Τα θέματα των θεωρητικών παρουσιάσεων που θα αναπτύξει ο Gianni Francesetti είναι τα ακόλουθα:

• «The metamorphosis of pain. A phenomenological-gestalt perspective on psychopathology»

What is psychopathology? What is the relationship between psychopathology and pain? And with diagnosis? What are the characteristics of a phenomenological-gestalt psychopathology? What is psychopathological suffering? How does the therapist perceive this suffering in the session? And what happens to it in therapy?  In this lecture, I will try to address these questions by using a perspective based on Gestalt therapy theory and phenomenological tradition in psychopathology. Through this journey, I suggest a possible understanding of the transformations of pain in different forms of suffering and absences, i.e. in psychopathology. And, vice versa, we can conceptualize therapy as a pathway from psychopathological forms towards their transformations in pain and in presence. This exploration offers support in understanding human clinical suffering and its transformations in therapy.

Learning goals:

1. To understand the relationship between traumatic experiences and psychopathology
2. To understand the relationship between psychopathology and therapeutic processes

• «To share or not to share? The process of change in therapy from a field theory perspective»

The impact of a field perspective in psychopathology, diagnosis and psychotherapy can be revolutionary in its consequences, depending on how the therapist approaches the session and conducts therapy.  In particular, I will focus on how field theory can shed new light on the processes of change in psychotherapy and on the paradoxical theory of change.  
The field perspective does not offer a technique that can be reproduced as behaviour, but proposes an approach to therapy to help steer the therapeutic act as it emerges in the specific situation. So the field perspective is not a theory of a technique, but a theory of phronesis. The phronetic process is a support for therapists in order to orient themselves in the very crucial moment of the art of therapy: the moment when they feel a resonance and they have to choose if, when and how to share it with the client.

Learning goals:

1. To know the theory of change in different paradigms (personal, dialogical, field theory)
2. To understand the risks and possibilities of sharing the therapist’s feelings in therapy
3. To know what makes the difference in the process of sharing in order to support the process of change in therapy

Gianni Francesetti: Psychiatrist, Gestalt therapist, Adjunt Professor of Phenomenological and Existential Approach, Dep. of Psychology, University of Torino (Italy), international trainer and supervisor, he has published widely on psychotherapy and psychopathology, exploring original approaches to understanding clinical suffering from a phenomenological and Gestalt therapy viewpoint and proposing new models for framing particular clinical disorders (including experiences of panic, depression, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder). He is President of Poiesis. Gestalt Therapy Centre of Torino and of the IPsiG - International Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Psychopathology. He is Past President of the EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy), of the SIPG (Italian Society for Gestalt therapy), of the FIAP (Italian Federation of Psychotherapy Associations), member of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT), the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP), and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR).

Τα θέματα των θεωρητικών παρουσιάσεων που θα αναπτύξει ο Armin Baier είναι τα ακόλουθα:

• “What My Clients Taught Me About Relational Gestalt Therapy”

The world of Gestalt Therapy has undergone significant shifts in focus and approach.  The theory and practice of Gestalt Therapy are often now discussed as having a “classic” period followed by an expansion to a deeper development of the relational practice. This very personal lecture will explore one therapist’s experience of this sea change over the course of 40 years, with specific case examples.  In particular, one 10-year therapeutic encounter with a patient who reshaped this therapist’s thinking about the nature of the relational ground of therapy will be described and examined.  Reference will be made especially to Martin Buber’s instruction to the psychotherapist in his essay “Healing Through Meeting,” as well as the theoretical writings of Yontef, Jacobs, Francesetti and others.

Learning Goals

1. Participants are able to identify a personal example of the emergence of therapist’s presence as an essential component of a relational Gestalt Therapy model.
2. Participants are able to define therapist’s presence in terms of Martin Buber’s experiential description of the shift from an expert stance to one of empathic immediacy.
3. Participants are able to identify the role of therapist’s “otherness,” in Lynne Jacobs terms, as a central aspect of promoting self-development of the patient.

• “Sexual Differences: Shame and Recovery”

In the past 50 years, our world has gradually and with much struggle begun to make room for sexual differences in human beings.  Sexual identity, sexual orientation and varieties of conventional and unconventional sexual expression are now a vibrant part of our social and cultural discourses.  Our sexual differences include both interpersonal expressions and individual impulses and fantasies.  While social and political accommodation of sexual differences is becoming more common in some places, the experiences of individuals can often be characterized by opposition, conflict and rejection. 

Among the most persistent effects of this experience is an ongoing legacy of shame.   The relational approach to contemporary Gestalt Therapy has placed special emphasis on shame, notably in the writings of Gestalt therapists Gary Yontef, Gordon Wheeler, Jean-Marie Robine and Lynne Jacobs.  This presentation will identify the causes and consequences of shame experienced by individuals with sexual differences, how that shame experience shows up in the therapeutic setting in gross and subtle ways, and the possibilities for support and healing through an existential and relational Gestalt therapeutic treatment.  Several case examples will illustrate the complexities of working with sexual differences to enable a transition beyond shame.

Learning Goals

1. Participants are able to identify the range of behaviors that comprise sexual behavior differences in human beings.
2. Participants are able to describe the history of growing awareness of sexual behavior differences by mental health providers and how this has impacted social and cultural perspectives.
3. Participants are able to describe how shame develops and plays a role in the experience of persons with sexually different behaviors.
4. Participants are able to identify 4 psychotherapeutic interventions to address shame in the context of sexual differences and to facilitate healing and growth.

Armin Baier, LCSW, JD, is a member of the core faculty of the Pacific Gestalt Institute and he has a private psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles specializing in relational gestalt therapy, trauma, addiction.  He provides clinical consultation at the Venice Family Clinic, teaches at the Columbia University School of Social Work MSW program online campus, and serves on the board of directors of the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.  As a former Clinical Director of the Parallax Center addiction treatment program in New York for over 20 years, Armin’s clinical experience, teaching and published writings include research, method and policy in the field of addiction treatment.