Table of Contents
List of figures xi
List of tables xii
Foreword Malcolm Parlett xiii
Acknowledgements xx
1 Welcome 1
1.1 Case study as an introduction to gestalt therapy 3
1.2 Who is this book for? 5
1.3 Introducing my family 6
1.4 Research methodology 10
1.5 What is in this book? 12
2 Defining the collective gestalt: what I have learned from large groups 14
2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 Embodied dialectics 16
2.2.1 Belonging in my first group - collective identity 17
2.2.2 Political chairwork: towards the dialogic character of collective gestalts 19
2.3 Attending to collective gestalts: support, hatred, and dialogue 21
2.4 Conclusion 23
3 Masculinity and male sexuality: how did my teenage years shape the man that I am becoming? 25
3.1 Sexuality, paradoxical theory of change, and experimentation in gestalt therapy 26
3.1.1 Autoethnography: why I decided to start therapy 26
3.1.2 Masculinity and class 30
3.1.3 Autoethnography: first therapy 32
3.1.4 Sexuality, body, and change 34
3.1.5 Autoethnography: university days - second therapy 36
3.1.6 (Sexual) experimenting in gestalt therapy 38
3.2 Embodied field: the politics of the erotic 40
3.2.1 Autoethnography: therapy in England 40
3.2.2 Masculinities in dialogue 42
3.2.3 Transgenerational transition of masculinity 43
3.2.4 Sexualised field 49
3.3 Sexuality negotiated relationally 52
3.3.1 Autoethnography: falling in love 52
3.3.2 Masculine medicine and psychotherapy 53
3.3.3 Sexuality as a relational phenomenon 55
3.3.4 Sexuality and attachment 56
3.4 Conclusion 58
4 Embodiment of heteronormativity: building the field for addressing collective gestalts 60
4.1 Introduction 60
4.1.1 Heteronormativity - personal account 61
4.1.2 Embodied transference and the erotic field 65
4.1.3 Homophobia without homophobes 67
4.1.4 Heteronormativity in psychotherapy between acceptance and abuse 68
4.1.5 Heteronormativity in contemporary psychoanalysis and gestalt therapy 71
4.2 Homophobia in the practice of the embodied gestalt therapist 72
4.2.1 Embodied heteronormativity - phenomenology and bodywork 72
4.2.2 Heteronormative contacting 75
4.3 Heteronormativity and touch 77
4.4 Body discourse and desire 79
4.5 Conclusion 80
5 (Un)related bodies: collective gestalts that shape gestalt training 82
5.1 Autoethnography 83
5.1.1 Field theory is transference 83
5.1.2 Example 1: bioenergetics and gestalt-inspired body therapy 85
5.1.3 Personal reflection 87
5.1.4 Example 2: embodied relational gestalt 88
5.1.5 Analysing the journey 90
5.2 Gestalt therapy between individualism and inter subjectivity 94
5.2.1 Dangerous empathy and righteous contact 95
5.2.2 Gestalt and anger 97
5.2.3 Objectivistic misunderstanding of phenomenology 98
5.2.4 Working with group dynamics 98
5.2.5 Collective gestalts: individualism and capitalism 101
5.2.6 Collective gestalt of gender 102
5.3 Summary 102
6 Philosophies that inspired this book 104
6.1 Post-communist deconstructionism 104
6.2 Agential realism: flesh-of-the-world or matter-of-perception 107
6.3 The philosophy of integration of body and mind, subject and object, and matter and form 109
6.4 Body and matter 110
6.5 Intra-acting 111
7 Culture as ground; personal becoming as figure: autoethnography and gestalt therapy 113
7.1 Introducing autoethnography as a way to study embodied sensations 114
7.2 Undertaking autoethnographic research in gestalt therapy 118
7.2.1 Finding a research question 118
7.2.2 Choosing a methodology for a research study 119
7.3 Choosing methods - digging around: personal documents, observations, field notes 120
7.3.1 Autobiography 120
7.3.2 Research journal 121
7.3.3 Drawings of my embodiment 122
7.3.4 Family diagram 122
7.3.5 Family photographs 122
7.3.6 Interviews 123
7.4 Ethical care for participants 125
7.4.1 Researcher 125
7.4.2 Mother, sister, and father 127
7.4.3 Wider family, bodywork professionals, and clients 129
7.4.4 Procedural ethics, consent procedures, and data storage 131
7.5 Making meaning: analysing stories 131
8 Conclusion 135
8.1 Suggestions for theory and practice 136
8.1.1 Gestalt therapy theory, practice, and training 136
8.1.2 Case for large groups in teaching counselling and psychotherapy 139
8.1.3 Interweaving autoethnography and gestalt therapy 141
8.2 What I know I've missed 142
8.3 Ending 143
References 145
Index 161
