Essentials of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy

Doris Beneder

Mag.a rer.nat., born in 1962. Clinical & Health Psychologist, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor; member of the teaching faculty of the Austrian Association for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (ÖAGP). Member of the psychotherapy advisory council of the Austrian Federal Min-istry for Health. Co-editor of Psychotherapie Forum – the journal of the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP). Her work focuses on psychotherapeutic diagnostics and group psychotherapy.

Angeiika Böhm

PhD, works as a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor as well as a member of the teaching faculty of the Austrian Association of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (ÖAGP). She holds degrees in Psychotherapy Science and in Education and is a member of the Board of Directors of the GTA (International multidisciplinary Society of Gestalt Theory and its Applications). Furthermore, she is co-editor of the journal for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy “Phänomenal – Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie”.

Thomas Fuchs

PhD, is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist working in private practice in Bonn, Germany. He is educated and trained in Psychodynamic Therapy and Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, in whose further development he has played a significant role since many years. While working at the psychological department of the university in Bonn he developed and published a therapy outcome/process questionnaire (Bonner Fragebogen für Therapie und Beratung). His psychotherapy focus is on eating disorders, which is as well his main current research interest. His publications are foremost on the topic of eating disorders, comparing Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy / psychoanalysis and psychotherapy research, and on the working alliance in psychotherapy and clinical supervision. He is a longstanding member of the Board of Directors of the international multidisciplinary „Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications“ (GTA). He is associated to the teaching faculty of the Austrian Association of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (ÖAGP) and associate editor of the psychotherapy journal „Phänomenal – Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie“.

Bernadette Lindorfer

Mag.a phil, born in 1965. Clinical & Health Psychologist, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor; member of the teaching faculty of the Austrian Association for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (ÖAGP). Member of the ethics-committee of the psychotherapy advisory council of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Health. Co-editor of „Phänomenal – Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie“.

Edward S. Ragsdale

Ph.D., born in 1948, is a psychotherapist in New York City. He studied Gestalt theory under Mary Henle at the New School for Social Research. He has published articles exploring Gestalt theory’s relation to both depth psychology and Mahayana Buddhism. He is at work on a book exploring moral polarization as an organizing principle of psyches and societies, whose further development may require reconciliation of those dualistically opposing part-contexts into a more integrated and self-aware whole.

Gerhard Stemberger

born 1947, Dr.phil., lives in Vienna and Berlin. He is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor as well as a member of the teaching faculty for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy of the ÖAGP. His work focuses on the history and theory of the clinical application of Gestalt theory, in particular the theoretical foundation of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy. He is the former president of the Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applica-tions (GTA), long-time editor of the journal Gestalt Theory and co-publisher of Phänomenal – Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie (Journal for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy). He is also the editor and co-author of the books Psychische Störungen im Ich-Welt-Verhältnis (Mental Disorders in the I-World Relationship; 2002), Giuseppe Galli: Der Mensch als Mit-Mensch (Man as fellow-human; 2017), Paul Tholey: Gestalttheorie von Sport, Klartraum und Bewusstsein (Gestalt theory of Sports, Lucid Dreaming and Conscious-ness; 2018). and (with Marianne Soff) Wolfgang Metzger, Schöpferische Freiheit - Gestaltheorie des Lebendigen (Creative Freedom - Gestalt Theory of the Living).

Katharina Sternek

born in 1962, is a Gestalt-theoretical psychotherapist and clinical supervisor in Vienna. She is a member of the teaching faculty of the ÖAGP (Austrian Association of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy) and a member of the advisory board of GTA (International Society of Gestalt Theory and its Applications). Furthermore, she is a member of the ethics-committee of the psychotherapy advisory council of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Health. She is co-editor of „Phänomenal – Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie“. Publications in the field of epistemology in psychotherapy, trauma therapy and related clinical topics.

Elena Trombini

born 1962, is a Full Professor of Dynamic Psychology at the Department of Psychology of the University of Bologna, where she directs the Psychological Consultation Service for children and parents and the Research Lab for the study of Developmental Psychopathology and Psychotherapy. She teaches Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology in the undergraduate programs of Medicine and Psychology and Education, and in postgraduate programs as well. She is a psychotherapist and a member of the Italian Psychological Association for the division of clinical and dynamic psychology. Her clinical and research activities revolve around clinical child (prematurity, eating and evacuative behavioral disorders), and adult (obesity, psychological distress and emotional intelligence, parenting) psychology with a main focus on the development of psychodiagnostic methods and psychotherapeutic intervention. She is the author of several papers published on international peer-reviewed journals and has a number of national and international research collaborations.

Andrzej Zuczkowski

born 1946, is full professor in General Psychology at the University of Macerata (Italy), Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, where he teaches Cognitive Psychology. He is Direc-tor of the Research Centre for Psychology of Communication. He was formed in Gestalt psychology and experimental phenomenology, in linguis-tics and in Transactional Analysis psychotherapy. His main scientific and research interests concern the semantic interpretation of texts, the pragmatics of dialogues (professional and non-professional), the relationship between language and phenomenal reality. With regard to the third topic, he has been studying the epistemic and evidential aspects in written and spoken corpora.

Giancarlo Trombini

born 1934, is an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psy-chology and a Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Psy-chosomatic Disorders at the University of Bologna. He is also a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association. In 1975, he was the Chair of General Psychology at the University of Padova, and in 1977, he was the first Italian Chair of Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Bologna. He has been working for more than 30 years on psychosomatic disorders in adults and children, and he designed new psychotherapeutic methods for children (Focal Play-Therapy and Drawn Stories).