- Gestalt psychotherapist, trainer and writer.edit
The ‘empty chair’ experiment has had mixed fortunes in Gestalt Therapy. Once it was a central method, with Fritz Perls naming it as one of his essentials, along with a ‘hot seat’ and tissues. It was so prevalent that it got taken as... more
The ‘empty chair’ experiment has had mixed fortunes in Gestalt Therapy. Once it was a central method, with Fritz Perls naming it as one of his essentials, along with a ‘hot seat’ and tissues. It was so prevalent that it got taken as defining the approach, and taught in that way on counselling courses.
While the technique has remained meaningful for many Gestaltists, it has fallen into disfavour with most of the training schools I have come across. I think this is for two reasons: firstly, that it connects with a certain paradigm of technique-based Gestalt work, often associated with Fritz Perls’ work in California, that many are trying to distance Gestalt Therapy from; secondly, that the paradigm has shifted back from ‘working on the client’ to a more relational style of work, and two-chair work, and indeed any formal experiments, are not seen as part of that but of a kind of intrapsychic tinkering with the client’s mind. Two-chair work is also linked with that simplified version of Gestalt work that was so common in the past. I remember myself being taught to tell clients to put their mothers on a cushion and hit it with a tennis racquet!
In this paper, I want to describe why and how I continue to use the empty chair at times, how I understand it in relational terms, and, more generally, how experiments can be integrated with relational dialogue.
While the technique has remained meaningful for many Gestaltists, it has fallen into disfavour with most of the training schools I have come across. I think this is for two reasons: firstly, that it connects with a certain paradigm of technique-based Gestalt work, often associated with Fritz Perls’ work in California, that many are trying to distance Gestalt Therapy from; secondly, that the paradigm has shifted back from ‘working on the client’ to a more relational style of work, and two-chair work, and indeed any formal experiments, are not seen as part of that but of a kind of intrapsychic tinkering with the client’s mind. Two-chair work is also linked with that simplified version of Gestalt work that was so common in the past. I remember myself being taught to tell clients to put their mothers on a cushion and hit it with a tennis racquet!
In this paper, I want to describe why and how I continue to use the empty chair at times, how I understand it in relational terms, and, more generally, how experiments can be integrated with relational dialogue.
Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
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": In this paper, I explore the requirements of a Gestalt theory of transference. These need to be consistent with Gestalt therapy’s basis in field theory, phenomenology, and a present-centred understanding of memory. I distinguish... more
": In this paper, I explore the requirements of a Gestalt theory of transference. These need to be consistent with Gestalt therapy’s basis in field theory, phenomenology, and a present-centred understanding of memory. I distinguish between two aspects of transference: defensive and expressive, and the differences in work with each. I propose a field-related understanding of projective identification. Key words: transference, co-creation, field theory, phenomenology, present moment, defensive and expressive transference, projective identification."
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": In this paper I explore the world of the hikikomori, people who fail to individuate from their attachment to home and parents, from a Gestalt perspective. I outline how the work with these clients contains a number of traps for... more
": In this paper I explore the world of the hikikomori, people who fail to individuate from their attachment to home and parents, from a Gestalt perspective. I outline how the work with these clients contains a number of traps for the therapist, ways to approach the therapy which are ineffective, and look at the ways of working that I have found effective. Key words: Failure to launch, hikikomori, paradoxical theory of change, aggression, counter- transference, suicide."
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": This paper explores the place of drive theory in Gestalt therapy, and how its neglect in favour of a 'dialogic relational' approach has led to the disembodying of the therapy and loss of holism. I suggest how this came... more
": This paper explores the place of drive theory in Gestalt therapy, and how its neglect in favour of a 'dialogic relational' approach has led to the disembodying of the therapy and loss of holism. I suggest how this came about, and what needs to be recovered for a fully holistic therapy. Key words: drive, holism, dialogue, body, sexuality."
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"Editor’s note: This paper is from a talk given by Peter Philippson at a German-Austrian- Swiss Conference held in Vienna, 12 November 2011, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Paul Goodman’s birth. This article is also being... more
"Editor’s note: This paper is from a talk given by Peter Philippson at a German-Austrian- Swiss Conference held in Vienna, 12 November 2011, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Paul Goodman’s birth. This article is also being published in parallel in Gestalttherapie, 26 (1), Spring 2012."
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In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and... more
In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy. I pay particular attention to issues of power and domination as factors in education and in psychotherapy.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
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In this Commentary, I explore and critique Erving and Miriam Polster's idea of the “radical center” and of point/counterpoint. I suggest that the polarities are often best not viewed as polarities in the way they do, and that they... more
In this Commentary, I explore and critique Erving and Miriam Polster's idea of the “radical center” and of point/counterpoint. I suggest that the polarities are often best not viewed as polarities in the way they do, and that they misconstrue the “center” as a position rather than as a place where the poles meet and can be viewed. I further discuss the proposed polarities of process and content, past and present, and field and system.
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In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and... more
In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy. I pay particular attention to issues of power and domination as factors in education and in psychotherapy.
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... Another source has been my discussions with my colleagues in Gestalt Therapy International Network: Gary Yontef, Michael Vincent VII Page 9. ... So when a monk asked Joshu (778897), the great Zen master, What is my Self?, Joshu... more
... Another source has been my discussions with my colleagues in Gestalt Therapy International Network: Gary Yontef, Michael Vincent VII Page 9. ... So when a monk asked Joshu (778897), the great Zen master, What is my Self?, Joshu replied Have you finished your morning ...
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": While the emphasis of Gestalt therapy as a field theory was present in the earliest days, for most present day Gestaltists, the primary source of discussion on the theme is in the writings of Parlett (1991; 1997). Since these were... more
": While the emphasis of Gestalt therapy as a field theory was present in the earliest days, for most present day Gestaltists, the primary source of discussion on the theme is in the writings of Parlett (1991; 1997). Since these were published, there have been startling advances in our understanding of the neurological underpinning of human behaviour, which have both confirmed and added to our understanding of the field nature ofhuman consciousness and selflrood. In this article, I explore some ofthese advances and their implications for the development of a Gestalt field theory that is true to our tradition, and also in line with what we are currently discovering. Key words: field theory, neuroscience, mirror neurons, intersubjectivity, complexity, attachment."
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": This paper is a reworking of a paper presented at the British Gestalt Conference, Cambridge, July 1993. I present some of the ideas of Christopher Lasch (who died on St. Valentine's Day this year) and discuss their relevance... more
": This paper is a reworking of a paper presented at the British Gestalt Conference, Cambridge, July 1993. I present some of the ideas of Christopher Lasch (who died on St. Valentine's Day this year) and discuss their relevance to the practice of psychotherapy in our culture. I also explore how aspects of the values psychotherapists have espoused have contributed to the build-up of this culture and the narcissitic personality of our times. Key words: Narcissism, relational self, image vs. reality, culture."
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"SUMMARY. The relationship between sensing, feeling, thinking and acting, as illuminated by Morita and Gestalt therapies, is explored. Keywords; Gestalt therapy, Morita therapy, real world, responsibility, will."
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My proposal is that the importance of obsessions and compulsions are that they provide an achievable quasi-response to the situation of anxiety and terror when acted out ‘as in a dream’. So frightening and alienating times inevitably... more
My proposal is that the importance of obsessions and compulsions are that they provide an achievable quasi-response to the situation of anxiety and terror when acted out ‘as in a dream’. So frightening and alienating times inevitably bring out a combination of rageful aggression and loss of sensory and human contact with the world if we cannot find a meaningful way to address the danger in a contactful way. In time-honoured fashion, we find human sacrifices that we fantasise will bring better fortune. These can be refugees, people different from ourselves racially, sexually, politically, or religiously. The sacrifice does not work, any more than it did for the Aztecs or the Nazis, but we continue because we have no Plan B. Conspiracy theories abound, because then there is a shadowy ‘they’ who can be stopped, and then it will be all right.
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This is a chapter I was asked to write for a book to be published in Ukraine on the 'active principle' in a number of different psychotherapies. The book is now not going to be published, so I am publishing it myself. I would like to... more
This is a chapter I was asked to write for a book to be published in Ukraine on the 'active principle' in a number of different psychotherapies. The book is now not going to be published, so I am publishing it myself. I would like to thank Larysa Didkovska and the Ukrainian Psychotherapy University for the inspiration to write this.
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In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and... more
In this paper, I follow as much as possible the format and content of my workshop at the AAGT Conference in Cleveland, June 1998. I present the approach of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and its connection to the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy. I pay particular attention to issues of power and domination as factors in education and in psychotherapy.
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In its original foundation, Gestalt Therapy was a very heavily physically/biologically based approach, rooted in the functioning of a human organism in its environment, and the specifics of the physical capacities and limitations of the... more
In its original foundation, Gestalt Therapy was a very heavily physically/biologically based approach, rooted in the functioning of a human organism in its environment, and the specifics of the physical capacities and limitations of the human animal.
In this paper, I develop my understanding of the Gestalt theory of relational self to take greater account of the physical aspects of relational selfhood.
I argue that there is a danger of the body being sidelined in a relational approach, and that this would compromise the holistic nature of Gestalt therapy. I outline the implications of making a clear distinction between the embodied level of organism/environment, and the personal level of self and other, and apply this specifically to work with people with eating disorders.
In this paper, I develop my understanding of the Gestalt theory of relational self to take greater account of the physical aspects of relational selfhood.
I argue that there is a danger of the body being sidelined in a relational approach, and that this would compromise the holistic nature of Gestalt therapy. I outline the implications of making a clear distinction between the embodied level of organism/environment, and the personal level of self and other, and apply this specifically to work with people with eating disorders.
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Pointing out the similarities between the Husserl of the Crisis and Foundational Gestalt Therapy.