Dialogues on psychotherapy at the time of coronavirus: An introduction.

Abstract

This report provides a framework of the special section titled “Dialogues on Psychotherapy at the Time of Coronavirus.” Twelve prominent Gestalt psychotherapists and trainers from different parts of the world were invited to discuss their pandemic experience by the Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy–Postgraduate School of Psychotherapy recognized by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. The webinar, organized on May 15–16, 2020, hosted 850 participants from all over the world, who were able to reflect on how to improve their skills as psychotherapists in this time of global trauma, and to transform this momentous event into an opportunity for growth. New humanistic values emerged from their dialogue: a shift from supporting the development of personal power to the new value of being-with and recognizing the other. This discussion revealed how Gestalt psychotherapy, with its perspective on the self as a process that takes place at the contact boundary with the environment, and its relational soul that looks at the cocreation between therapist and client, can contribute significantly to this turning point. The presenters have reported in this section their personal, clinical and theoretical reflections offered during the webinar. Their aim can be expressed with the question “How can we recount to our children what we are living with a sense of beauty and courage, so that they can move forward in their own lives, relying on a safe and meaningful foundation?” (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)