious “I want to seem” to the calm acceptance of oneself “as I am.” And this acceptance, despite the frightening “there’s nothing you can do about it,” carries within itself a charge of enormous power, with the help of which you can achieve “whatever you want!” Psychotherapy begins at the moment when a person understands that joy has disappeared from life, but joy has appeared a lot of melancholy, despondency, irritation, boredom, guilt and apathy. The old lifestyle fails and the usual ways of building relationships with other people stop working. The discrepancy between self-image and one's real capabilities leads to the desire to impress others as a successful, strong superman, smarter, while real qualities - those that a person actually possesses - are devalued. Along with the awareness of general dissatisfaction with life comes fear consequences of admitting your true desires. Fear of judgment and shame, fear of making a mistake or failing, fear of loneliness, fear of loss of independence, fear of being disappointed in yourself or another, fear of life changes and novelty, fear for your life, fear of loss of social status or poverty. Fear immobilizes and does not allow you to meet your needs. However, the realization that “I want to live differently” makes it possible to stay at this level and not run back. The confrontation of desires and anxiety leads a person to a dead end. A dead end is an inevitable stage of human development on the path to finding one’s integrity and pleasure from life. At a dead end, thoughts appear about the hopelessness and futility of the journey, helplessness and loneliness. Thoughts are accompanied by feelings of sadness, disappointment, sadness, melancholy, and despair. There is no strength to move on. There seems to be no hope to cope with the situation of hopelessness. It seems like a disaster will happen if you change your life. No one specifically wants to reach a dead end in order to develop further. I really want to escape from the dead end. But if you continue to be in a dead end for a sufficient time, then after some time the strength to get out of it appears. Strength often comes in the form of anger. Anger carries with it the energy and determination that is needed to get out of a dead end. At the next stage, a restructuring of the person’s value system occurs - what is really important and dear, the system of motives - the person begins to see new objects that can satisfy his frozen needs. The assessment of oneself and one’s capabilities becomes supportive, that is, adequate to reality. At this stage, opposing desires are either united, or one truly important need is selected. Anxiety attacks may occur here, but usually its level is not sufficient to throw it back. Following a change in self-perception, a person begins to change his relationship with the world. This stage is called “external explosion”. Stopped, blocked feelings receive recognition and find a way out in the form of real actions aimed at multiple external changes in life. Lifestyle becomes consistent with the dynamics of needs. There is an opportunity to choose where previously there was a compulsion. Ideas for creatively changing one's surrounding world arouse interest rather than stopping anxiety. Responsibility for oneself is accepted as the authorship of one’s life, and not as guilt for mistakes made or not made. The goal of Gestalt therapy is to return a person’s freedom of choice where he previously lost this freedom. So, step by step on the way to oneself, a person moves from the dictates of external or internal circumstances to the freedom to be the author of one’s own life, from the irresponsible compulsion “we are not like this - life is like this” to the freedom to choose “to change, what can be changed and accepted, then what cannot be changed”.