Flight into Health: A New Interpretation

Abstract

Although its origin remains a mystery, the term flight into health has been part of the psychotherapeutic lexicon for more than half a century. Historically, the term has been used as an interpretative label, suggesting that patients who responded “too quickly” to therapeutic intervention were actually engaging in escape tactics. According to this view, rapid responses to therapy were attempts to avoid the pain and anxiety of further exploration and self-disclosure. This article reviews the literature, explores the issues, and presents a radically different view: That most flight into health phenomena actually represent positive and genuine expressions of emerging health and are not self-deceptive pseudosuccesses, as tra-ditionally interpreted. To provide theoretical support for this posi-tion and to explain the phenomenal results often achieved in short-term therapy, the author draws upon the theoretical work of Andras Angyal and his concept of the ambiguous Gestalt. Two relevant case studies are presented.