Embodied Relational Gestalt: Theories and Applications

Abstract

I often find collections by different authors difficult to review because, while the common overarching discipline (in this case, Embodied Relational Gestalt [ERG]) is the spool, the disparate chapters create tangled threads that leave readers with a knot to unsnarl if they are to use the concepts/ideas/constructs in their own work. So, I pull out my marlinspike and ask the question: “Which of these chapters creates the thread that binds the articles together into a valuable package for readers to take on their next intellectual journey, be it at the therapy room, writing desk, or research laboratory?” In this volume, I found that thread in Chapter 8, “Engaging Strategic Curiosity: Toward and Embodied Relational Approach to Research in Gestalt Therapy.” In this chapter, Rae Johnson makes a clear case for qualitative research into concepts that arise from Gestalt Therapy (GT) and specifically ERG. Why is this call for research the thread that binds? All of the chapters propose hypotheses and offer support with case studies. But Johnson shares how to take these hypotheses to the next level by using research approaches that are harmonious with Gestalt and somatic psychotherapy.Supportively, she begins by sharing two reasons for the philosophical disconnect between traditional quantitative research and GT: (1) “the founders of humanistic experiential therapies made intentional philosophical and structural breaks with the dominant paradigms in psychology that tended to objectify, quantify, and commodify human experience in order to study it”; and (2) the prevalence of “large-scale, randomized controlled trials” as a best practice for psychotherapy research (274). Then she poses the question: “How can embodied relational Gestalt psychotherapists contribute to the research literature while remaining in integrity with our relational, process-oriented, in-the-body stance?” (274). She provides a convincing comparison among the philosophy, skills, and abilities of Gestalt therapists and constructivist/qualitative research methods by reminding the reader that heuristic research, organic research, and grounded theory (GRT) all follow the data that emerge from the research subjects, allowing themes to surface organically. Her chapter culminates with a basic framework for Gestalt therapists to refer to as they embark on their own research endeavors to discover new understanding of embodied relational experience.I am only slightly familiar with one of the constructivist methods that Johnson recommends: GRT, but her chapter encouraged me to do a brief literature search to learn more. I found an article by Chun Tie, Birks, and Francis (2019), which might be a useful place to start for Gestaltists interested in bringing a research mindset to their practice. Like Johnson, Chun Tie, Birks, and Francis emphasize that the quality of research findings (in their article “Grounded Theories”) arise from congruency of the philosophical position of the researcher, the research question, and the methodological approach selected (7). Following Chun Tie, Birks, and Francis’s statements about GRT (2)—(1) “[T]he goal of traditional G[R]T is to generate a conceptual theory that accounts for a pattern of behaviour that is relevant and problematic for those involved”; (2) G[R]T is based on “symbolic interactionism [which] addresses the subjective meaning people place on objects, behaviours or events based on what they believe is true”; (3) “Constructivist G[R]T’s methodological underpinnings focus on how participants’ construct meaning in relation to the area of inquiry”; (4) “[A] constructivist co-constructs experience and meanings with participants”—it seems to me that there is a clear relationship between GRT and the phenomenological methods that Gestalt therapists use “to investigate the quality of another person’s subjective experience in the moment” (Johnson 276).Each of the other 10 chapters in this volume offer research questions based on phenomenological patterns experienced by practitioners with their clients, which could be further elucidated using the qualitative methods that Johnson shares. In Chapter 1, “Embodied Contexts: The Forms We Create, The Forms that Create Us,” Clemmens explores eight different developmental physical and relational contexts of embodiment from in utero to Person/Planet (Roszak 2003). These are “[p]hysical and relational contexts in which we live and through which we understand each other and the present moment” (3). In each of these forms, he poses questions of and offers experiments to the reader that could be asked of a community of therapy clients to create a basis for a grounded theory [theories] about these forms. In Chapter 2, “Attentional Scope and Mental Illness,” Peri Mackintosh proposes that “a deliberate expansion of attentional scope can help dissolve the fixed gestalts that constitute mental disorder and support more creative adjustment to situations” (37). The three case studies he shares are from clients with very different diagnoses. There are, however, two clear commonalities: (1) narrowing of attention, activation of a fixed gestalt, and presentation of consequent undesirable behaviors; and (2) with support from ERG therapy, the expansion of attentional scope resulting in a release from the fixed gestalt and presentation of new more beneficial behaviors. How might a GRT study bring this research to support therapists and clients suffering from mental illness? In Chapter 7, Renee J. Jennings introduces us to “Embodied Narrative Repatterning,” a methodology that she pioneers with her clients by combining Gestalt Physical Process, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and Energy and Psychology “for the physical and neurological unwinding and repatterning of introjects and their associated narratives” (244). Would qualitative research be able to bring this methodology more recognition and use? In Chapter 5, “Signature Movement,” Ruzany treats the reader to five experiments as a “method to achieve embodied experiment when studying the self, the other and the field in a therapeutic encounter” (169). This Signature Movement is “a non-verbal expression of the body done after a session” (169) that “illuminates the therapeutic process for self-supervision, identif[ies] boundary disturbances and helps with treatment planning” (192). I imagine that having taught the process of signature movement to a group of practitioners, a GRT study could emerge after they return to their practices, use Signature Movement, and report back with their experiences. As a consultant for dental practices, Signature Movement intrigued me because I believe that dentists and dental hygienists could benefit from learning it as a way to reset between patients. This leads me to wonder how Signature Movement could support other healthcare practitioners as well, especially now after two-and-a-half years of a pandemic.Imagine the value of refining and expanding the methodologies, paradigms, and hypotheses discussed in ERG with the recursive, iterative process of GRT. How would the global community of therapists benefit? How would multitudes of patients benefit? Who else benefits? Johnson asks GT and ERT practitioners to consider the paradoxical theory of change, to do something new by doing something old, and to focus on becoming who they truly are: strategically curious practitioners who notice patterns in their clients’ responses to their culture, world, and experiences; as well as patterns in their response to GT and ERT. Then she asks them to take the next step: engage in formalized (but not quantitative, nor traditional) study and report on their findings.Clemmens’ volume, Embodied Relational Gestalt: Theories and Applications, provides a wealth of opportunities for further study. So, if you are looking for a thesis project or an opportunity to bring Gestalt to a wider community, then: (1) Look for patterns in your own community of clients; (2) Connect with one of these authors and/or other colleagues about the patterns they notice; (3) Learn about and use one of the qualitative methods that Johnson recommends, perhaps GRT; and (4) Publish your qualitative research!