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Contemporary Gestalt Therapy: Field Theory
... The relational and field paradigm of contemporary Gestalt therapy is radically different from the individualistic and dualistic paradigm (Parlett, 2005). As zen-master and poet Thich Nhat Hanh (2014) puts it, we 'inter-are', for good and for worse. ...
... Gestalt therapists have too-often ignored the more stable field structures and processes such as those related to group power and privilege (Parlett, 2005). I want to bring these to light also in the training of therapy students. ...
... A related point concerns subjectivity. According to field theory, there are, in one sense at least, as many fields as there are participants in a room (Parlett, 2005). We all see things slightly differently. ...
In this paper, the author, a queer-of-colour professor of Gestalt therapy, reflects on how race and racism emerged and was explored during a training workshop at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute. The student group, as is quite often the case in the Gestalt world, was majority white. The exploration became heated, but there was also movement through the crises. The author makes sense of the experience by reflecting on racism as a field phenomenon, the need to increase awareness of power and privilege, and the importance and difficulty of balancing challenge and support in these situations. The paper ends with a short reflection on the importance of self-care and a joyful poem.
... The basic premise is seeing the situation as a whole (Lewin, 2004); in other words, perceiving functional systems instead of single elements. There are several related principles (Deutsch, 1954;Parlett & Lee, 2005), as follows: ...
... The Gestalt therapist acts as a "field theory agent:" He/she is not detached from the field, but rather is a part of it (Latner, 2000;Parlett & Lee, 2005), and carries out mutual "investigation" into how the field and its different parts are organized (Clarkson, 2013;Lewin, 2004;Parlett & Lee, 2005). In lieu of this, the therapist analyzes the existing ("here and now") functional or nonadaptive units (e.g. ...
... The Gestalt therapist acts as a "field theory agent:" He/she is not detached from the field, but rather is a part of it (Latner, 2000;Parlett & Lee, 2005), and carries out mutual "investigation" into how the field and its different parts are organized (Clarkson, 2013;Lewin, 2004;Parlett & Lee, 2005). In lieu of this, the therapist analyzes the existing ("here and now") functional or nonadaptive units (e.g. ...
This article emphasizes the importance of synchronization in changing patients’ dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to functional ones. Furthermore, the concept of synchronization in psychotherapy is delineated herein, showing its feasibility through the free energy principle. Most sync-oriented publications focus on the therapist-patient relationship. In contrast, this article is focusing on the therapeutic process, especially by analyzing how dysfunctional units—both in an individual’s mind, as well as in social relationships—assemble in synchrony and how psychotherapy helps to disassemble and replace them with functional units. As an example, Gestalt psychology and Gestalt psychotherapy are demonstrated through the lenses of synchronization, supported by diverse case studies. Finally, it is concluded that synchronization is opening a gateway to understanding the change dynamics in psychotherapy and, as such, is worth further study.
... Although there is continuous reinvention occurring in the reciprocal relationship between self and the field/environment as the self is reorganising, reconstructing and refining itself after each experience, there are qualities of stability and continuity that provide depth to relationships (Kesner, 2000;MacKewn, 1997;Philippson, 2009;Stets & Burke, 2000). The field or environment plays an important role, as Gestalt field theory postulates that all aspects of the field are interconnected and relational (MacKewn, 1997;Mann, 2010;Parlett & Lee, 2005;Woldt & Toman, 2005). Just as the self is reorganising and reconstructing itself, so the field is continuously in flux as individuals change their perspective of the field and give meaning to events in the field (Parlett & Lee, 2005). ...
... The field or environment plays an important role, as Gestalt field theory postulates that all aspects of the field are interconnected and relational (MacKewn, 1997;Mann, 2010;Parlett & Lee, 2005;Woldt & Toman, 2005). Just as the self is reorganising and reconstructing itself, so the field is continuously in flux as individuals change their perspective of the field and give meaning to events in the field (Parlett & Lee, 2005). The school environment is such a place of flux where learners are exposed to numerous messages from different teachers and peers, especially so when they move to the Intermediate Phase (Magnuson, Duncan, & Kalil, 2006). ...
... The Gestalt Field Theory postulates that everything is of the field and that all events are interconnected, intertwined and ever changing. Each new experience contributes to a new understanding of self and change (Joyce & Sills, 2010;MacKewn, 1997;Parlett & Lee, 2005;Woldt & Toman, 2005). The interaction between learner and teacher therefore influences how the learner experiences himselfeither positive or negative. ...
Within the learner–teacher relationship, learners receive messages of who they are in the eyes of the teacher and in this way their self-configuration is shaped by the interactions with their teacher. To understand their self-configuration experiences it is important that their voices be heard regarding their own experiences within their relationships with their teachers. This article focuses on learners’ self-configuration experiences within this relationship from the Gestalt field theory and Dialogical theory of self-perspectives. A qualitative case study design was followed with nine learners with mild learning difficulties. The participants were purposively selected and participated voluntary. The results showed that, when teachers spend time with learners, they ascribe meaning to themselves, feeling valued, confident and experiencing a sense of worthiness.
... A field theoretical stance is one of the fundamentals in contemporary Gestalt (Parlett, 2005;Yontef, 2009;Wollants, 2012). This involves looking at the total situation, which consists of mutually influencing forces and relationships, and understanding that any change in the situation -focused on a person or an environmental factor -affects the whole. ...
... In sum, the advisers find a social/relational dimension to be crucial in the creation as well as reduction of stress and for effective communication. This fits well with the appreciation of relationships and social support in contemporary Gestalt (Hycner, 1985;Jacobs, 1989;Wheeler, 1991;Yontef, 1993;Parlett, 2005;Jacobs and Hycner, 2009;Wollants, 2012). While relational Gestaltists recognise the importance of the environment, an emphasis also remains on personal responsibility and response-ability (Yontef, 1993 and; see also Perls, 1969). ...
... Considering that relational Gestalt belongs to a radically new paradigm for many, it is not surprising that there was some resistance among advisers. Resistance may occur because a situation is not ripe for change, for example because there is not enough support for change (Parlett, 2005). I may have pushed too much and too soon for some. ...
There is an increasing focus on humanitarian workers and stress. At a workshop in June 2015, the author facilitated self-care, group debrief and communication sessions for senior gender advisers deployed by the Norwegian Refugee Council. This paper presents and discusses survey responses relating to the advisers' experiences of stress, communication, and Gestalt interventions. In certain situations, such as humanitarian crises, people – including humanitarian workers themselves – can easily become stressed and their communication violent, which in turn may contribute to more stress and violence around them. However, this cycle can be broken with sufficient support and awareness.
... Gallagher, 2012;Merleau-Ponty, 1962;Ratcliffe, 2012;Zahavi, 2010), and intersubjective relationship (Dosamantes, 1992;Dosamantes-Beaudry, 2007;Stern, 2005). Nevertheless, the aesthetic feelings of the therapist have not been studied enough, especially in the frame of phenomenological field theory (Bloom, 2009;Macaluso, 2020aMacaluso, , 2020bParlett, 1991Parlett, , 2000Parlett, , 2003Parlett, , 2005Parlett & Spagnuolo Lobb, 2018). ...
... Finally, ARK is a construct that expresses the therapist's ability to identify with the patient's body feeling and to resonate with field elements that allow a broader sensitivity not only on the patient's experience but also, above all, on the field from which that experience emerged (Macaluso, 2020a(Macaluso, , 2020bParlett, 1991Parlett, , 2000Parlett, , 2003Parlett, , 2005Parlett, , 2018Spagnuolo Lobb, 2020a, 2020b. A further study (Spagnuolo Lobb et al., 2022b) has shown that the capacity of psychotherapists to have a felt sense of the patient's situation and contextualize it in a field/ relational perspective is definitely learnt after the training. ...
This paper presents and contextualizes the construct of Aesthetic Relational Knowing (ARK), as the intuitive experience of the therapist that emerges from the phenomenological field created in a meeting between therapist and client. The concept of isomorphism is considered as an epistemological turning point and a possible bridge connecting Gestalt therapy, Gestalt theory and Neurosciences. An example of the clinical consequences of this change of perspective is given. Moreover, a validation pilot study has shown that ARK is described by three factors: empathy, resonance and bodily awareness. The ARK can be defined as a three-dimensional construct that supports the positive use of the therapist’s perception in terms of aesthetic knowing of the phenomenological field of the therapeutic situation. The construct of Aesthetic Relational Knowing can be considered a phenomenological, aesthetic and field-oriented contribution to psychotherapy training, supervision and research.
... The relational perspective in Gestalt therapy has been articulated in terms of field theory, which understands an individual's behavior as being influenced by the larger situation that he or she belongs to (Francesetti & Roubal, 2020a;Jacobs & Hycner, 2010;Parlett, 1997;Parlett & Lee, 2005;Polster & Polster, 1974). Drawing on the metaphor of the electromagnetic field, the Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin (1951) postulated that there is a mutual influence between the particles (electrons) and the field of forces they generate and are influenced by. ...
... However, as a common factor, the field is seen as an emergent phenomenon that is co-constructed in the interaction and can be perceived by individuals (Francesetti, 2019a(Francesetti, , 2019b(Francesetti, , 2019c. Malcom Parlett (1997;Parlett & Lee, 2005) defined five general principles of field theory as it is adopted in Gestalt therapy, which are presented as follows: ...
The quality of patient and therapist relationship has been identified as the main
common factor for the success of a therapeutic process. However, the research on
the therapeutic relationship has been overly influenced by cognitivist approaches
in cognitive science and mindreading and simulationist theories of empathy. These
approaches to intersubjectivity, however, do not do justice to the complexity of the
therapist-patient interactions and the transformative potential of therapeutic
encounters. In this regard, two outstanding problems can be identified in
psychology and cognitive sciences: methodological individualism and the mindbody divide. As an alternative, the present thesis proposes an enactive approach to
psychiatry and psychotherapy that goes beyond a purely “mentalistic” conception
of the therapeutic alliance and empathy towards a second-person and embodied
perspective, highlighting the constitutive role of pre-reflective engagements of
therapists and patients in the therapeutic process. It builds on the enactive theory
of intersubjectivity as participatory sense-making, which describes the
coordination of intentional and non-intentional activities as preconditions from
which shared meanings emerge in interpersonal interactions. On this basis, clinical
empathy is defined as a participatory and pre-reflective process of knowing-how
to respond to the solicitations of patients. Along with the relational turn in
psychotherapy, the thesis adopts a second-person perspective by placing
participatory sense-making processes at the center of the investigation.
Accordingly, it presents three pieces of work applying the enactive framework to
research in psychotherapy: (1) a comment on correlational studies on non-verbal
coordination and psychotherapeutic outcome, where new working hypothesis and
interpretation of empirical data are suggested; (2) an interpretativephenomenological-analysis of the pre-reflective intercorporeal mechanisms
involved in the transition from face-to-face to online therapeutic settings, and (3)
a phenomenological-enactive analysis and classification of therapeutic
interventions on the body in dialogic therapies. These works illustrate that the
enactive framework can potentially promote a particular way of doing science in
psychotherapy research. In addition to that, the thesis suggests a theoretical
deepening of the theory of participatory sense-making under the lens of two
related perspectives – phenomenology of atmospheres and Gilbert Simondon’s
philosophy of individuation. This analysis highlights the pathic character of the
lived body and the pre-individual dimension of experience. The discourse on
atmospheres is contrasted with enactive-ecological theories of affordances and a
possible definition of mental disorders as disorders of affectivity is suggested. The
thesis concludes that the theory of participatory sense-making should be
understood in terms of transindividuality, that is, as holding the tension between
the sense of belonging to a “primordial we” and the objectification of the other, a
tension that allows for differential degrees of pre-individual affective participation.
This perspective is particularly relevant to understand the complexity of modes of
participation in the therapist-patient dyad.
... Although emotional aspects of the therapists have been largely studied, both in terms of therapeutic alliance (Ardito & Rabellino, 2011;Iwakabe et al., 2000), empathy (cfr. Gallagher, 2012;Merleau-Ponty, 1962;Ratcliffe, 2012;Zahavi, 2010), and intersubjective relationship (Dosamantes, 1992;Dosamantes-Beaudry, 2007;Stern, 2005), the aesthetic feelings of the therapist have not been studied enough, especially in the frame of phenomenological field theory (Bloom, 2009;Macaluso, 2020aMacaluso, , 2020bParlett, 1991Parlett, , 2000Parlett, , 2003Parlett, , 2005Parlett & Spagnuolo Lobb,2018). This study on the Aesthetic Relational Knowledge Scale (ARKS) provides a theoretical and clinical ground for the intuition of the therapist (cfr. ...
... In conclusion, this research allowed us to validate the ARK as a construct that expresses the therapist's ability to identify with the patient's body feeling and to resonate with field elements that allow a broader sensitivity not only on the patient's experience but also, above all, on the field from which that experience emerged (Macaluso, 2020a(Macaluso, , 2020bParlett, 1991Parlett, , 2000Parlett, , 2003Parlett, , 2005Parlett, , 2018Spagnuolo Lobb, 2020a. Moreover, this study allowed us to validate the ARKS as a scale useful to evaluate the ARK. ...
This study has explored the construct of aesthetic relational knowledge (ARK) as the intuitive experience of the therapist that emerges from the phenomenological field created in a meeting between therapist and client. A scale to measure this construct has been built and validated. The concept of ARK has been examined in literature and a questionnaire has been developed, composed of 58 items. A sample of 94 Italian Gestalt psychotherapists (Mage = 40.19, SD = 8.15) has completed an online protocol containing the Basic Empathy Scale, the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, and a series of questions created ad hoc for the assessment of resonance. Two exploratory two and threelatent factor analyses were conducted to identify the variables that best explain ARK. The results have shown that ARK is described by three factors: empathy, resonance, and bodily awareness. They show the best saturation values and the best comparison with the theoretical reference model. Cronbach’s alpha is.844. The ARK can be defined as a three-dimensional construct that supports the positive use of counter-transferential feelings in terms of aesthetic knowledge of the phenomenological field of the therapeutic situation. The ARK can be measured by the Aesthetic Relational Knowledge Scale, suitable for training purposes, supervision, and research
... Accounting for every aspect of clients' views of their world and experience, being aware of all factors of influence and considering internal meaning and external events may begin to address trauma from a field perspective. As described by Parlett (2005): ...
... Gestaltists consider human experience within a much wider context within a field (Parlett, 2005). In other words, a Sri Lankan's experience of a traumatic event, like the tsunami of 2004, needs to account for the uniqueness of the culture. ...
Sri Lankans who are of a collectivist culture experience events that precipitate Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but the literature on existence of PTSD and appropriate treatment for this culture is scarce. The results (n = 438) of the Sinhala version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised suggest that approximately 50% of those directly impacted and 25% of those indirectly impacted by the 2004 tsunami are exhibiting moderate to severe symptoms. Gestalt therapy techniques – including the Nova model (Young, 1998), finishing unfinished business (Crump, 1984; Cohen, 2003), re-authoring the trauma (Pack, 2008), FREE for Vets (Danish and Antonides, 2009), and therapeutic workshops (Chang, 2005) which may be more appropriate for a collectivist culture – are suggested. Limitations of this study and future directions for research are also presented.
... The Index reassuringly notes the presence of Buber, Husserl, Levinas; the entry for "empathy" sits comically alongside "empty signifiers", "evil" alongside "existentialism", "hate" alongside "Heidegger". I was looking for entries for "field", "field theory" or "relational field", though, because the phenomenon of "the field" -a "totality of mutually influencing forces that together form a unified interactive whole" (Yontef, 1993, p. 297)is so integrally related to relational process across a number of disciplines that it is almost impossible to conceive of relationship occurring without the constellating of a field, whether it be an ontological, energetic or theoretical phenomenon (Day, 2016;O'Neill, 2008;Parlett, 2005). Its explanatory force regarding the transformative potential of therapy is worthy of attention, as it conceives of the relational not simply as social, empathic and interpersonal, but as a substrate that operationalizes intersubjectivity and the transformative potential. ...
... However, the phenomenological and enactive approach, by focusing on prereflective and schematic processes, consider affectivity as the counterpart of bodily movement, being its condition of possibility and co-extensive with it. In this way, we can perceive intentions and emotions of others immediately through their bodily expression insofar as we act in a shared and meaningful context, that is, in a unified relational field (Day, 2016;Parlett & Lee, 2005). ...
Given the holistic and phenomenological character of Gestalt therapy, the body has a primordial role in enhancing the here and now experience of the client. In order to examine the role of embodiment in therapeutic interventions more closely, this article applies Merleau-Ponty's phenom-enology of corporeality and its development in the embodied and enactive cognitive sciences to the study of therapeutic interventions. Taking Merleau-Ponty's theory of Fundierung as starting point, the article describes the enactive idea of sense-making as the movement from prereflective to reflective consciousness, a movement that is driven by the primordial valence of affectivity and emotion. As a process of participatory sense-making, mutual regulation between therapist and client can happen at different levels of consciousness. Here, in addition to the well-known declarative (reflective level) and resonance-based (prereflective level) interventions, I will focus on interventions that operate between levels which constitute a genuine modality of embodied therapeutic interventions. I introduce the notion of cross-salience as the prefigurative participation of the therapist's reflective consciousness in the client's sense-making process. I will illustrate this idea by the analysis of an intervention extracted from Fritz Perls' work Gestalt Therapy Verbatim.
... 33-34). Επίσης, όταν η καπνιστική συνήθεια, σαν μια διάσταση του πεδίου του κάθε καπνιστή, παύει να υπάρχει, τότε ο πρώην καπνιστής υποχρεώνεται να ξαναοργανώσει το πεδίο του (Parlett & Lee, 2005), επιτυγχάνοντας έτσι μια δημιουργική προσαρμογή (Perls et al., 1951). ...
In the Prevention Center “Diktio Alpha”, a short-term group program of psychological support was developed to address the issue of smoking cessation at the local level in Thessaloniki. The aim of this study was to describe the application and effectiveness of the pilot psychological support group program as it was conducted by the Prevention Center. The program used an eclectic model, which was based on the Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and Gestalt Therapy principles. Eight (8) two-hour focus group meetings were held from April until June 2016. The sample consisted of seven women (n=7) aged 37-59 years (M= 47.7 years). The participants’ level of nicotine dependence was measured through the use of Fagerström scale, where two people indicated low dependence, four medium dependence and one (person) high dependence. Data was codified and analyzed through the use of thematic analysis. According to the analysis, six broad thematic categories were formed: a) pre-thinking, how life was before the decision of cessation, b) thought or consideration of the decision to cease smoking, c) preparation for the cessation, d) action, e) maintaining of cessation, how life is after cigarette, and f) relapse. A follow-up call was conducted six months after the intervention, where three participants were found to having maintained smoking cessation. The results of this study could be used in the design and implementation of more intervention programs at a local level targeting vulnerable social groups.
... 2. This is why I wrote (Brownell, 2016a) that the integrating factor, the central mechanism of integration in the theoretical integration that formed early gestalt therapy, was PHG's anthropology: "The organizing center for the integration that became Gestalt therapy is its anthropology-the concept of the person as emerging from the organism-environment field through contacting. That is, the human being in early Gestalt therapy was conceived of as an organism-environment entity, not just an organism in an environment" (p. ...
... The therapist asked Thomas how it would be to talk to his fatherwho died a couple of months agoin this session. The therapist tried to bring Thomas's experience of his father in the here-and-now by inviting Thomas to do some empty chair work for unfinished business, a method elaborated in gestalt therapy (Brownell, 2016) and emotion-focused therapy (Elliott et al., 2004). ...
Meaninglessness is one of the biggest threats of our era. Meaninglessness is not only one of the possible symptoms of depression; meaninglessness as such is a complex experience which can be identified at a micro-dimensional felt sensed level, as a meaning gap at a meso-dimensional narrative level, and as groundlessness at a macro-dimensional existential level. Person-centered therapies have explicitly focused on the micro- and meso-dimension of meaning; existential therapies have emphasized the macro-dimensions by helping their clients to face the existential givens such as meaninglessness and meaning. In this article we explore how experiential-existential psychotherapy could help clients in dealing with meaninglessness by addressing this experience with micro-, meso-, and macro-dimensional interventions. A case study reveals how all meaning-dimensions are important, but not at any moment. The client concludes the therapy with discovering what is most essential to him in life. From this experience he finds the courage to engage with life at the fullest, whether it is ultimately meaningful or not.
... The GTFS is a parsimonious scale that can be assessed on a 25-minute video segment of clinical work. Prior research demonstrating the efficacy of GT may be substantiated by post-hoc assessment of video recordings of sessions of GT (Brownell, 2016;Roubal, 2016). Future research using single case time series analysis or Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) may be supported by the GTFS (Herrera, Mstibovskyi, Roubal, & Brownell, 2018), as ratings of adherence are critical for replication (Barber & Sharpless, 2015). ...
Objective: Three studies were conducted to develop and validate the Gestalt Therapy Fidelity Scale (GTFS), a 21-item measure of treatment adherence for Gestalt Therapy (GT).
Method: Thirty five items for possible inclusion in the GTFS were generated on the basis of a literature review. In Study 1, a Delphi methodology consulting 63 international GT experts was used to select items for the GTFS. In Study 2, six experts used the scale to rate video-based sessions of GT, and provided feedback on the usability of the scale. In Study 3, 176 participants from 18 countries used the GTFS to rate GT and non-GT video recorded sessions.
Results: The Delphi study consensus method resulted in 25 items for consideration in the GTFS. The scoring system and items were subsequently revised following further feedback from experts (Study 2). The GTFS was found to significantly discriminate between GT and non-GT based sessions (Study 3): raters scored GT sessions significantly higher than non-GT sessions. High levels of internal and inter-rater reliability were found.
Conclusion: The GTFS is supported as a psychometrically sound measure of treatment adherence for GT, and hence can be used to assess the degree to which therapists are administering GT.
... Em vários níveis, insistimos, ele não é adolescente sozinho. Na perspectiva de campo adotada pela Gestalt-terapia, cada existente co-existe numa realidade compartilhada em que todos estão implicados (Parlett, 2005). Entretanto, se é verdade que o adolescente não vivencia seus possíveis conflitos de modo interno, mas num campo, por outro lado, a família, a escola ou a sociedade também não são as causadoras por excelência de problemas na adolescência. ...
The developmental period called adolescence has been often conceived, both in the scientific literature about the subject as well as in common sense, from a stereotyped and generalizing point of view. Historical and concrete conditions are, in this perspective, conceived as natural features of adolescence and the period is taken as a set of predictable characteristics common to all adolescents. In this paper, I analyze why and how the Gestalt Approach refutes this perspective. In the literature on adolescence, these issues have been analyzed on the perspective of the Socio-historical Psychology. As such, and also because of the affinities between this perspective with Gestalt-therapy in regard to the relationship between individual and context, the paper begins with a brief discussion about the socio-historical outlook on adolescence. Following, it is analyzed how Gestalt-therapy, according to its most elementary theoretical premises - foremost among them, the Kurt Lewin's Field theory - resonates and, at the same time, provides new nuances to the socio-historical critique, conceiving adolescence as a singular and field-related phenomenon.
... Stumpf também contribuiu para o desenvolvimento da dimensão institucional da psicologia. Além de fundar a escola de psicologia experimental de Berlim e o Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, Stumpf foi amigo e correspondente de William James e teve um forte impacto na formação de Edmund Husserl, Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler e Kurt Koffka, criadores da psicologia Gestalt (BOWMAN, 2000). O contínuo interesse em psicologia dos tons musicais estimulou Stumpf a fundar em 1898 o jornal Beiträge zur Akustik und Musikwissenschaft (Contribuições à Acústica e à Musicologia) (MUGGLESTONE, 1981). ...
Este artigo analisa a interface música e psicologia a partir da segunda metade do século XIX, identificando e discutindo áreas de interesse, problemas e pesquisas em comum. Os resultados da pesquisa foram organizados em torno de três eixos de análise: razão, subjetividade e psicotécnicas. Construído em torno destes eixos, o texto apresenta uma perspectiva histórico-analítica que permite uma melhor compreensão do estágio atual de desenvolvimento da psicologia da música e as suas ramificações, bem como das dificuldades presentes no desenvolvimento de modelos, testes e avaliações na área de Música, em particular sobre inteligência musical.
This paper reviews biophysical models of psychotherapeutic change based on synergetics and the free energy principle. These models suggest that introducing sensory surprise into the patient-therapist system can lead to self-organization and the formation of new attractor states, disrupting entrenched patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. We propose that the therapist can facilitate this process by cultivating epistemic trust and modulating embodied attention to allow surprising affective states to enter shared awareness. Transient increases in free energy enable the update of generative models, expanding the range of experiences available within the patient-therapist phenomenal field. We hypothesize that patterns of disorganization at behavioural and physiological levels, indexed by increased entropy, complexity, and lower determinism, are key markers and predictors of psychotherapeutic gains. Future research should investigate how the therapist's openness to novelty shapes therapeutic outcomes.
L'articolo presenta una serie di studi sull'intuito del terapeuta da una prospettiva fenomenologica, estetica e di campo. Sin dalla descrizione freudiana del contro-trasfert, il ruolo degli psicoterapeuti nel processo di gestione del campo emotivo relazionale è stato riconosciuto come fondamentale. Un'evoluzione contemporanea del concetto di sensibilità intersoggettiva, sviluppata all'interno dell'approccio terapeutico gestaltico, riguarda la Conoscenza Relazionale Estetica, qui definita come "la modalità attraverso cui il terapeuta utilizza i propri sensi per comprendere l'esperienza attuale del paziente attraverso l'empatia incarnata e la risonanza". Vengono descritti tre studi su questo costrutto, che hanno sviluppato e validato una scala per descrivere l'intuito del terapeuta in questa specifica prospettiva, i cui fattori chiave sono la risonanza, la consapevolezza corporea e l'empatia. I risultati suggeriscono implicazioni significative per la formazione degli psicoterapeuti e per la supervisione, evidenziando l'importanza del lavoro sui processi corporei e della capacità relazionale estetica nel lavoro con i pazienti.
In his writings, Gibson firmly claimed that cultural or social factors could never distort perception. Cultural artefacts, social norms, language and signs were instead described as influencing perception and behavior only indirectly. At the same time, in his last monumental monograph, Gibson introduced the concept of affordance as applicable to the “whole realm of social significance”. Unfortunately, Gibson did not elaborate further on the relationship between the notion of affordance and the socio-cultural organization of niches like ours. This issue divided Gibson’s followers into two sides. Some of them followed Gibson, claiming that socio-cultural factors can drive behavior but never permeate perceptual experience to its bottom layers. A second group assumes instead that the presence of a structured socio-cultural context permeates the meaning of affordances already at the perceptual level. The aim of this chapter is twofold. The first part of the chapter aims to reconstruct Gibson’s view on the role of culture and sociality and then highlight the reasoning that animates both groups of theorists. In particular, a large part of the discussion is based on motivating the problematics that led the second group of theorists to disagree with Gibson and his idea that the individual’s social background never permeates sensory perception. The second aim is to throw the seeds to develop a methodological tool available to these theorists in order to characterize the experience of affordances as shaped by the social and cultural context in which they are embedded; the notion of field. This notion has a long history in psychology but its methodological consequences are often overlooked. Notably, one of the risks of the concept of field is, as scholars of the Gestalt school like Parlett and Lee claimed, that the notion could be framed so broadly to include “anything and everything”, making it theoretically and scientifically trivial and hence unable to provide a rigorous characterization of what is encountered in individual experiences. To avoid the trivialization of this concept, I conclude by developing a recent proposal that suggests endorsing the notion of field specifically elaborated by the phenomenologist Aron Gurwitsch.
The practice of gestalt therapy and the training of its practitioners have undergone significant change since the early 1950s. The culture they are situated in is also undergoing significant change. The main goal of this paper is to articulate the nature of contemporary gestalt therapy, the practice of gestalt professional education, and selected aspects of the contemporary cultural context within which they are situated. The central theme of the paper is the tension existing between the values of gestalt therapy and particular features of the culture, especially neoliberalism. This paper is drawn from a PhD project exploring how this tension is understood and managed in Australia and New Zealand. It sets the scene for a proposed later paper discussing detailed responses to these tensions. It is hoped this paper offers ground for psychotherapists, counsellors, and educators to reflect on their experiences and possible tensions.
The theory of the Gestalt therapy which is based on the humanist attitude towards the personality is applied in the social work, education, etc. It is considered to serve as a foundation of interactive bibliotherapy. However, as the professional discourse of the experts of Gestalt has demonstrated, and as it has been proven by the lack of research of the application of bibliotherapy in Gestalt therapy, bibliotherapy is still being underused as an option in Gestalt treatment. Generally, even though the interdisciplinary field of bibliotherapy has been extensively explored, there is an incentive to share the scarce (in terms of quantity) models of the applied nature which would define how bibliotherapy could be systematically involved into various consultation practices with the objective to enhance their efficiency. The article presents one of the possible models of practical application of interactive bibliotherapy in the Gestalt practice which is based on the triple dialogue (in interaction with the therapist) and written reflection of brief fictional texts. The model is based on the grounds of aligning the paradigms of Gestalt therapy and bibliotherapy. Cases of 60 clients who were being applied bibliotherapy throughout the 7 years of operation of one practice were explored with the emphasis on the qualitative aspect. The results of the research proved the appropriateness of bibliotherapy as a secondary means to be applied in Gestalt therapy. It has been established that, under the appropriate field conditions, the properly selected fictional text as the mediator through the dialogue-based reflection with the therapist may help the client to perceive his/her unsatisfied needs and to alter in the desired direction within a shorter timeframe, i.e., it enables personality transformation. In such cases, works of fiction serve the function of the stimulants of the authentic intrapersonal communication (i.e., one’s inner experiences and their inner reflection) and the amplifying or reinforcing function of the stimulants of interpersonal communication. This corroborates the data of neurological research indicating that fiction intensively stimulates and even (trans)forms the intellectual and emotional self- and world perception of a reading individual. The presented model of the application of bibliotherapy may be beneficial not only for the practitioners of Gestalt, but also for librarians, social workers and education specialists as well as the practitioners of therapies of other types, while especially considering the lack of systematic descriptions of the application of bibliotherapy as an additional and enhancing means, which has been highlighted in the relevant literature.
Questo scritto nasce da un interesse per la dimensione clinica e comunitaria dell'espe¬rienza umana e da uno sguardo alla psicopatologia vista nel riverbero del vivere sociale. L'esperienza del rapporto tra pari e la dimensione orizzontale sono considerati la chiave di lettura del para-digma fraterno e occasione per superare il paradigma narcisistico. Il fraterno è visto non solo come esperienza specifica della vita familiare ma come richiamo al vivere comunitario e sociale di un oggi bisognoso di nuovi strumenti dello stare insieme. Le autrici descrivono il contesto sociale in cui si inserisce il tema della fraternità approfondendone le numerose sfaccettature. Su questo sfondo, analizzano il tema dal punto di vista della psicoterapia della Gestalt, sofferman-dosi sul concetto di intenzionalità di contatto fraterno e sulla dimensione orizzontale nella clini-ca.
The topic of psychopathy opens up many roads of inquiry—diagnostic, psychopathological, therapeutic, clinical, forensic, existential, ethical—which together outline an extremely complex landscape. The intention of this chapter is not to reduce that complexity, but rather to contribute, if possible, to highlighting it, and perhaps even to add to it. The fulcrum of this work lies in the search for a clinical dimension of meaning for psychopathic experience through a Gestalt Therapy perspective, building in particular on a fundamental construct of the approach, which is field theory. It is essential to bear firmly in mind that the search for meaning does not mean searching for justification. It means searching for a ground, from which a phenomenon emerges, and for movement, for the intentional direction the phenomenon tends to move towards. In this approach, trying to understand cannot be avoided, and it means grasping subjective experience, how it emerges, and the meaning it has. Our hope is that this exploration can give rise to potentially useful insights for clinical work.KeywordsPsychopathyGestalt TherapyField theoryCompassionAggressionDestructivity
ABSTRACT This article is the first of two aimed at exploring the implications of field theory in contemporary Gestalt therapy. We present here the definition of field theory that we rely upon; in particular, we define the phenomenal field, the phenomenological field, and the psychopathological field. Then we explore the implications of these distinctions in psychopathology and clinical practice. We describe the guidelines to apply field theory in practice for therapists to modulate the way they are present in the session in order to support the process of change. We conclude with an illustrative clinical example. The theory that we present in this article is a way to address, from a Gestalt therapy perspective, the relational phenomena that psychoanalysis has called “transference and countertransference.” Our understanding, however, builds on a different epistemology, one that is radically relational and based on field theory, which considers the self and the other as incessant and unending emerging processes.
L’objet de cet article est d’aborder la pertinence de prendre soin des parents au cours du processus thérapeutique de l’enfant, le système familial étant un ensemble plus fort que ses parties. Le champ familial contribue à la formation de la subjectivité et de l’identité de l’enfant, comme de ses symptômes et pathologies. Les troubles se situent dans le champ organisme/environnement. Pour la Gestalt-thérapie, un problème émotionnel ne concerne pas que l’individu, mais émerge d’un champ qui peut comporter des relations dysfonctionnelles. Les perturbations psychologiques et comportementales de l’enfant peuvent provenir de tragédies et drames de l’enfance non résolues. Lorsque ruptures et conflits surviennent, des graines de psychopathologies sont en germe. Le thérapeute œuvre à s’approcher de la douleur de chacun, à promouvoir le contact des parents avec leur enfant intérieur blessé, à établir à neuf la conscience (awareness) de la place, du rôle et de la signification de chacun au sein de sa famille, ainsi qu’à intégrer les polarités et les parties aliénées.
L’article soutient l’exigence que la psychothérapie et la psychiatrie se renouvellent pour inclure les nouvelles connaissances biologiques et systémiques en dépassant le morcellement des savoirs. Après une description de l’évolution du rapport entre psychothérapie et société, l’article propose un outil gestaltiste, phénoménologique et esthétique, adapté aux nouvelles exigences du ressenti social, en transformant le concept de conscience du présent en celui de connaissance relationnelle esthétique. Un exemple clinique explique ce nouveau concept.
Working with a client, the author transitioned from a Gestalt psychotherapy framework informed by attachment theory and developmental theories to Bowen family systems theory. Using a Gestalt framework, the development of self was seen as embedded at times in the interconnectedness of all things and at times in the mother/child dyad with the clinical priority working within the therapeutic relationship. From a Bowen family systems theory framework, the author viewed self as an evolutionary biological process that developed through the family system and worked outside the therapeutic relationship. Working within the therapeutic relationship, there was evidence of a decrease in anxiety, an increase in self‐regulation and a more positive self‐perception. Working outside the therapeutic relationship, the client demonstrated an increased ability to self‐soothe in the midst of challenging interactions with significant others and less dependence on the therapist for self‐regulation. Whilst the therapeutic relationship was effective in achieving self‐regulation in non‐challenging relationships, working outside the therapeutic relationship was effective in achieving self‐regulation within challenging relationships.
Part 2 of this bipartite article draws on the theoretical underpinnings of Gestalt Consulting—phenomenology, existentialism, holism, field theory, and systems thinking—discussed in Part 1 to show how they overlap to create an expanded perspective for Gestalt consultants. Building on the concepts of cocreation of the field, the article also explores how the field enables the occurrence of parallel processes such as projective and introjective identification. Further, the article suggests that the integrating dynamics of holism, field theory, and systems thinking can support an identity-creating process that becomes the dyadic dynamic between client and consultant. Finally, Part 2 highlights the Gestalt application of these concepts through numerous examples of how to be a “Gestalt” consultant, and how to intervene within organizations. It provides insights on unconscious and habitualized behavioral patterns that prevent possible (or even necessary) shifts from emerging and reiterates the importance of “presence” as a critical ingredient of emergent change and awareness when consulting from a Gestalt perspective.
This article highlights core theoretical underpinnings of Gestalt consulting—phenomenology/existentialism, holism, field theory, and systems thinking—and how they overlap to create an expanded perspective for Gestalt consultants. Consistent within all these fields of thought is the aspect of emergent change and awareness. The Gestalt application of these theories has led to unique approaches on how to be a Gestalt consultant and how to intervene within organizations, such that insights on unconscious and habitualized behavioral patterns that prevent necessary shifts are able to emerge.
The author is consistently surprised by the Gestalt community's openness to improvisation as he explores new ways to adapt classic terminology and presentation methods to his particular needs. He explores the Gestalt concepts that informed his work and follows their transition into imagery and tools that his management consulting clients grasp immediately and viscerally. He discovers that, although Gestalt teaching now includes a focus on work groups and organizations, the field still was using language best suited to individuals in therapeutic settings. The author works with individuals and groups in organizations' departments and in organizations, but thanks to the Gestalt community's encouragement and the inherent flexibility of the tools themselves, he has expanded their application, making them relevant in a corporate setting. This spirit of improvisation, he argues, is critical to the evolution of Gestalt practice.
This article supports the need for psychotherapy and psychiatry to overcome the fragmentation of scientific knowledge. The author focuses briefly on the evolving relationship between psychotherapy and society, providing a brief overview of today's clinical needs. She then proposes a new development in the clinical concept of awareness from the optics of the field: aesthetic relational knowledge as a clinical tool that emerges from the phenomenological, aesthetic, relational, and process-oriented approach that is the Gestalt method. Therapeutic competence, in other words, is empathic and resonates with the client in a cocreated field. A clinical example will demonstrate how the concept of aesthetic relational knowledge can be used in a Gestalt therapy setting.
The field perspective in Gestalt therapy remains a rich source of controversy and challenge in outlining and articulating a theory of practice. In teaching Gestalt therapy, particularly the field perspective, it is useful to find examples of the principles that direct and support practice, as well as enhance and expand theory. Latner (2008) presents the field as an inspiring, evocative idea, suggesting that when a term such as field perspective has a “connotative richness,” we can best define it by searching for examples that “speak to us” (p. 27). He offers as an illustration how he is inspired by Dogen, a Zen Buddhist teacher writing a thousand years ago, and how he intuitively understands a field universe through Dogen's work (p. 25). In similar fashion, William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and Martin Buber speak with a connotative richness of emergent creation and paradoxical agency, two principles of field theory recently described in the literature (O'Neill & Gaffney, 2008). This article is an experiment in reaching out for just such connotative richness–an intuitive understanding of emergent creation and paradoxical agency–to find an articulation of these principles in ways that speak to Gestalt practitioners.
It may be an opportune time in the evolution of Gestalt theory to address how Gestalt therapy and physics have developed the terms “field” and “field theory,” and the interrelationships between the two approaches. Gestalt therapist Malcolm Parlett, among others, has noted certain advances in physics that have moved beyond Maxwell's initial formulation of the electromagnetic field. These include the quantum field, the relativistic quantum field and, most recently, the work of Bohm and others on relativistic quantum fields. These advanced notions of field are beyond the original field theory speculations of Smuts, Lewin, Wertheimer, and some Gestalt therapy theorists. The possible implications for Gestalt therapy of this expanded perception of the field in physics are outlined below both theoretically and clinically.
In the founding text of Gestalt therapy (Perls, Hefferline, Goodman, 1951/1994), the concept of “contact” considers experience from a perspective centered on the individual rather than on the relationship. Today, we need a model that allows us to take into account the reciprocity of the exchange occurring between patient and therapist, all the while that it remains consistent with the epistemological assumptions of Gestalt therapy. In the innovative contributions of Gordon Wheeler and Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb, the author identifies the premises of a relational Gestalt approach which would permit a detailed analysis of how patient and therapist create together the experience of their meeting moment by moment.
This paper proposes a Chardanian theory of evolution as a larger field within which the field of Gestalt theory and practice can be situated. Complexification is seen as the dynamic core of evolution; it is described as a process leading to increasing intra-aggregate differentiation while maintaining cohesion. Connection sustains cohesion, thus allowing the evolutionary process to unfold. Examples of social, interpersonal, and personal complexification are provided. The resonance between an evolutionary perspective that emphasizes complexification and the evolutionary arc Gestalt has been following is discussed. The author closes by positing some of the clinical, philosophical, and spiritual implications inherent in aligning Gestalt within this larger perspective.
Gestalt therapy and Cooperative Inquiry (a method of action research) share significant roots: Martin Buber for one, and Kurt Lewin for another. They also share with Gestalt such categories as field theory, phenomenology, dialogue, and experimentation, among others. I write this paper partly as an invitation to Gestalt therapists to explore action methods such as cooperative inquiry, on the premise that when approached with intention the “between” can become the locus of a more relational spirituality. I propose that the principles of participatory or therapeutic democracy may be (as yet) underdeveloped in Gestalt practice and teaching, and tentatively suggest that Gestalt practitioners and trainees might “dip their toes” into collaborative waters as a useful training experience.
The diagnostic process in psychotherapy using the aesthetic evaluation is described in this article. Unlike the classical diagnostic process, which presents a result of comparing clinicians´ observations with a diagnostic system (DSM, ICD, etc.), the aesthetic evaluation is a pre-reflexive, embodied, and preverbal process. A Gestalt Therapy theoretical frame is used to introduce a concept of the aesthetic diagnostic process. During this process, the clinicians use their own here-and-now presence, which takes part in the co-creation of the shared relational field during the therapeutic session. A specific procedure of the aesthetic evaluation is introduced. The clinical work with depressed clients is presented to illustrate this perspective.
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