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The purpose of this study is to describe the empty chair technique in gestalt therapy regarding: 1) the successful application of the empty chair technique, 2) the goal and setting of the empty chair technique, 3) the procedure and duration of empty chair technique therapy, 4) suggestions and recommendations about the empty chair technique. The research method of applying the empty chair technique in gestalt therapy was library research. The 14 journals would be grouped and summarized into a table into 4 focus discussions. The main focus in Gestalt counseling is to help individuals through their transition from a state that is always assisted by the environment to a state of self-sufficiency (self-support).

Dada la pujanza con que las terapias del enfoque contextual se presentan en el panorama psicoterapéutico actual, y la incorporación de elementos de la terapia humanista como algo natural en el proceso de surgimiento y desarrollo de este enfoque (Hayes, 2012), el objetivo de este artículo es identificar y desarrollar los ingredientes específicos que denotan una convergencia entre la Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso y la Terapia Gestalt, las cuales se constituyen en exponentes significativos del enfoque contextual y humanista, respectivamente. En tanto que la Terapia de Aceptación y Compromiso es una Terapia Contextual que se apoya en la Teoría de los Marcos Relacionales, la Terapia Gestalt fue elaborada por Fritz Perls, quien aglutinó en este enfoque el conocimiento existente en su época y dio lugar a una terapia con gran repercusión en la práctica clínica. En este artículo se presentan los fundamentos teóricos de ambos enfoques y se identifican una serie de principios teóricos y prácticos en los que estos coinciden a pesar de haber seguido recorridos diferentes para llegar a ellos. Así, se analizan elementos comunes como la evitación experiencial en la explicación de los problemas psicológicos, y se identifica un conjunto de prácticas clínicas compartidas que evidencian una convergencia entre ambos enfoques. Se realiza, por último, un análisis crítico de las repercusiones de esta convergencia en la investigación futura sobre los procesos responsables de la eficacia en psicoterapia.

Cowie, Foreword. Part I: Frameworks and Theoretical Integrations. O'Leary, The Need for Integration. O'Leary, Murphy, A Framework for Integrative Psychotherapy. O'Leary, Person Centred Gestalt Therapy. Wahlstrom, The Narrative Metaphor and the Quest for Integration in Psychotherapy. O'Leary, Barry, Gestalt Reminiscence Therapy. Hawkins, Hypnoanalysis: An Integration of Clinical Hypnosis and Psychodynamic Therapy. Nestoros, Integrative Psychotherapy of Schizophrenic Symptoms: Recent Developments. Collard, Multimodal Stress Therapy: An Integrative Approach. Part II: Professional and Clinical Integrations and Special Populations. Nestoros, Zgantzouri, Polemikos, The Integrative Collaboration of a Psychologist with a Psychiatrist. Polemikos, Papaeliou, Some Practical Issues in Working Integratively with Children and Parents. Gongora, Psychosocial Interventions in Families with an Ill Member: Possibilities and Experiences. Kalaitzaki, Nestoros, Ameliorating Interrelating Within Families of Psychotic Persons: An Integrative Approach. O'Leary, Breathing and Awareness: The Integrating Mechanisms of Cognitive-Behavioural Gestalt Therapy in Working with Cardiac Patients. O'Leary, Sheedy, Integrating the Personal and Professional Development of Therapists. Part III: Issues for Professional Consideration. Harris, Standard, Thoresen, Integrating Spiritual and Religious Factors into Psychological Treatment: Why and How. Swain, Integration of Ethics and Practice. O'Leary, Murphy, Conclusion: Psychotherapy Integration: A Journey in Small Steps.

Background and Objectives: According to medical literature, lung cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality among women, which is more prevalent in Iran and leads to women’s function decline in the family. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of group counseling by Gestalt Therapy and Positive Psychology approach on psychological well-being in woman with lung cancer and comparing their results with each other. Methods: The present study is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population was selected using random and convenience sampling from the Oncology ward of Valiasr Hospital in Qom city. In this research, the samples were divided into two groups of experimental and control, which 10 subjects were considered for each of the intervention and control groups, so that, in total, the sample size was calculated to be 30 subjects. According to the principles of psychotherapy, the protocols of Positive Psychology and Gestalt Therapy were implemented and a psychological well-being questionnaire was used to assess the effect of these two approaches. Data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis model. Results: The mean age of the samples was 41.50±12.2 years. There was also a difference between the effectiveness of group counseling with Gestalt therapy and positive psychology on psychological well-being in women with lung cancer (p=0.001.( Overall, by controlling the pre-test effect, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of the "psychological well-being" variable. Among the 6 variables, significant difference was observed between the groups only in 4 variables of self-acceptance (p=0.004), positive relationship with others (p=0.002), purposeful living (p=0.0021), and personal growth (p= 0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of "psychological well-being" by controlling for the pre-test effect. Moreover, positive psychotherapy has a high and significant effectiveness and Gestalt therapy has low and insignificant effectiveness. Therefore, the effectiveness of positive psychotherapy is higher than Gestalt therapy.

Dialogue and interpersonal connections have proved essential for the development of the Gestalt approach. Conferences, large and small, have served as reliable venues for these interactions to occur. The piece begins with a discussion of the structure, development, and evolution of Gestalt conferences. It goes on to highlight the recent Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Conference convened in Toronto in 2018, in which the topic of microaggression emerged and proved a compelling theme. Particular attention is paid to small conferences, which feature a single topic.

Trotz der nachgewiesenen Wirksamkeit von Kognitiver Verhaltenstherapie (KVT) bei generalisierten Angststorungen sprechen 33 % der PatientInnen nicht auf die Therapie an und 50 % brechen diese ab. Gestalttherapie wird als wirksame Alternative bezeichnet, aber es gibt nur wenige empirische Belege fur ihre Wirksamkeit bei Angststorungen. Das experimentelle Einzelfall-Design mit einer Zeitreihenanalyse wurde als praxisorientierte Wirksamkeitsstudie angewendet. Darin werden Daten von zehn Klientinnen mit einer diagnostizierten Angststorung vorgestellt, die die Behauptung stutzen, dass Gestalttherapie eine nutzliche Behandlung fur diese Indikation sein kann. Die detaillierte Analyse eines Falls veranschaulicht die Veranderung der Scores fur Symptome und Wohlbefinden, und illustriert damit Wendepunkte im Verlauf der Therapie. Das Paper behandelt die Anwendung dieser Methodologie zur Schaffung eines praxisorientierten Forschungsnetzwerks.

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 not-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 not-GT based sessions (Study 3): raters scored GT sessions significantly higher than not-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.

Gestalt therapy (GT) is a humanistic clinical approach. The research concerning the efficacy of this model represents a controversial and quite poorly investigated topic within the general field of psychotherapy effectiveness. An up-to-date review of the studies concerning GT efficacy is currently lacking. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of all available studies in the past twelve years aiming to give an overview of the most important findings of empirical researches published in international peer review journals in English and Italian languages. A total of 11 studies were included in this review. GT intervention was shown to especially improve conduct in the group therapy setting—not only for clinical disorders, but also related to other social issues. Findings allow suggesting certain reflections concerning future directions in GT research.

This chapter will briefly introduce further methods that Moreno created related to psychodrama, as well as other approaches similar to psychodrama but developed by others. Social microscopy and sociodrama will be outlined pertaining to Moreno’s additional dramatic approaches. Axiodrama, monodrama, autodrama, ethnodrama, bibliodrama, and teledrama each will be introduced as other dramatic approaches based on psychodrama. Drama therapy, gestalt therapy, Playback Theater, Theater of the Oppressed, Internal Family SystemsTherapy, Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy, and family/systemic constellations will each be briefly presented with their similarities and differences to psychodrama.

This report presents the special characteristics of the psychotherapy process with patients who are grieving the loss of a loved one Because of the special background circumstances in which these losses have occurred-the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the 3 months lockdown because of it-I have called these griefs suspended In the article I offer the social background circumstances, the personal circumstances of the loss, and the therapeutic intervention with the special characteristics for both the therapist and the therapeutic setting Finally, I offer some specific tools for working with this type of grief All these considerations are made from the approach of Gestalt therapy as well as with the working model proposed by Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross This is coupled with my experience of more than 20 years in psychotherapeutic work with people who are living a grieving process (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Gestalt therapy is subsumed with other approaches (client-centered therapy, body psychotherapy, psychodrama, transactional analysis and existential analysis) under the term humanistic psychotherapy. They share the assumption that people have a fundamental ability to be conscious, to introspect and reflect,that people have a potential freedom of perception and action, and an attitude of responsible relating to others and to life in society. Self-realization and personal growth are possible if the existing potential is not blocked by restrictive expectations and norms and if this personal growth is supported by benevolent resource-oriented others.

This chapter begins with a brief explanation of Gestalt therapy, its central conceptualization of the Contacting Cycle, and concludes with the results of the empirical effectiveness study of somatically focused psychotherapy. In Gestalt psychotherapy sessions, radical attention is given to the client's somatic experience and explores embodied perception while increasing embodied awareness in order to locate areas of psychological tension. A possible explanation could be that given the focus of increasing present awareness in Gestalt treatment, clients are bringing into their conscious experiencing their acontextual contacting types thus increasing awareness of how often these resistances happen. Enhancing body awareness has been described as a key mechanism of action for somatically oriented therapeutic approaches.

There is consensus among scientists in considering Panic Attack (PA) as an exaggerated fear response triggered by intense activation of the amygdala and related Fear brain network. Current guidelines for treatment (e.g. National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE, 2011), that are based on this view, do not achieve satisfactory results: one-third of all treated patients report persistent PAs and other Panic Disorder (PD) symptoms, and several meta-analyses report the high likelihood of relapse. Here we review findings from Affective Neuroscience and clinical insights from a phenomenological-Gestalt perspective, putting into question the link between PD and activation of the Fear brain network. We propose an alternative hypothesis about PD etiology: PD is mainly connected to the Panic system, that is activated in situations of separation from affective support and overexposure to the environment. In our view, PA can be understood as an acute attack of solitude which is not adequately recognized by the patient due to the intervention of a dissociative component that makes it impossible to integrate all neuro-physiological responses activated by the Panic/Separation brain system within a coherent emotional feeling. This perspective can explain many evidences that otherwise remain isolated elements without a comprehensive frame: i.e., the association with agoraphobia, the onset of PD during adolescence and young adult life, the need to be accompanied, the connection with air hunger and other respiratory anomalies, the efficacy of antidepressants and the lack of activation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axe. We discuss future steps to test this hypothesis and the consequences for psychotherapeutic treatment.

Since the discovery of “countertransference”, it was recognized that the therapist’s personality plays an important role in determining the course of psychotherapy. However, systematic empirical works on this topic have been sparse compared to the enormous amount of theoretical literature. Therefore, in the following pilot study, the emotional profile of psychotherapists was investigated using the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS), a quantitative measure of the basic emotional foundations of human personality based on Jaak Panksepp’s neuro-ethological studies. More specifically, we submitted the ANPS to a population of Gestalt-therapists to ascertain if they share a characteristic emotional profile (1) and if the emotional traits of personality are related to specific intersubjective competences (2). Our results show that, compared with normal population, the personality of therapists is characterized by higher expression of PLAYFULNESS/joy, CARE/nurturance and Spirituality, as well as a significant decrease in the expression of the RAGE/anger disposition. Such emotional traits, that are not influenced by the experience of training, correlate with important relational skills such as empathy, reflective functioning and interoceptive awareness. Therefore, unlearned emotional dispositions have high relevance in the development of the therapist’s sensitivity to the phenomenological intersubjective field, a competence recently called “Aesthetic Relational Knowledge” in a contemporary Gestalt-approach. Our findings may have implications for training therapists and optimizing treatment outcomes.

Mourning and depressive experience are distinguished to highlight the core of the suffering of people in depression. In the mourning experience a specific person or situation becomes unreachable and therein lies the loss suffered. The experience of melancholic depression differs: what is lost is that which anchors the subject to the fabric which connects him/her to the world. A radically relational approach to depression where the client and therapist are seen as depressing here and now in the therapy’s situation is introduced.

This article presents an approach to obsessive-compulsive disorder based on the Gestalt therapy theory, Gestalt psychology and psychiatric phenomenology. After establishing a diagnostic framework, the experiences of patients are explored, starting from the experience of space and time, of the relationship between details and the whole, of boundaries, and of materiality. In the light of the Gestalt theory of perception, the obsessive-compulsive symptom is framed as a creative adjustment protecting the patient from more severe suffering in a situation in which the bodily sensorial ground is permeated with terror. After describing how the obsessive-compulsive field is aesthetically actualized in therapy, a number of issues are highlighted that can help therapists in their journey with the sufferers.

This article presents a tool useful in both therapeutic and educational settings: the Gestalt clinical assessment form. In the phenomenological, aesthetic and field perspective particular to the Gestalt therapy approach, the clinical assessment form offers guidelines that allow the summing up of the patient’s history in order to describe the ground of the experience actualised in the therapeutic setting and to consider the figure of contact, which is co-created in the patient-therapist relation. A brief introduction summarises the basic theoretical principles of Gestalt therapy underlying the form. As an example, the clinical assessment form is illustrated through a case report.

Presence has become a focus of much recent writing in the field of psychotherapy, and in Gestalt therapy in particular. But much of the writing is vague regarding exactly to what “presence” refers. It is the author's impression that there is confusion between two different experiences: presentness and presence; the difference between these experiences will be described in this short piece.

There are a thousand and one ways of preparing to be a parent. Specific support is offered to pregnant women or the couple in order to take the time to prepare for this personal transformation. Haptonomy, sophrology, shiatsu and massage, acupuncture or gestalt therapy are some of the methods helping parents to prepare to welcome their future child with peace of mind.

This article reports on the information gathering and synthesis phase of an intervention research process. The aim was to obtain the views of professionals working in the field of child sexual abuse (CSA) in South Africa on family play therapy. This article outlines the findings based on data gathered from focus groups with professionals. Data were analysed and four themes emerged. The first theme centred on the importance of moving increasingly to systemic approaches in the context of CSA. Theme 2 outlined the views of professionals on inadequate knowledge and skills to engage in family play therapy. The third theme expanded on a family play therapy framework with suggestions that gestalt therapy theory can be valuable. Theme 4 pointed to a structured an individualised approach with a helping process where there is a balance between process goals and problem goals.

The purpose of this article is to analyze, from the contribution of different authors, the importance of the bond or therapeutic alliance, in the practice of Social Work and Gestalt Therapy. It is deepened, in the different definitions of the term and in the theory of attachment of Bowlby, highlighting the role of Psychotherapy and Social Work in the repair and healing of the first bonds. It investigates the relevance of the therapeutic bond in the success of the intervention and examines the common elements present in the help relationship, which promotes Social Work and the dialogue relationship, provided by Gestalt Therapy. It is reviewed how these elements favor the creation of an adequate therapeutic bond, which facilitates the process of realization and constitute a factor of motivation to change. El propósito de este artículo es analizar, desde la aportación de diferentes autores, la importancia del vínculo o alianza terapéutica, en la práctica del Trabajo Social y la Terapia Gestalt. Se profundiza en las diferentes definiciones del término y en la teoría de apego de Bowlby, resaltando el papel de la Psicoterapia y el Trabajo Social en la reparación y sanación de los primeros vínculos. Se investiga la relevancia del vínculo terapéutico en el éxito de la intervención y se examinan los elementos comunes presentes en la relación de ayuda, que promueve el Trabajo Social y la relación dialogal, que aporta la Terapia Gestalt. Se revisa como dichos elementos favorecen la creación de un adecuado vínculo terapéutico, que facilita el proceso de darse cuenta y constituyen un factor de motivación al cambio.

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 phenomenology 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 e-motion. 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.

This article will provide an examination of Gestalt psychotherapy and its application to adult cancer patients. Gestalt psychotherapy can be utilized as a psychosocial intervention targeted to meet the needs of oncology patients. The following article will examine Gestalt therapy theory and review basic principles to utilize in clinical practice. The authors will highlight the populations to which Gestalt has been applied, and additional case vignettes will demonstrate concrete ways to incorporate this theory into practice with oncology patients.

Aim The aim of the present paper is to open the discourse regarding the unmet needs of specific patients, especially those with substance use disorder and/or personality disorder where ‘multimorbidities’, and/or ‘overdiagnosis’ and/or ‘diagnosis overlap’ are frequent. An additional aim is to review the main therapeutic purpose and concepts of Gestalt therapy which might be appropriate in the treatment of these patients often characterized by their difficulties in being aware and in contact in the ‘here and now’. Methods I first start with an overview of Gestalt therapy concepts. Then, I illustrate Gestalt's ‘here and now’ and awareness concepts applied during 18 sessions with an inpatient diagnosed with substance use and bipolar disorders. In addition, the patient had to face an open criminal charge, was regarded as having an antisocial personality disorder and argued suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Results After this two-month therapy period, the patient entered for the first time a daily rehabilitation program in the community, where he was doing well (this after a few prior hospitalizations). The awareness development in the ‘here and now’ through which different contact styles and cycles of experiences are experienced is a process that allowed the patient to start experiencing contact with himself, his true needs and his environment. This contributed to his well-being improvement, led and supported his rehabilitation and reinsertion within the society and decrease his relapses, either with drugs or criminal activities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message People with substance use disorder (where ‘multimorbidities’, ‘overdiagnosis’ or ‘diagnosis overlap’ are frequent), people with personality disorder(s) or people who have difficulties in defining what really disturbs them are the same people who could benefit of GT encouraging awareness and contact development in the ‘here and now’. Gestalt therapy should not be regarded as a practitioner's toolbox but as a therapeutic process allowing awareness and I-boundaries development in the ‘here and now’ through authentic and genuine relationships. The therapist's awareness and contact with themselves and their environment are reflected in the therapist's relaxed but awake and aware state of mind as well as their wise, spontaneous and mindful approach.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)1. IntroductionThe following text is an overview study which defines the basic phenomena and effective factors of Gestalt drama and outlines some of the researches carried out in this area by the author during recent years. Gestalt drama is the name of a specific psychotherapeutic approach applied by the author in his practice, which combines Gestalt therapy with expressive approaches (especially with dramatherapy, theatrotherapy and fairytale-therapy). This approach can be used not only for individuals with mental illness (possibly neurosis) but also in the self-development of people with psychosocial hazards or disruptions. Consequently, the author often works with children and adolescents with behavioural problems, adults with burnout, with homeless people, etc. (Cf. Ruzicka, 2013.) Dramatherapy consists in the application of theatrical means in therapeutic intervention. It is a therapeutic-formative discipline involving mainly work in groups and the theatrical means are used to influence group dynamics; it is focused rather symptomatically. (Cf. Valenta, 2001 and Muller, 2014.) Theatrotherapy can be defined as an expressive therapeutic-formative approach consisting in the overall preparation of the theatrical form and its subsequent presentation to the audience with a therapeutic-formative goal, whose participants are usually individuals with special needs. (Polinek in Muller, 2014.) Fairytale-therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach falling into expressive therapies which use fairytale imagery to achieve therapeutic targets. (Polinek in Muller, 2014) Gestalt therapy is a dialogical method that is based on the phenomenological approach and awareness. In dialogue with the client, the therapist distinguishes perception, feeling and acting from mere interpretation. The basic objective is to make the client aware of what he/she does, how he/she does it and how it could be changed. In Gestalt therapy, we focus rather on the process (What is happening?) than on the content and interpretation (Why is this happening?). (Cf. Roubal, 2010, Yountef, 2009, Mackewn, 2004.)2. Effective principles of Gestalt dramaWhile the expressive-formative approaches (dramatherapy, theatrotherapy and fairytale-therapy) provide very effective and safe methods and techniques for universal work with any client, the Gestalt psychotherapy offers models and constructs of how to understand the therapeutic process, how to approach a client or group. When applying all these approaches, we find an amount of common effective principles. The author believes that the definition and subsequent application of these principles can significantly streamline the therapeutic (or self-development) process.Holistic approachIt means that the whole being is perceived and influenced at once (when accepting his/her mental, physical, rational, social and spiritual dimensions). Dramatic and literary arts are synthetic (comprised of many different interconnecting and influencing components - dance, visual arts, music, drama, creative writing ... but also a contact with the audience, the stress before the premiere, etc.); Gestalt drama thus may affect the human subject from different angles, in different ways, it can act simultaneously in various areas (Polinek in Hutyrova, 2014). The basic thesis of Gestalt therapy is also a holistic approach. F. Perls (1996, p. 13), the founder of Gestalt therapy, says: "First and foremost, we have to take into account that the body always works as a whole. We do not have liver or heart. We are the liver and heart and brain, etc. ... We are not simply the sum of individual parts but a coordinated whole ..."Projections, metaphor - a safe distanceAlready Aristotle, in his Poetics, describes some ability of drama to cleanse the viewer (catharsis) by arousing grief (eleos) and horror (phobos) (Gronemeyer, 2004); therefore, he also presents a kind of therapeutic effect of the theatre. …

The field of Gestalt therapy has long had a troubled relationship with mainstream psychotherapy. The decades long assent of cognitive-behavioral and other, more objectively oriented therapies moved Gestalt even further from common acceptance as a valid alternative for treatment. Couple’s therapy, in particular, has not commonly been seen as a natural “fit” for Gestalt practice. The author’s view is that the recent rise of integrated therapy and the need for Evidence-Based Treatment separate from issues of allegiance to a particular school of therapy has created a new opportunity to reconsider Gestalt therapy theory and practice in couple’s work. It is particularly relevant for work with couples in which one or both have been traumatized. Recent developments in Gestalt practice offers a fresh approach for such work, especially in regard to its focus on resolving underlying shame and the need for the couple to develop mutual acceptance at a deep level. Both these therapeutic tasks are vital in work with traumatized clients. These Gestalt tasks can easily be integrated with other, more mainstream models of working with trauma and working couples. An example of this integrated approach is offered to explore the ramifications of the theoretical assertion.

Gestalt therapy was developed and initially practiced in a particular social and political context. Sixty-five years later, that context has changed in considerable ways. In this article, a case will be made that Gestalt therapy must continue to make adjustments and adaptations to be relevant and inclusive in an increasingly diverse world. Concepts from the field of Intercultural Communication will be introduced and integrated with paralleled concepts form Gestalt therapy.

Background/Aim. In (counter)transference relationship therapist’s interpersonal style, implying the perceived relation of therapist to a client (patient) in terms of control, autonomy, care and positive feedback, has been shown to be important. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between therapist’s interpersonal style and clients’ personality self-reports. Within therapist’s interpersonal style, preliminary validation of the Therapist’s Interpersonal Style Scale has been conducted, which included double translation method, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, as well as the reliability tests of the derived components. Methods. This research was conducted on a group of 206 clients, attending one of the four psychotherapy modalities: psychoanalysis, gestalt therapy, cognitive-behavioral and systemic family therapy. Beside Therapist’s Interpersonal Style Scale, Big Five Questionnaire and Therapy Benefit Scale were administered, showing good internal consistency. Results. Principal component analysis of therapist’s interpersonal style singled out two components Supportive Autonomy and Ignoring Control, explaining 42% of variance. Two-factor model of the therapist’s styles was better fitted in confirmatory factor analysis than the original 4-factor model. Structural model showing indirect and direct effects of therapist’s interpersonal styles on selfreports in clients indicates good fitness (χ2(12) = 8.932, p = 0.709; goodness-of-fit index = 0.989), with Ignoring Control having direct effect on Stability, Supportive Autonomy on Therapy Benefit, and Therapy Benefit on Plasticity. Conclusion. The results of this study indicate the importance of further research on therapist’s interpersonal style, as well as further validation of the instrument that measures this construct. Besides, a client’s perception that the therapy is being helpful could instigate more explorative and approach-oriented behavior, what indirectly might contribute to a client’s stability.

A rapid analysis of the scientific and clinical literature over the last twenty years shows that innovative aspects of Gestalt therapy have been widely applied. Gestalt therapy has made important contributions to clinical thinking and practice. The major contribution of Gestalt is the holistic perspective, the idea that the interrelations between objects and persons are such that no situation can be reduced to the simple sum of its parts. For Yontef, psychoanalysis, in recent developments, has clearly integrated many elements borrowed from humanistic psychology and Gestalt therapy, including recognition of the importance of the real relationship. Additionally, many researchers and clinicians have applied Gestalt therapy to a diverse set of clinical syndromes such as eating disorders, sexual disorders, post-traumatic stress, speech disorders, and alcoholism. Gestalt therapy was created by psychoanalysts just after the Second World War, as a reaction to the rigidity of classical psychoanalysis.